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Gundersen Health System CFO Details AI Command Center

Analysis  |  By Jack O'Brien  
   June 16, 2020

Gundersen CFO Jerry Oetzel said that he is expecting a five-to-one return on investment from the project.

Gundersen Health System announced Tuesday morning that it is partnering with Olive, a health technology firm based in Columbus, Ohio, for an onsite, artificial intelligence (AI) command center.

The health system, based in La Crosse, Wisconsin, is now using Olive's AlphaSite command center to "automate critical, yet labor and data-intensive tasks," according to a press release.

In addition to the AI technological support, Olive will provide three to four technicians and engineers to assist Gundersen's existing revenue cycle team, according to Jerry Oetzel, CFO at Gundersen.

Related: How Gundersen Harnessed Data to Reduce Orthopedic Costs

He told HealthLeaders that the organization lacked a chief revenue cycle officer when he joined last year, so he decided to personally "evaluate processes and technology" behind those operations.

Oetzel, a member of the HealthLeaders CFO Exchange, said his major finding was that the processes had not changed since he was first actively involved in revenue cycle more than 20 years ago, citing the continued reliance on paper processes in discussions and reviews with payers.

After looking for a solution to reduce these time-intensive processes, Oetzel selected Olive based in part on what he referred to as their "deep relationship" on the cost-saving effort.

"I selected Olive because they're only in healthcare [and] specialize in revenue cycle, but what stood out is that deep relationship," Oetzel said. "They share the same risk as Gundersen; they don't get paid unless they're able to demonstrate the effects of their technology and initiatives on my bottom line. I do the accounting, it's not hypothetical or theoretical. We do the accounting on the recording of savings."

Related: Gundersen, Marshfield Clinic Call Off Merger Talks

Though the indications of the effects of Olive's technology at Gundersen are "too early," according to Oetzel, he said that he is expecting a five-to-one return on investment from the project.

Oetzel also stated that the operations improvements delivered by Olive, specifically the savings related to the reduced cost of care, will be passed along by Gundersen to its payers.

The system, he added, has already started using the technology to address "largely manual" work streams, such as processing invoices, and is now looking at how Olive can assist with denial management.

"Every time we think we have a handle on the issues that are causing payer denials, the payers just switch the rules up," Oetzel said. "It doesn't seem like over a long period we make any progress at all. The predictive analysts within Olive, I believe, will help us. They're bringing us the technology closer to what the payers have."

Related: Gundersen Health System, Wabasha Medical Center Exploring Possible Affiliation

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Jack O'Brien is the Content Team Lead and Finance Editor at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.


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