Per-patient productivity formula aids scheduling
March 1, 1998 2 minutes read
Per-patient productivity formula aids scheduling
The new scheduling math
While many agencies hire a nurse supervisor for a 40-hour position and hope that they have enough patients to justify the hours, Sonia Logsdon, RN, BSN, manager of the private sector for Commonwealth Health Care in Virginia Beach, VA, didn’t think this was the best method. Instead, she developed a per patient allowance for the number of hours a nurse can spend with a patient.
"In private duty, we have to watch our bottom line closely. With the formula I developed, we are able to meet patients’ needs while making money and still schedule staff so that their needs are met, too," Logsdon says.
Formula based on Medicaid guidelines
Logsdon based her formula on the state of Virginia Medicaid guidelines, which require community-based agencies to provide one nursing supervisor for every 35 patients. She divided 35 patients, which is a typical month’s census, into 40 hours, which is a typical week’s workload.
This yielded a result of 1.1 hours that a nurse could spend with a each patient per visit. She added another .1 to that model to encompass agency expectations like inservices and paperwork. Logsdon will even push the visit to 1.3 hours if a nurse supervisor feels that certain patients need more time to complete their care program.
"Any private duty agency can benefit from using this formula," says Logsdon. "Whether the agency is in Alaska, New York, or here in Virginia, pay rates fluctuate with the market. The formula adapts to this. So, agencies just have to plug in their going rate of service."
Logsdon says her costs for salaries and overhead come directly from the one rate she charges the patient; therefore, the 1.1 hours a supervisor works plus any paperwork or administrative duties must come out of this money.
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