Hospital revenue project recognised with industry award
Southern’s Finance and Performance Directorate were recently acknowledged at the 2024 HFMA Australia Health Finance Awards, highlighting their contribution and leadership in healthcare finance, with a focus on improving clinical documentation.
Accurate clinical documentation improvement is a critical part of the revenue cycle in healthcare, as it helps to ensure that billing results are accurate by reflecting the clinical care a patient receives.
Southern’s Director of Operational Performance, Kavitha Gunaseelan, was recognised for her work improving revenue performance, leading a 21% increase in National Weighted Activity Unit (NWAU) improvement, enhancing clinical documentation and stakeholder engagement, while Southern’s Finance and Performance team were honoured for their work in the ‘Team of the Year’ category for improving clinical documentation and patient care, achieving a top state performance in NWAU.
In May 2023, Southern NSW Local Health District partnered with Clinical Documentation Improvement Australia (CDIA) to launch the Revenue Optimisation Project, focused on improving our NWAU performance. The NWAU is a way to compare and value public hospital services, such as emergency department presentations, admissions, and outpatient episodes.
Improved clinical documentation not only better measures and manage the direct impact of the care delivery on reimbursement, it also better communicate the patients’ health to the spectrum of health professionals and facilitates research by improving our categorisation of the patient’s diagnosis.