How LOGEX consultants used the LOGEX Costing solution to help Wirral University Teaching Hospital identify high-cost areas to focus on for maximum impact
About the collaboration
Wirral University Teaching Hospital (WUTH) is a National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust in North West England, providing a wide range of medical services, primarily to the population of the Wirral. It has a headcount of 6474 staff and £436 million in income. It is accountable to the population of Wirral, its patients and their families through its council of governors.
The challenge
Wirral University Teaching Hospital is required to meet increased targets for elective activity but will only be paid part of the usual per-patient tariff for activity in excess of the plan in a challenging financial environment. They wanted to understand the financial implications of increasing elective activity and also the effect of patients staying over 30 days in the hospital, but the limitations of their existing information were preventing them.
The LOGEX team helped my team to understand the financial implications of two important cohorts of patients. First, the cost of patients staying in hospital over 30 days and the marginal cost of elective activity over and above our plan. This is crucial to our planning given new rules in place over income. They also helped us to understand which treatments are more or less expensive for WUTH than other hospitals.
Robbie Chapman, Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Wirral University Teaching Hospital (WUTH)
The solution
WUTH Deputy Director of Finance Robbie Chapman wanted to use the data to help solve the pressing challenges described above. Therefore we have implemented the LOGEX Costing solution and are in the process of implementing the LOGEX Budgeting solution.
Our consultants have also added value to the project by using their skills and understanding of the NHS to turn the data into clear and practical insights. This was done by:
- Calculating the marginal cost of bed days over 30 days length of stay and discovering the key specialties.
- Calculating the marginal cost of treating more patients in potential growth HRGs, with different costs for treating different numbers of extra patients to adjust for step costs. Also, analysing whether WUTH is particularly expensive or cheap for these cohorts.
- Listing the most and least expensive HRGs and groups of HRGs compared to the national average.
Financial Control
Our Financial Control suite enables you to gain mastery over patient volumes, resources and finances for the entire organisation, leading to better financial performance—with the numbers to prove it.
We cover the full spectrum of financial and operational processes, from costing and budgeting to forecasting and contracting.
Our activity-based costing model empowers you to:
Calculate, apply, and optimise
Make cost calculations for healthcare providers that are easy to understand, apply, and optimise.
Maximise the flow of resources
Allocate resources and costs to patients, care activities and episodes.
Benchmark and improve
Benchmark unit costs with national and international peers to identify areas for improvement.
Deliver, regulate and meet standards
Deliver information to national regulators automatically and in full compliance with National Cost Collection requirements.
Our activity-based budgeting model makes it possible to:
Build and benchmark budgets
Seamlessly link volumes, resources and finances in one budget.
Anticipate and respond to future demand
Match the deployment of resources and manpower to the future demand for care.
Zero in on areas for improvement
Determine how portfolio choices impact operations, and spot areas for improvement.
Involve physicians and managers in budgeting
Bottom-up budgeting functionality facilitates collaboration with non-financial stakeholders.
Our forecasting model enables you to:
Forecast and monitor volume, revenue and cost
Stay on top of expected vs. realised volumes, revenues and costs on a near real-time basis.
Analyse and factor risk into payer contracts
Automate value-at-risk calculations for all contractual agreements with commissioners.
Leverage machine learning algorithms
Build and maintain reliable, easy-to-access forecasts based on machine learning algorithms.
Produce timely, compliant reports with ease
Deliver periodic financial results that are fully compliant with national regulations.
Bring down costs by providing the right treatments, at the right time. We help you take the first step, starting with a critical assessment of treatment options and care processes.
Reduce variation among physicians and providers
Identify unwarranted variation in treatment decisions and care processes.
Deep-dive into data adjusted for meaningful differences
Compare disease-specific peer group selections adjusted for case-mix, patient characteristics and complexity scores.
Elevate commissioner contracts from volume- to value-based
Establish objective indicators to qualify for innovative value driven contracts with commissioners.
Benefits
Overall ease of use
Simple navigation with a full audit trail integrated analytics and benchmarking. No need for internal SQL skills. Costing practitioners and Trust colleagues can focus on engagement and identifying performance improvement opportunities
Hosting
- Fully hosted and secure
- No need to rely on internal IT infrastructure and resources or invest in expensive infrastructure
Engagement
- Integrated analytics so less reliance on Trust-wide BI infrastructure
- Unlimited use
- Full access control
- “Live” system enables use in meetings
Pricing
- Fully inclusive annual subscription with no hidden extras
- All Technical Consulting support included
- Unlimited use included
- Analytics included
Speed
- Fast set up and model build
- Make changes live and use for discussion in meetings
NHSI submission requirements
- Easy visualisation of how your costs relate to NHSI categories
- Automated submission outputs
Implementation
Fast turnaround with limited input required from the Trust team
More value from Costing data
- Use costing data and methodology for budgeting, forecasting, and costing care pathways
- Fully integrated financial management control platform
System working and benchmarking
- Easily configured to support group working
- Integrated benchmarking to identify performance improvement opportunities
At LOGEX, we understand that getting a grip on your data and performance should be a rewarding endeavour. Our models give you clarity and control over your operational and financial performance. Clarifying costs and optimising processes will be easier than ever!
Impact created with LOGEX Financial Control Suite
- WUTH now has confidence that they can afford to treat additional planned patients even though they will not be paid the full price.
- WUTH now understands the financial benefits that will occur if they reduce the number of bed days used by patients staying for more than 30 days and knows which specialties to focus on to achieve this.
- WUTH now knows which cohorts of patients are the most and least expensive compared to the national average. They can now focus on these to potentially achieve maximum benefits in improving patient care and hospital finances.