Business Intelligence Network - The Vision for BI and Beyond

Experian’s Customer Base in the United States and Canada Increases by 50 Percent

Published: June 26, 2008

Healthcare institutions deployed Experian QAS to ensure patient data quality and privacy, shorten revenue cycles and increase patient satisfaction.

Experian QAS, a part of Experian R specializing in customer data quality software and services, recently announced that its healthcare provider customer base in the United States and Canada has grown by 50 percent during the past 12 months. These healthcare institutions deployed Experian QAS to ensure patient data quality and privacy, shorten revenue cycles and increase patient satisfaction.

Experian QAS solutions improve the quality of patient contact data input into any underlying application, from market-leading enterprise solutions to internally developed systems. The quality of patient contact information such as a patient's address has a direct impact on many clinical and business functions including finance, health records management, diagnostic imaging, decision support and scheduling.

Point-of-entry address verification ensures that patient data is complete and accurate before being submitted to hospital databases and information systems. In turn, clinical correspondence and follow-up care information will be sent to a deliverable address and billing documents reach intended recipients on the first attempt.

The importance of accurate, standardized patient contact information was evident from the results of a March 2008 research survey of patient finance and patient access decision makers conducted by MindSearch and commissioned by Experian QAS. Nearly 90 percent of hospital executives and managers surveyed rated patient address accuracy either extremely or very important.

"We have an obligation as a healthcare provider to make sure our data is accurate," said Marnie Fletcher, Director of Health Information Services & Chief Privacy Officer at St. Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton. "An incorrect address for a patient or family physician represents a potential breach of patient privacy. We looked for a tool that would help ensure that we always obtain the correct address and that the address would be captured in a standardized manner and is consistent with our external reporting
obligations."