About Renal Physicians of Montgomery County, P.A.
Renal Physicians of Montgomery County, P.A. opened in 1982 in Texas, under the direction of Dr. Barry N. Neeland. Today, the practice has four locations with three nephrologists and eight staff, including three Medical Assistants. The team at Renal Physicians of Montgomery County is highly regarded for their expertise in kidney health.
The Problem
As the office manager of one of the region’s oldest and largest Nephrology groups, Jaime Harris was always on the lookout for opportunities to improve daily operations and spread awareness of the practice’s expertise.
After working in the office for four years, prior to becoming office manager, Harris identified a major opportunity to enhance the practice’s CMS Quality Payment Program for MIPS reporting. The team was eager to reap the benefits of reporting and improving their standards for patient care, but the first company they partnered with took nearly seven months to implement a program that, in the end, was set up incorrectly.
The Solution
Fortunately, Harris wasn’t discouraged, and partnered with Tangible Solutions to get the results she desired. Renal Physicians of Montgomery County began using the Happe-Analytics dashboard to manage their MIPS reporting for the 2018-2019 year.
“It has been super nice,” Harris said of her experience with Tangible. “I have told any and everybody about Happe-Analytics because it has been able to completely streamline the [reporting] process.”
Happe-Analytics’ flexibility makes it easy to use. Harris said, “It’s very hard for us to find different measures to work with because we’re a speciality practice. With Happe-Analytics, I was able to take the measures that we were going to use, plug them into our system and make it so that everything is a clickable approach for our physicians.”
“Once you hit 100% it’s like, we have to have that every year. You won’t accept anything less.”
Like with any new workflow or technology, there is always a learning curve, but Harris appreciated the accessibility of this solution because, “the more difficult you make it for everybody the less they’re going to do it. Now it’s second nature to them.”
By the end of the year, the team at Renal Physicians of Montgomery County reached 100% reporting.
The Results: Going for Gold
When Harris learned about the Texas Medical Foundation Physician Practice Quality Improvement Award, through an email from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, she knew it was a chance to recognize the hard work the team put in to receive a perfect reporting score.
The TMF Physician Practice Quality Improvement Award recognizes practices that have improved patient outcomes in high-priority clinical areas while applying innovative strategies to advance quality health care. Harris submitted information on the team and the improvements they made, highlighting how they “went from not reporting, to working with Tangible and making 100%.”
When TMF requested proof of their scores, it was easy to produce. Happe-Analytics can provide reports on any value-based program the practice participates in. Some of the measures the physicians and MAs at Renal Physicians of Montgomery County reported on included:
- Preventative care
- BMI index
- Control high blood pressure
- Care plan
- Unhealthy alcohol use
- Elder maltreatment
- Influenza
Around six months after applying, Harris was notified that Renal Physicians of Montgomery County, P.A. won the Gold Award from TMF for their improvements in the 2018-2019 year.
The Future
Harris acknowledged that receiving the Gold Award would not have been possible without their partnership with Tangible Solutions.
“There’s no way I could do it without Happe-Analytics, because it streamlined this [reporting] so I can make sure I’m doing my part and it can pull information to make sure I’m doing it correctly.”
This excitement has also been shared with her team members, who were presented the Gold Award plaque at their Christmas luncheon.
“It’s nice to get a bump in percentage, but the team doesn’t see that,” said Harris of their reporting efforts. “This is something for the staff to show them what their hard work accomplished.”
With help from Happe-Analytics, Harris has successfully gotten the office in order and is eager for more opportunities, programs and managed care contracts in the future.
“Once you hit 100% it’s like, we have to have that every year. You won’t accept anything less,” Harris said of her expectations. “I’m always looking for opportunities…new measures or changes to the system.”
