Q-Centrix dedicated advisors challenge conventional ideas about clinical data, patient care, and hospital success
Effective January 2024, the dedicated advisor role is officially designated as the “Partner Success Advisor (PSA).” This adjustment aims to reflect the customer-centric nature of the position, emphasizing a focus on innovation and the cultivation of strategic partnerships.
What makes certain institutions – like the Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins University – household health care names? Yes, these organizations are incredible research institutions that deliver top-notch care; but where they truly perform is in their ability to make well-informed decisions using clinical data.
Hospitals’ clinical data abounds with opportunities for improved clinical performance, market competitiveness, and profitable growth. Lisa Everett, now a senior dedicated advisor at Q-Centrix, has served at the director level of Cardiology and Quality programs across the east coast for much of her career. In that time, she’s seen limitless possibilities for improved decision-making with clinical data.
“Hospital systems can really gain a lot from their data. From a clinical perspective, they can track trends over time, individual case volumes, and even specific patient types within those cases. From there, they have the information they need to consolidate resources effectively across hospitals to improve patient flow.
That same data is just as valuable to market share improvement and physician recruitment efforts. A well-touted cardiac surgery program with a three-star STS registry rating is a huge draw for both patients and talented physicians.”
The most successful health systems are the ones that understand how to use their data to inform meaningful decisions. Few understand those opportunities better than the Q-Centrix dedicated advisors. These clinicians, D.A.s as we call them, frequently act as health system consultants, helping identify best practices for improving data collection, review, and usage.
Put another way, dedicated advisors help unlock the full value of clinical data so more health care leaders can make data-driven decisions.
How do the DAs help hospital leaders reach their goals?
From technology best practices to data strategy ideation and organizational pivots, health system and hospital staff come to their dedicated advisors for guidance.
Personalized data collection best practice recommendations
The dedicated advisors work with partners to help get new and improved data collection processes in place. They provide information on protocols, staff and patient needs, and registry requirements. These recommendations also include identifying areas where a hospital hasn’t been collecting data properly or where there are missing components. They ask questions like, “Are the right staff members collecting your data?” and “How can we make your data entry more efficient?” to help hospitals understand their biggest wins and challenges.
Communication strategies for clinical data review
Usable clinical data at a single facility provides value. However, when an Enterprise Clinical Data Management model is implemented across an entire health system, the impact of those insights compounds exponentially. Dedicated advisors help systems strategize communication across facilities, sharing collective knowledge and maximum value to ensure resources are centralized appropriately.
Optimal organizational structure recommendations
After implementation, partners have a lot of questions. Typically, these questions revolve around how to most effectively use the time which has been given back to their clinical staff. The dedicated advisors suggest methods for putting clinical staff back to top of license work. That means focusing on process improvements, elevating patient care, and more.
The link to a network of over 1,200 partner hospitals and 1,300 clinical data experts
As partners consider the enticing possibilities of their unlocked clinical data, it’s important to know the thought leaders and hospital teams who are creating real impact. Dedicated advisors connect hospital leaders and industry experts to a shared network of community insights, allowing the benefit of collective experience to be shared by everyone, with everyone. They connect partners to teams who can share new findings and best practices, leaders who have addressed similar challenges, and experts who have, or can find, answers to technical questions.
“I always tell partners, ‘If you only remember one name here at Q-Centrix, remember your dedicated advisor’s. They are the ones who can help you think through the opportunities at your disposal and connect you with the right person to talk to, no matter what you’re facing.’”
– Krystal Sandoz, Q-Centrix dedicated advisor
The reality of unlocking the value of clinical data
Senior dedicated advisor Stacey Murphy joined Q-Centrix in 2011 after more than 20 years in the hospital setting. She jokes that she was one of the first to join the clinical data management movement at Q-Centrix, and she is not wrong. As the dedicated advisor for the very first enterprise clinical data management implementation, Stacey has a nuanced perspective on a partner’s needs during the process. In 2018, she and her team were given just 100 days to integrate a core measure reporting solution for a health system with more than 100 facilities. And that’s just where the challenges began.
Existing discrepancies in the data and varied expertise levels across sites resulted in mistrust of the data across the organization. Understandably, executives were cautious about the move resulting in even less oversight of their data procurement process. Adding to the project’s complexity, facilities were scattered across the country, many with a single employee dedicated to clinical data management, and all with different technological needs. Stacey worked as the system’s advocate, finding the right experts, internally and externally, to devise solutions. Together, they implemented a revised, technology-based rollout to accommodate every facility’s disparate needs.
The result was a vastly improved data procurement model, with extra scrutiny at every step in the IRR process providing data the system could trust. Working with Stacey and the team, the system also hired and trained abstractors to ensure consistently high standards and ease the fear of layoffs.
Not only did the system improve CMS compliance for core measures, but they reaped an estimated registry-management-associated cost savings of 21%. Most importantly, as a result of their unlocked data, the hospital staff was able to dedicate more hours to top-of-license, patient-focused work.
While stories like these don’t happen overnight, any hospital with a willingness to think differently about clinical data has the potential to maximize patient care and advance its missions. D.A.s have partnered with hospitals that began only with basic data collection and reporting requirements. They’ve also supported top-performing systems that use their data for performance improvements every day. For those in between, they understand that many partners just need assistance solving the biggest challenges of today. Regardless of the need, the results of these partner relationships have far-reaching impacts on the lives of hospital leadership, clinical staff, and patients.
In their words: what should partners know about their relationship with a dedicated advisor?
To understand how the dedicated advisors provide meaning to clinical data, we asked a few team members to explain the value they offer.
“You do not have to reinvent the wheel. Use the best practices of our partner community that have been developing for the entire tenure of our company. Let a team of experts who have successfully faced similar challenges support you. It will streamline your workflows and put your staff back to top-of-license work.”
– Stacey Cole, senior dedicated advisor
“We are here to help you have transparency in your data. Allow us to guide you with best practices and performance improvements specific to you. This has always been our passion, and it is something that we love to dive into.”
– Laurie Rieger, dedicated advisor
“The most important thing you can do is share with us. We are here to support you. Our job is to be your partner, introducing you to the people and processes you want to meet. We all want to get to the same place, where you are achieving your goals and unlocking the value of your clinical data.”
– Stacey Murphy, senior dedicated advisor
“Think of us as an extension of your team. Your challenges are our challenges, and our strengths are your strengths. Throughout the work ahead, we’re here to ensure the partnership is successful.”
– Krystal Sandoz, dedicated advisor
“Ultimately, your data’s value extends far beyond patient care. Everyone should be paying attention to their clinical data management this way. Not only is it feasible, but it’s quickly becoming necessary. Are you willing to change the way you think about care?”
– Lisa Everett, senior dedicated advisor