Consolidation between hospitals and physician groups is real. So are their patients’ higher deductibles, coinsurance, and copays, and overall large increase in self-pay receivables all impact billing office workflows.
Until recently, it was common for a fully integrated healthcare delivery system to be operating two separate and distinct patient accounting systems. But health systems operate on razor-thin margins, so they must spend less time trying to collect, and more time posting full, accurate payments and avoiding rework. Download this report now to learn more about how Bank of America, working with health systems running Epic and utilizing its Single Billing Office functions, can make measurable progress on these objectives.
The move to a single billing office or a consolidated patient financial service center is one key: providing a single point of contact for hospitals and physicians.
Banks are deploying state-of-the-art technology to help. An experienced banking partner can ensure a successful integration – reconciling health plan payments and remittances.
Technologies such as scannable lockboxes can facilitate the posting of patient payments and customized data feeds representing payment transactions. The result: increased automation, fewer AR days, greater billing process accuracy, and turn-key, patient-friendly billing processes.
In a new HealthLeaders Roundtable Report, Innovative Approaches to Optimizing Revenue Cycle Operations at Healthcare Providers, learn about the latest trends and important strategies for ensuring a seamless transition to a Single Billing Office powered by Epic EHR technology.
Participants in this panel include:
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Olusegun Ishmael, medical director of occupational health and ER physician, Paris (Illinois) Community Hospital
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Krishna Ramachandran, chief administrative officer, DuPage Medical Group, Downers Grove, Illinois
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Melinda Ramsdell, senior vice president and senior treasury sales manager, Southeast healthcare and institutions, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Orlando, Florida
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Marti Strand, chief revenue cycle officer, Allegeny Health Network, Pittsburgh
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Christopher Cheney (moderator), senior finance editor, HealthLeaders Media
Consolidating into one billing system is friendlier to the patient, but it can result in a more complicated receivable, because there may be several accounts represented on a single statement. Learn how banks can electronically reconcile deposits to the electronic remittance forms, posting payments more quickly and efficiently. This automated process involves the bank developing customized data feeds and placing a digital deposit record into the system.
Simplified billing allows organizations to have fewer staff doing billing and collections, and allows them to collect cash more quickly. The metrics show enhancements in AR days, improved cash flow, and working capital.
The huge investment health systems are making in Epic is all about capturing all of the right data the first time. But banking experience is critical – in integrating with Epic and in meeting key metrics: better cash flow, better posting rates, fewer bad debts, a decrease in AR days, an increase in recovery of denied or underpaid claims, fewer paper processes, and greater overall efficiency.
Single Billing Office consolidations are incorporating physician, group, home health, and hospital information on the same billing statement. As providers process incoming cash from such statements, Epic provides some necessary functions to reconcile this cash to the appropriate accounts, but partners such as Bank of America are playing a key role in rounding out those functions.
In particular, Bank of America is helping health systems create a single lockbox to manage all these payments. In this report, learn also how providers are generating clean claims and avoiding expensive and time-consuming rework later on in the revenue cycle.
Download this Roundtable Report today to learn more.
Scott Mace is a contributing writer for HealthLeaders.