How Trace Helps

September 30, 2013

Children’s Hospitals Use Trace to Protect Revenue, Prove Compliance, Drive Performance

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Summary of Trace Outcomes at Children's Hospitals

  • Prevented and overturned millions of dollars in denials
  • Streamlined and standardized workflow to improve staff efficiency
  • Eliminated paper and manual processes
  • Improved upfront patient collections

This case study summarizes results achieved at four children’s hospitals after implementing Trace to capture and manage routine communication.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

  • 452 staffed beds in 3 hospitals and 16 satellite locations
  • Ranked top children’s hospital by U.S. News & World Report

Trace Impact

  • Overturned more than $2 million in denials
  • Prevented more than $4 million in denials
  • Improved efficiency and reallocated staff time

“It used to be he-said, she-said. It’s nice to know now my staff finally has built-in support…and the results to prove it!” – Florence Davis, Director of Patient Access

Children's chart

Cook Children’s Medical Center, Fort Worth

  • Ranked in top 5% of nation’s hospitals for nursing excellence
  • One of 8 children’s hospitals named a Top Leapfrog Hospital in 2007

Trace Impact

  • Overturned more than $750,000 in denials
  • Educated staff on denial reasons and prevention tactics
  • Collected $1 million upfront over two-year period

“Our goal is to help every child get some kind of coverage for their care. If we can sit down and visit with the family and help them with their forms, then that is time well spent. Trace allows us more time to do that with families.” – Pam Stevens, Director Patient Registration

East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, Knoxville

  • 152-bed hospital with 29 subspecialties and 90 pediatric subspecialists
  • Serves 16 counties in East Tennessee

Trace Impact

  • Overturned nearly $150,000 in denials
  • Streamlined internal communication with central data repository
  • Eliminated paper by routing faxes through PCs with web tracking system

“I like the clout of it. I can say, ‘You know I used Trace. And they say, ‘Oh – well, let me go back and look again.’”  – Gwen Cameron, Utilization Review

Example of How Trace Is Used at ETCH

The utilization team at ETCH faxed a clinical review to a payer. Trace automatically captured a copy of the fax, along with the date, time and recipient information. The record was indexed by patient and archived for retrieval in the Trace tracking system. The payer processed the claim and later denied payment, citing lack of authorization. The utilization coordinator located the original fax in Trace and forwarded it to the payer by computer. After reviewing the documentation, the payer overturned the denial and reprocessed the claim for payment. The hospital recovered $43,269.69.