Cracking the Code
A love of numbers and a knack for solving puzzles make Ginny Kevorkian, MBA, PRC, Manager of Market Research and Planning for Beacon Health System, the perfect person to decipher the mysteries behind patient satisfaction scores and other programs of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
In fact, the Society of Healthcare Strategy & Market Development of the American Hospital Association recently published an article by Ginny about cracking the code for the CMS’ Value-Based Purchasing program, or VBP. And while VBP scores may not pop up in everyday conversation, they are very important for hospitals. VBP scores determine
whether or not a hospital will be reimbursed based on certain care measures, including outcomes, patient experience of care and clinical process of care. Ginny’s mathematical model and recommendations were so compelling that the Society has asked her to write another article for an upcoming newsletter.
“I like numbers if they can tell a story,” Ginny says. “When I do numbers, I like to analyze them: What are the drivers? How does one number relate to another? What happened to make that number occur the way it did?”
Ginny Kevorkian, MBA, PRC Manager of Market Research and Planning for Beacon Health System
Has she always liked numbers? You bet. As a child, Ginny remembers sitting in her doctor’s office and passing the time by counting the cars whizzing past. “There I was, making a little bar chart in my head with the numbers and colors of cars going down the road!”
Volunteer work as a teen candy-striper at Memorial Hospital and a job as a nurse’s aide at a local nursing home during college gave Ginny insight into the clinical realm. These experiences proved valuable as she grew in her market research career. Today, part of Ginny’s job is to help Beacon clinical managers identify ways they can impact their patient satisfaction scores.
Yolanda Emley, R.N., MSA, Ortho/Neuro and Rehab Patient Care Director at Memorial, appreciates the data Ginny provides as well as her “thoughtful and pragmatic approach.”
“She knows I like data and that I’ll dig deep attempting to discern the numbers for best and timely strategies,” Yolanda says. “Ginny has helped me specifically with patient experience relative to their discharge. We’ve been able to implement a different approach resulting from the numbers and feedback and have raised our discharge score.”
For Ginny, working closely with units to help them discover what’s behind the numbers is just plain fun.
“The real effectiveness happens when you have a conversation with the unit and they add their perspective about what was different in a particular quarter — things that the numbers don’t know,” Ginny explains. “And when you get those dynamics going on and you can get that synergy, that collaboration is what really brings forth the positive change.”
