GPs embrace IT solutions to help with new commissioning role
Yorks CCGs among first to automate data analysis in a bid to avoid cash flow crisis
GP consortia are beginning to pave the way for the 2013 switchover by investing in software solutions that will aid financial and commissioning decision-making.
The Skegness and Coast Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and South Elmsall and Rycroft CCG in west Yorkshire are among the first to install iQ Medical’s Budget and Data Manager to validate SUS data and extract and analyse other vital information held on existing clinical systems.
The move comes shortly after news that some GP groups are sliding into the red as they try to get to grips with their new role. Some reports have suggested as many as two thirds of consortia are now in severe financial difficulty, just a year before they take over overall control for healthcare commissioning.
For the CCG to be successful, it is crucial to record and access accurate and consistent information, which then permits detailed analysis
The Skegness and Coast CCG comprises seven practices all with SystmOne clinical systems. All these organisations are now following the same data entry process in order to ensure consistency of reporting on individual practice data, and consolidating this information into one CCG-wide report.
Jeannie Bee, executive partner at the Spilsby practice said: “For the CCG to be successful, it is crucial to record and access accurate and consistent information, which then permits detailed analysis.”
The iQ system looks at everything from GP referrals and admission and discharge dates to episode types, referral sources, and excess bed days. It also takes into consideration QIPP targets and national and local tariffs.
The White Rose surgery, which is part of the South Elmsall and Rycroft CCG, uses an EMIS web clinical system to record patient data.
Practice manager, Karen Whitfield, said: “Only by analysing the data for our 32,000 patients will we be able to review performance and improve the way clinical pathways can be improved to deliver better patient care and control costs. iQ Budget and Data Manager is the only way we can do this with the minimum of management intervention.”
With the onus on CCGs to prove their management and financial competence in time for full authorisation, which commences in October, more and more CCGs are realising the advantages of automating data collection to properly reconcile budgets
Graham Poulter, managing director of iQ Medical, added: “Our focus is to deliver accurate information to support commissioning decisions and accountability for the CCG budgets.
“With the onus on CCGs to prove their management and financial competence in time for full authorisation, which commences in October, more and more CCGs are realising the advantages of automating data collection to properly reconcile budgets.”
He added that the alternative of manually compiling and analysing all the complex data locked in GP practice systems would cost thousands of pounds a month in staff time, so automating the process will save commissioning groups time and money.
“By marrying primary and secondary clinical data at a GP practice level to automatically forecast accurate treatment costs and verify invoices from primary and secondary care providers, we are predicting that iQ Budget and Data Manager could save the average size practice and CCG input around £3,000 a month in management time,” he said.
