Clinical Efficiency Calculator

Clinical Efficiency Calculator Purpose

The purpose of this calculator is to estimate the financial benefit associated with expanding provider reach and capability to optimally care for patients by including an outreach worker on the care team.This calculator asks for an estimate in the reduction in billable provider time that could be achieved by having an outreach worker contribute to patient care (e.g. nutrition education, referral management, medication adherence).

This ability to expand provider reach will have greater financial benefits in payment reform models that are based upon a capitated/global payment model rather than fee-for-service models that pay for provider visits only.

The calculator assumes that providers continue to see patients for the same number of hours per day. The calculator also allows you to estimate a percentage of patient visits for which outreach services may reduce provider time. This calculator may not be applicable to your health center depending on how your outreach program is structured, including the level of integration between the outreach program and clinical services as well as the qualifications of your outreach staff.

Please Note: This tool could also be applied to improvements in clinical efficiency through adding other members besides outreach workers to the care team. In order to use the tool in this way, simply replace the estimated annual cost currently showing for an outreach worker with your estimated total annual cost (including salary, fringe, and overhead) for the team member you would like to add.

Use the Clinical Efficiency Calculator if:

• There are tasks that providers are currently doing that an outreach worker could do at your health center (ex: nutrition education, referral management, medication adherence, etc).
• You are interested in calculating the estimated financial benefit of improving provider efficiency by including an outreach worker on the care team.