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Improving Productivity Performance with EPH

EPH Productivity v2

There is a massive opportunity for productivity improvements in most practices in the mid-revenue cycle, and the ROI for increased productivity for these practices is usually $100k or more per year. Once practices have identified this opportunity, how do they make these productivity improvements? It's often said, "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it." That is why using a KPI called Encounters per Hour, or EPH, to measure rev cycle productivity is the first step to improving it.

What is EPH?

Encounters per Hour, or EPH, is a KPI that measures the number of encounters that coders can process in an hour. Based on our own research and two outside studies, the national average EPH is 21. Our client average is 173 EPH.

If you are not measuring EPH today, we have a comprehensive guide to help you understand why and how you should begin measuring this KPI in your practice. Download your free copy of our eBook, What the Heck is EPH?!

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Using EPH to Improve Performance

Before we explain how to use EPH to improve productivity performance in your practice, here is the evidence that this works.

Back in 2018 when we first started measuring EPH, we measured it across our client base of over 100 large independent practices, and our average EPH was 90. Of course, compared to the national average this is excellent. It is 4x more productive. However, we knew that our clients were capable of improvement. We also wanted to discover whether there was a point at which the productivity improvements level out.

Once we had gathered our baseline EPH across the client base, we began to analyze the data. Our experts met with our clients to uncover the top items that needed to be changed in order to improve their productivity. After a year of this, we took another measurement across our client base. In 2019, our average EPH jumped from 90 to 142. This was amazing improvement! But we didn't stop there. In 2020, our client average was 173.

How to Use EPH to Improve Productivity

  1. Use data to uncover your baseline EPH, benchmark EPH, and target EPH (we discuss this in a previous blog post linked here.)
  2. Dig into the data to discover the top 3-5 areas that need improvement over the next 30-65 days.
  3. Repeat step 2 until the target EPH is reached.

We have seen these steps work time and time again. With insightful data, productivity experts, and behavioral coaches, practices can take the right steps to gain a 5x productivity improvement in 6 months. We guarantee 105 EPH in 6 months for new clients, and we are confident in this ability because of the 100% success rate we have had with all our clients who have completed this process.

If you want help measuring your EPH, or if you want to know more about the ROI this would have in your practice, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or request a custom practice analysis.