Navigating the complexities of managing rural facilities during catastrophic events is extremely difficult and highlights existing vulnerabilities. When Hurricane Helene ravaged rural communities, Unicoi County Hospital faced unprecedented challenges. In this session, Ballad Health CIO Pam Austin will share the financial impact of the temporary closure of Unicoi and the “CIO-entrepreneur” mindset that’s required to solve problems quickly with limited resources while continuing patient care delivery amid devastation. Attendees will learn about this event’s lasting impact on the team, key lessons learned, and critical strategies for safeguarding rural health providers and their communities against future events.   

Learning Objectives:

• Illustrate the wide range of vulnerabilities that rural health systems face and the added complexities that this creates for surviving and recovering from catastrophic events.   
• Demonstrate key lessons learned for other rural health systems to leverage and plan around.  Illustrate the changes that Ballad Health has made as an organization based on the unexpected impact of this event.  
• Discuss the continued financial risks that are unique to rural facilities that we must solve for as an industry to protect our rural communities.

Speakers:

• Jason Griffin, Head of Digital Health Strategy, Nordic     
• Laura Kreofsky, Rural Health Director, Microsoft 
•  Pam Austin, CIO, Ballad Health       

ADD SESSION TO CALENDAR

Healthcare leaders are increasingly turning to clinical documentation improvement (CDI) to enhance care quality and revenue cycle performance. In this session, experts from Nordic and Monument Health will share strategies for using analytics and payer reimbursement models (focusing on APR DRG and MS-DRG) to expand CDI efforts. The collaboration led to reduced physician documentation burden, improved accuracy, and increased revenue. Attendees will also learn the value of ongoing education for providers and staff to support program growth and enhance the patient experience.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify targeted conditions for CDI program expansion using analytics and payer reimbursement methodologies with an emphasis on APR DRG and MS-DRG reimbursements.
• Explain the importance of establishing ongoing education for providers, coders, and clinical documentation specialists to improve documentation accuracy and minimize the need for queries.
• Examine the value of case prioritization automation to perform deeper reviews on targeted conditions.