Louis Hairston became the clinical director for DeNova, a multi-speciality behavioral health group, after spending years advocating for responsible prescribing on behalf of physicians, nurse practitioners, and drug enforcement administration (DEA) prescribers during the height of the opioid crisis. Although DeNova never intended to become an addiction treatment center, the demand for medical assistance therapy (MAT) was staggering. Of DeNova’s patients, addiction treatments now account for roughly 60%, while broad-spectrum mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and some other diagnoses account for the other 40%.
Now in its 5th year in business, the practice has grown significantly in size and now has multiple locations that serve patients throughout Central Kentucky. Both offices are close to local colleges, so DeNova’s patient population includes a large number of college students. Along with his business partner, Hairston now manages a team of 21 staff including medical staff, therapists, targeted case managers, and psychiatrists who offer a variety of different services.
During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, DeNova was considered an essential business and was able to continue seeing and treating patients. Its patient base grew dramatically and it is proud to say it has an about 80% retention rate. As the team watched the demand for their services climb, they realized their existing IT systems were time-consuming, cumbersome, and not delivering the desired results. They also still wanted to continue to expand and attract new patients.
That’s when DeNova made the switch to Tebra.
Improving care delivery for a better patient experience
Tebra Care Delivery increases time with patients, reduces documentation time, and maximizes reimbursements. It’s built for independent practices and is a modern, certified EHR solution to empower today’s provider with clinical tools that support rather than interfere with patient care. The solution supports a variety of specialty workflows and in DeNova’s case is able to record crucial patient vitals, which is important for diagnosis. It also allows all the providers within the practice to easily collaborate and access patient data to deliver better quality care. Since DeNova patients are often prescribed medication, clear visibility into charting was imperative.
“As we grew, it became apparent that we needed a system that could help us ramp up quickly and provide the documentation we need to give the correct treatments, and that’s one of the reasons we chose Tebra,” Hairston said. “This efficient reporting has been so important to our providers and our back office management.”
Automating repetitive tasks to save time and money
Due to its patient growth, DeNova now processes more than 23,000 claims per month, which means it needs a system that handles that volume as well as collects faster and at higher rates. With only one staff member at the practice processing claims, the practice turned to Tebra’s RPA to increase productivity and profitability by automating repetitive tasks. The return was 16 to 20 hours per week of time saved on manual input.
“The RPA bots really changed my business partner’s life. It got old really fast, looking over at 9 o’clock at night, still sitting here, trying to post a payment from an insurance company. Once we found out RPA was integrated into the billing solution, we jumped on it. And actually, it went live only about 3 months ago, and I couldn’t be more pleased,” Hairston shared.
Tebra Billing & Payments integrates and streamlines the medical billing process. Practices can enroll, submit, track, and reconcile claims from one platform. Reporting and analytics provide complete visibility into the financial health of the practice, while communication tools and payment methods ensure faster collections.
Reaching new heights with digital marketing tools
Hairston said his introduction to Tebra Practice Growth was “serendipitous.” He first tried to build a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy himself and then hired a local company, but ended up with diminished returns. Their biggest goal was to deliver quality care to as many patients as possible. The Tebra practice growth team first redesigned DeNova’s static website to improve online presence and responsiveness. Then came its enhanced SEO strategy.
Hairston admits he made a typo in a search term request to his account manager and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It not only boosted new patients but also became an additional type of service and revenue stream. “It really speaks volumes to the impact that literally one word in an optimized listing can have on the types of clients that are driven to book appointments, so I know that it works,” Hairston said.
Prior to using Tebra’s practice growth solution, the practice averaged about 10 to 15 new patient calls a month. Since then, it’s had almost double that amount. “Leveraging Tebra’s practice growth platform, we get more calls for new patients than we ever have before. I am constantly judging how I spend our money. And Tebra is worth it because of those numbers,” Hairston shared.
DeNova has seen its website traffic soar, its Google rankings peak to #1, and its online review rating improved to 4.9 stars. Tebra’s practice growth technology enables independent healthcare practices to stand out with marketing and outreach that connects more of the right patients to the practice.
A sustaining digital backbone for practice success
DeNova’s future plan is to continue to scale its business and will look to Tebra to onboard additional functionality. Tebra’s complete operating system has had a very positive impact on DeNova’s operational, financial, and clinical success.
Hairston said he wants to continue to support his community and is really proud of all the work his providers have done to deliver quality care to patients with help from Tebra.
