The provider was struggling to deliver 54% of authorized therapy hours (clinical utilization). The organization’s processes had grown organically without a focus on process efficiency, effectiveness, or monitoring and compliance. The leading internal hypothesis was that the technology (i.e., matching software) was inadequate due to high demand.
To uncover the drivers of underutilization, WP&C conducted a rapid assessment of clinical data to understand the organization’s ability to deliver against authorized hours throughout a patient’s lifecycle. WP&C concluded that clinician schedules were not optimized for peak patient demand, leading to underutilization and access bottlenecks. This resulted in slow patient kick-offs, low utilization, excess cancellations, and high clinician turnover.
Through data analysis and stakeholder interviews, WP&C diagnosed that low clinical utilization was driven by insufficient therapist ‘supply’ due to a cumbersome recruiting process. The provider developed an overly complex and lengthy recruiting process including multiple hand-offs that had to be coordinated across multiple roles—resulting in a slow, leaky recruiting funnel.
Patient Lifecycle Analysis showing ability to deliver authorized hours and key levers to address shortfall of authorized hours
Simplified, tech-enabled therapist recruiting, scheduling, and clinical operations were quickly implemented and generated significant results within weeks. Key actions included:
- Redesigned recruiting process, software usage, and metrics to increase therapist ‘supply’
- Standardized and clarified roles and responsibilities during the hiring process to ensure the right people interviewed the right candidates at the right time
- Reconfigured therapist-patient matching/scheduling process, software, and metrics to improve utilization
- Built shared culture and metrics management to decrease cancellations and attrition and increase visibility
The process improvements enabled the provider to:
- Increase recruiting throughput by 95%
- Create steadier schedules and decrease therapist attrition by 20%
- Increase clinical utilization from 54% to 80% within six months
- Improve EBIT by 41% within six months
