The appointment comes as the pediatric health system contemplates staff cuts and relocating services in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and declining birth rates.
Veteran healthcare executive Bess Musser has been named vice president of revenue services at Children's Minnesota, the Twin Cities-based pediatric heath system announced Monday.
"I look forward to joining Children's Minnesota and hitting the ground running during a critical time as the organization focuses on growing and enhancing its current revenue cycle performance," Musser said in a media release. "I am thrilled to have the opportunity to put my expertise to work for an organization that is so vital to our community."
Musser duties will include implementing strategies to improve revenue cycle performance, in partnership with leaders and teams across the organization.
In addition, she will manage the system-wide process for the end-to-end revenue cycle functions, including patient access, health information management, patient financial services, billing, coding, regulatory compliance, accounts receivable, and budgeting and reporting.
Musser comes to Children's Minnesota as the state's largest pediatric hospital contemplates major reforms that could include staff cuts and a relocation of services from St. Paul to Minneapolis.
In an interview this month with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Children's CEO Marc Gorelick, MD, said the changes were part of a broader plan to transition some services to virtual care, and improve supplies acquisitions and financial services.
"It's been a long time since we've had significant layoffs at Children's," Gorelick told the newspaper, adding that the redesigns are not entirely motivated by COVID-19 but by long term trends.
"One of them is declining birthrates. One of them is increased emphasis on value-based care" contracts that change reimbursements from health insurers," Gorelick said.
Messer joins Children's Minnesota after 20 years at University of Minnesota Physicians, working in various capacities that focused on operational improvement initiatives, including the transition to integrated electronic health-practice management.
Before that, Musser was a senior consultant at McGladrey & Pullen, LLC.
"Beth is known for her ability to innovate across the revenue cycle and for her drive to challenge the status quo to advance the organization," said Brenda McCormick, CFO at Children's.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to put my expertise to work for an organization that is so vital to our community.”
Beth Musser, Children's Minnesota
John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.
Photo credit: Courtesy Minnesota's Children
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Musser duties will include implementing strategies to improve revenue cycle performance, in partnership with leaders and teams across the organization.
In addition, she will manage the system-wide process for the end-to-end revenue cycle functions, including patient access, health information management, patient financial services, billing, coding, regulatory compliance, accounts receivable, and budgeting and reporting.
Musser comes to Children's Minnesota as the state's largest pediatric hospital contemplates major reforms that could include staff cuts and a relocation of services from St. Paul to Minneapolis.