The proof is in the data: using Clinimetrix to build a better medical practice

In September and October, RSM is excited to attend the Business for Doctors and Australian Association of Practice Management conferences alongside medical analytics innovator Clinimetrix.

RSM’s Medical Services team began working with Clinimetrix pre-COVID after seeing its potential to help our clients who own or manage a medical practice. It became extremely useful to navigate the challenges of the pandemic, and we continue to see it as a powerful enabler of data-driven decision making for all medical practices.

Clinimetrix is an analytics tool that integrates with practice management software to serve up vast amounts of data about a practice. The tool was actually purpose-built for a large medical practice as a solution to the limited analytics available through their existing software.

Ian Lowe, CEO of CMH Practice Management and developer of Clinimetrix, led the team that built Clinimetrix from the ground up.

“Data provides honesty for a business and its stakeholders,” says Ian. “In a medical practice, health practitioners often have unique views about what’s working and what isn’t and this can be very difficult for leadership. Everything is based on assumption and perspective, not facts.

“As soon as our practice began using Clinimetrix, we were able to have honest conversations about everything from billing and revenue to staff performance and ways to improve quality of care.”

From “we believe” to “we know”

It’s a big step for any business to move from assumptions to evidence-based decision-making. But the value of doing this cannot be underestimated. There is truth in numbers, and its through this truth that we’re able to find problems and develop solutions – be they financial, operational, or reputational.

Clinimetrix helps us do this because all the data we need is consolidated and presented in a way that’s easy to interpret. Here’s a small sample of the data available to practice owners when they use Clinimetrix:

• Patient traffic
• Practitioner appointment and billing behaviour
• Individual patient attendance and clinical outcomes
• Staff utilisation, including nurses and admin
• Breakdown of itemised billing
• Average amount billed per consult
• Bulk billing percentages and item code usage rates

Practice owners have access to real-time data dating back up to 6 years, with the ability to hone in on specific individuals, groups, or time periods as needed. 

“It’s great to see how Clinimetrix can provide the data that helps define performance and set strategy among stakeholders within a practice,” says Ian. 

“The practice owner can then use that data to make decisions which are crucial to the sustainability of the business. As a simple example, one practice identified that nurses weren’t being utilised well on certain days, so they were able to move them to the vaccination clinic which was overrun.

“There are also many examples of medical practices improving patient care using Clinimetrix. One practice had their preventative health nurse use Clinimetrix to identify every patient who was overdue for a health assessment.

Another used it to pinpoint every time pathology results had led to a referral that was never followed up. Having this information at the click of a button can make a huge difference to a patient’s long term health outcomes, and help to create stronger relationships between health professionals and their patients.”

How Clinimetrix works

Clinimetrix can be deployed in a practice in just a few days as a seamless extension of Best Practice (practice management software).

Once the integration is complete, the practice owner receives a dedicated login and can purchase a licence for others in the practice who may also need access.

Only those with a licence can view the data, and Clinimetrix provides 4 training sessions to guide these users on how to get the most out of their analytics.

For our business advisory team at RSM, this data then allows us to have really honest conversations with our clients about everything from their practice’s financial performance to risk management. We can even use deidentified data from Clinimetrix to support loan applications.

Our communities depend on their local medical practices, and we’re proud to help practice owners ensure their businesses remain viable and open for people to receive the care they need. We never want to hear a practice owner say, “If we’d known what was going on, we could have acted earlier or behaved differently.”

That’s why we believe in the value of Clinimetrix, and are excited to continue collaborating for the benefit of our clients into the future.

To learn more about data analytics for your practice, visit Clinimetrix. For help managing or growing your medical practice, contact the Health Services team at RSM on (02) 6057 3000.