Medical Account Solutions’ programs have helped healthcare organizations in various ways. The following case study is just one of the many successful programs we have implemented. This case study describes how we helped a small urban hospital network improve cash flow.
Improve Cash Flow:
Urban Hospital Network
Facility:
Our client, an urban healthcare organization consisting of three hospitals with 580 beds, has In-Patient admissions of 23,000 per year as well as over 296,000 Out-Patient visits per year.
Challenge:
The hospital system hired a new Chief Financial Officer to administer all financial responsibilities of the health system. The new CFO quickly recognized that the system was well under budget in terms of cash collections, thereby creating a considerable cash flow crisis throughout the organization. Net cash collections were just under $250,000,000 for all three facilities. The dilemma with cash collections was due to both front end (patient registration, etc.) and back end (billing, collections, etc.) systems and procedures utilized by the system. The CFO understood that sweeping changes were needed in those areas in order to generate improved cash flow.
Solution:
MAS was already successfully providing various accounts receivable services to the hospital system, including Day-One Billing and Insurance Follow-Up Programs. While reviewing these services and results with MAS, the new CFO voiced the cash flow concerns and MAS offered our Revenue Management Enhancement Program as the solution.
The Revenue Management Enhancement Program was designed specifically to improve cash collections and cash flow. MAS’ unique approach was to combine our management skills and resources with the management staff and resources of the hospital system by:
- Improving the quality and completeness of information gathered on the front end registration process, resulting in fewer resources expended on back end processes
- Reviewing and improving the hospital system’s Charge Master, thus increasing charges
- Negotiating and renegotiating improved rates of managed care contracts
- Improving the timeliness and processing of coding and information in Medical Records
- Improving reimbursement management techniques which resulted in enhanced rates and retroactive adjustments
- Improving collection methods and information processes within Patient Accounts
- Adding resources to and improving billing, re-billing and follow-up processes within Patient Accounts
- Improving the review process, monitoring and follow through related to appeals and denials by Case Management
- Creating and implementing the use of Management Reports not previously utilized
Results:
The implementation of MAS Revenue Management Enhancement Program by the hospital system has resulted in improvements of cash collections of $77,000,000 per year with improvements of over $200,000,000 in a four year period.
Conclusion:
The importance of restructuring the processes of cash collection and generally overhauling the way the health system collected money was the key to the success of this program. The improvements generated by MAS Revenue Management Enhancement Program left the hospital system with permanent solutions for enhancing their cash collection policies for years to come.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Absolutely tremendous case study!
There is simply no denying that improving cash flow should always be a priority on any business’s action item list… regardless of the size or type of the business.
As a marketing coach and strategist with Online Marketing Muscle a company that works with small business owners every day, we see cash flow as one of the biggest and most pressing challenges they face. One that is so often overlooked or hidden from as if it would ever go away by ignoring it.
It certainly appears that MAS is a very viable option for any healthcare organization seeking better, more lucrative cash flow. Thanks for sharing this!