During this year’s Fall CV Transforum, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Erica Haeber, clinical manager at HCA’s Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia in Austin, to share with the MedAxiom community her first-hand experience transitioning to Murj, best practices learned and the various quantitative and qualitative outcomes achieved during their first year managing over 13,000 CIED patients on the Murj platform.
A few highlights from the discussion include:
- The importance of team engagement in uncovering opportunities for improvement
- Better care – no missed implantable cardiac monitor care intervals
- 405% higher productivity ratio; achieving one RN per 2,023 remote CIED patients
- 41% increase in collections
Download your own copy of the PowerPoint slides by clicking here.
Looking to improve your cardiac device clinic operations? Contact us to learn more and schedule a consultation.
Questions asked during the presentation
Question
What about remote monitoring supporting scales, BP, etc.? Will that be added to the platform? We are trying to avoid multiple platforms.
Answer
This is a great question and reflects one reason we started Murj — to avoid multiple device care platforms. Murj is actively evaluating data feeds from a variety of devices from ambulatory to consumer health and remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices. Getting the data is the easy part, but stay tuned, as and if we are able to add value to these new device classes, such as for BP, we will endeavor to do so.
Question
Is anyone experiencing issues with billing? My billing team is saying we must bill device checks by the date the MD completed review not the date the service was performed so we then have issues with the next check occurring prior to the completion of the prior 91-day window. We recently implemented a remote partner solution and the increased volume experienced has exposed some of the pain points. Our EP team is overwhelmed by the daily volume of routine checks needing review.
Answer
Date of service in CIED care is a challenge for many. Murj has worked with clinics across the country to make sure payors are comfortable and in agreement that the date of service can be tied to the 31 and 91 day billing intervals, so long as a transmission is received during those respective windows. Separate dates of service for a device transmission, the TC review component, and the PC component review are a recipe for confusion and missed care windows. We have produced several written and presentation materials to help our customer communicate the efficacy of this approach.
Likewise, the Murj product is well equipped to track and manage to the 31 and 91 day standards of care. From sophisticated algorithms to informatics, we ensure that all CIED care and payor requirements are met, and those requirements can be documented and backed-up with audit log files.
Coincidently, after Thursday’s presentation, two of our customers, both MedAxiom members, confirmed that CMS regulatory entities have accepted our approach, enabling these customers to recoup thousands of previously rejected charges.
Question
Great review of program and process. Do you have a general sense of the patient:device RN staffing ratio?
Answer
Using TCA as an example, using Murj they have a ratio of 1 full-time RN for every 2,023 remote CIED patients. Traditionally, estimates have suggested 1 RN for every 250 to 500 CIED patients. Every clinic will be different, some of our customers are more productive, some less productive, while each might be using a different mix of technicians, RN’s and NP’s to manage the incoming device transmissions. Regardless of the user, Murj will provide a next level of efficiency that is easily revealed and utilized.
About Murj
Murj is a digital health company dedicated to helping clinicians streamline care for patients with implantable cardiac devices. Murj greets the challenge of managing the rapid growth of cardiac device data as an opportunity to improve care and deliver insight. Murj aims to liberate device clinics from paper reports and inadequate management tools, freeing clinicians to get back to the heart of the matter— their patients. For more information visit www.murj.com.
