Nurse Productivity: Usually defined as the number of visits in a given time (day, or week) is a valuable metric to monitor for any Home Health agency. Unfortunately, however, this metric does not necessarily translate into financial health. For instance, since 1999 home health is not paid by the visit anymore. We are paid by the unit, or “episode”. A more relevant metric would be the cost of the episode versus the reimbursement of the episode.
It takes a little time, thought, and a lot of coding and OASIS knowledge to maximized the reimbursement per unit. It requires even more skill and knowledge to manage the episode with the appropriate amount of resources. The number of visits that a nurse does in a day does not account for how “productive” an agency is in mastering that formula.
Unfortunately, other decisions hinge on this metric. It is a myth to believe that the value of software and point-of-care solutions lies in the ability to improve “nurse productivity”. Some agencies have even decided against point-of-care realizing that it doesn’t translate into improved visits-per-day. What they are missing however, is the opportunity to improve the financial and clinical outcomes for the episode by utilizing the technology.
Measuring “nursing produdctivity” to determine the financial health of a home health agency is equal to checking the oil gauge to calculate how much gas is in the tank. Both are metrics, both are important dashboard icons, but fixing one does not fix the other.