Is your rehab department maximizing its potential? This post is the fourth in a series. It’s based on some items RehabVisions focuses on when we manage therapy departments, but it’s also a conversation starter about things you could be doing differently.

#4 Have Quality Measurements and Document Outcomes

Clinical excellence should be a priority of your department and should be developed to ensure a patient’s needs and goals are met.

So how do you know if you are achieving excellence? The answer is through putting quality measurements in place and thoroughly documenting all patient outcomes. Your department should continually track quality measurements to gauge improvement in clinical and customer service quality.

RehabVisions’ Hospital Compliance Manager Brenda Kemling, PT said accurate documentation of outcomes is necessary to demonstrate and support evidence-based practice. “Outcomes provide data measurements to insurance companies that justify our payment and help shape future reimbursement models based on quality service,” she said

At RehabVisions, our compliance oversight helps therapists identify the best outcome measures to utilize for various patient populations and/or diagnoses. The use of outcome measures in our therapy practice is a fundamental component to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment interventions, provide accountability, and address quality of the therapy interventions we provide to our patients. Outcome data also assists the RehabVisions’ Operations Department in determining what types of additional training/education are needed for our therapists.

“The process of applying outcome measures and providing quality documentation creates a circular pattern of determining our success, proving our worth to insurance providers and others, and identifying areas for improvement,” Kemling said.

It is more important than ever before to objectively measure outcomes by specific, standardized measures that are used consistently throughout each patient’s episode of care. In the end, these results are crucial to drive the success of your department.