Success Story
Enhancing the Revenue Cycle
Challenge | Solutions | Results | Value
Process improvement and best practices helped this medical center to accelerate cash, reduce accounts receivable, and improve all revenue cycle functions
Bottlenecked cash flow, excessive days in accounts receivables, and backlogged accounts in denied claims prompted a 222-bed, county-owned, West Coast medical center and academic teaching hospital to turn to ACS Healthcare Solutions for help in improving the revenue cycle. By forging a strong revenue cycle team and developing improved billing and registration processes, ACS Healthcare Solutions guided the medical center to increased collections, better productivity, reduction in accounts receivables, and increased cash collections with a few months.
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The Challenge
With days in accounts receivable at 127 and an average of 33 days from procedure to bill, cash at the Medical Center was log-jammed. The Board of Directors engaged ACS Healthcare Solutions for a three-year period to provide cash acceleration and revenue cycle improvement.
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The Solution
During the first four months of the project, we:
- Brought in a Project Director to oversee all aspects of the engagement
- Placed ACS Healthcare Solutions consultants in Interim Management roles over Patient Accounting and Medical Records
- Added additional ACS Healthcare Solutions consultants to focus on such areas as admitting, registration, billing, information technology, and system integration
During this time, ACS Healthcare Solutions established the framework of a detailed work plan by department to identify the tasks and resources required to accomplish targeted results and provide baseline tracking reports. Best practice solutions were initiated within the billing, medical records, case management and outpatient registration areas.
Additional resources - through an agreement with a national AR firm – were engaged to immediately address the high volume of aged accounts receivable.
ACS Healthcare Solutions designed and developed a series of AR management reports that afford greater focus and management of results.
Cross training throughout the revenue cycle operations and a series of permanent meetings between Medical Center and ACS Healthcare Solutions staff improved the overall communications among various hospital departments involved in the revenue cycle.
Standing bi-monthly steering committee meetings between Medical Center senior management and senior ACS Healthcare Solutions staff elevated awareness of all revenue cycle issues.
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The Results
Within a few months ACS Healthcare Solutions had:
- Effected a $4.4 million improvement in payments during the first six months
- Reduced the amount of unbilled claims from a high of $27 million to $5 million
- Achieved a ratio of accounts per biller in the first month more appropriate to national standards by implementing a technology and service solution for backlogged accounts in denied claims over sixty days old.
- Reduced accounts held by $1,000,000 in month two by working the outstanding invoices for Treatment Authorization Requests.
- Completed the placement of $30 million in accounts aged over 60 days to a national AR firm
- Achieved streamlined workflows and improved morale throughout the revenue cycle.
- Decreased the coding backlog by 50% by the end of month three.
- Set new standards for teamwork by forging alliances throughout the revenue cycle team focused on the improvement of data integrity, correct assignment of diagnosis and procedure coding, and development of best practice billing and collection procedures.
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Real Value
The Medical Center has realized immediate benefits of:
- Accelerated cash flow
- Reduced days in accounts receivables
- Effective, streamlined revenue cycle processes
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Contact Us
Contact us today to learn more about our revenue cycle improvement services.
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