Acute-care hospital saw ROI by first leveraging Ludi for medical directorships; now expanding use of the technology for on-call agreements.
The Challenge
Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center (PVHMC) is an acute-care hospital serving Eastern Los Angeles and Western San Bernardino Counties. Prior to being introduced to Ludi’s physician-payment technology in 2020, PVHMC’s compliance contracts manager spent much of her workday tracking down the paper logs providers used to record time for medical directorships. The entire process was time consuming; something had to change.
About PVHMC
- Nationally recognized and accredited, 412-bed medical center
- More than 3,700 highly trained, professional associates and 700 active physicians
- Four Centers of Excellence that offer a range of specialized services to the community
The Solution
After reviewing different technology vendors, Ludi quickly rose to the top as the clear choice: an end-to-end solution that holistically addressed their issues. Despite the headwinds from the Covid-19 pandemic at the time, PVHMC moved forward with implementing the Ludi system, beginning with one of their main pain points: medical directorship agreements.
The Results
1. ROI – Savings on Staff Time
Before implementing Ludi, PVHMC’s providers gave their physical, hand-written time logs to department directors who reviewed and approved the hours. The logs were sent to the contracts manager to scan, prepare a check request and send to accounts payable. Yet, the contracts manager rarely received paper logs on time.
“The process we manage today to pay provider compensation is now fully automated and simplified,” PVHMC’s compliance and contracts team said. “Providers are paid upon receipt of their hours which is more timely with the new system. There is also a new level of transparency and an efficient process to submit provider monthly time logs.”
The administrative time savings alone pays multiples on their initial investment with Ludi, PVHMC estimates.
2. Increased Provider Satisfaction
“It’s been three years, and everyone is very happy utilizing the user-friendly interface to approve, or not approve, their time,” PVHMC’s compliance and contracts team said. “No more paper.”
They admit that some providers were hesitant to adopt a new process and program, but with education and training from the organization, they became experts in no time.
“Once they understood that they could access the program on their phones and it was tracking real time, everybody liked it.” Physicians now turn in hours in a more timely fashion and the contracts manager is firm with submission timeframes, if needed, given she has the Ludi admin and reporting system to back her up. Providers love the feature of being prompted to approve their time each month. “It’s just easy for everyone.”
Our implementation was simple and efficient. The Ludi team was there every step of the way.
Compliance and Contracts team
Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center
3. Ensured Compliance and Risk Abatement
The compliance and contracts team can rest well knowing that they have data to access in the event of a compliance review. Ludi helps hospitals stay fully compliant and minimize potential Stark Law risk, creating peace of mind for stakeholders in hospital systems and helping them avoid fines that could cost tens of thousands of dollars at the very least.
“It helps us with our auditing; the notes physicians keep in the app are more substantive than they were before, which is appreciated by our approvers.” Ultimately, PVHMC has been able to reduce their payments through more accurate time logs and better visibility into their overall spend, while ensuring they are fairly compensating physicians. This is a cost savings to the hospital as well as a risk abatement measure.
4. Ease of Implementation
“Our implementation was simple and efficient,” PVHMC’s compliance and contracts team noted. “The Ludi team was there every step of the way.”
The entire PVHMC team caught on quickly and has begun the process of expanding Ludi’s technology for their on-call schedules.
One Final Note
We asked PVHMC to share advice with other hospitals thinking of automating and streamlining their physician payment process.
“You cannot afford to NOT do it anymore,” they said. “It’s just getting those who have been in the organization for a long time to change their viewpoint – to change their comfort level with something new. Education is key. We wish we had done it sooner!”
They noted that streamlining with Ludi has been a game changer and saves their contracts manager an untold number of hours.
“Just jump in, get it done, make it happen,” they advised.