After initiating one solution in her practice's revenue cycle, one leader is eager to expand, but with careful consideration.
Despite fluctuating levels of satisfaction and cybersecurity fears, which many revenue cycle executives share, Sherri Lewis maintains that she’s excited to see how rev tech evolves and hopefully makes operations more efficient and alleviate some strain on staff.
When she joined the BoulderCentre for Orthopedics & Spine two years ago as director of revenue cycle, the practice had recently invested in an accounts received platform with Rivet. However, her predecessor had yet to implement or train staff on the software, making it her first task in her new role.
The practice tried to supplement the AR platform with a highly recommended prior authorization software but issues with its interface have left them with a predominately manual process, albeit managed by one staff member. Since the AR platform’s implementation in September 2022, it’s brought in $1.1 million in pre-collections.
“We’re actually looking at [additional solutions] right now, but [what we’re looking for] is return on investment,” Lewis told HealthLeaders.
“Scalability, are [vendors] going to be flexible with us? What’s the training? Do they have good references? Are they interfaced with the same software we’re using?”
Despite the setback, Lewis has embraced the rev tech boom with a cautious, yet optimistic enthusiasm, and doing her own research. Having recently demoed a transcription solution for medical coding, she questioned where the data was going and what was done with it.
“My doctors are nervous about it, and I would love it if it worked well,” she said. “I don’t want to take people’s jobs away, but there is so much they could do on the other side of it, like collecting our outstanding accounts receivable.”
The billing department receives around 40 phone calls a day, which are time consuming for front desk staff to handle, so it has also looked at a vendor that uses bots to manage phone lines.
There’s a misconception that when a health system or provider begins implementing technology into its revenue cycle, that they’re replacing staff, but according to Lewis, this isn’t the case. The misconception itself comes from a lack of transparency and communication between executives to revenue cycle staff.
“I think every practice has their own culture and our culture here in Boulder is very much a ‘buy-in culture,’” she explained. “I think we’re doing some good team building to try to get our employees to see the benefit as a whole.”
User-friendly payment methods also helped drive the AR platform’s pre-collection success. Patients can view and pay their bills through their patient portal, and Lewis was able to institute card on file payments, which the practice didn’t have previously.
Going forward, she hopes to see revenue cycle staff expand their knowledge of rev tech for their own growth and to keep up with the evolving solutions.
“I’d like to see it as an adjunct to our practice, not to replace people,” Lewis said. “I’d like consistency with it if it could be that way.”
Jasmyne Ray is the revenue cycle editor at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
When there are multiple tech solutions present in revenue cycle processes, they must be able to interface with one another to ensure smooth workflow.
While staff may fear that rev tech could impact their jobs, Lewis believes the solutions can allow them to work on tasks they typically don't have time for.