- Co-management partnerships are an alternative to revenue cycle outsourcing.
- RPA bots can help boost performance around denials.
- Make co-management changes when your institution is already financially stable.
Rush University System for Health CFO John P. Mordach says the co-management model aims to improve everything from coding and billing to employee satisfaction.
In the revenue cycle setting, changes from regulators and payers are often swift and constant.
“I think in this very fast-paced environment in healthcare, particularly on the revenue cycle side, there’s so much change coming,” says John P. Mordach SVP and CFO at Rush University System for Health (RUSH). “From the revenue cycle standpoint, it’s challenging to keep up with all of that.”
Some revenue cycles turn to outsourcing to help them navigate the tumult. But Mordach says RUSH elected not to go that route. Instead, it’s partnering with R1 RCM for a co-management model that Mordach says aims to improve everything from coding and billing to employee satisfaction.
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“Our net patient revenue is approximately $2.4 billion a year,” he says. “With all of that volume, there’s just tremendous opportunity to improve how we code, how we document all the great care that we’re doing and keep up with the regulations in a more timely manner.”
RUSH isn’t alone in opting for co-management partnerships. For instance, in 2016, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Medicine entered into a seven-year partnership with Navigant (which was acquired by Guidehouse last year) to streamline the entire revenue cycle from top to bottom.
From when that partnership began in October 2016 through June 2018, UAB Medicine realized $68.7 million in savings through a combination of cash acceleration, reduced costs, and net revenue increases.
The RUSH/R1 partnership will consist of two main parts, the details of which are still being determined, says Mordach. The partnership’s components are:
A co-management model that will embed technology, automation, enterprisewide performance analytics, and best practices into RUSH’s Epic EMR workflow. In addition, 12–15 of R1’s managers are expected to join RUSH’s existing management team throughout the revenue cycle to help RUSH improve the collections and denials process.
RUSH and R1 will launch an “innovation lab” to deliver analytics-enabled value-based care solutions to the larger healthcare market. The partnership will also tap Rush University to train the next generation of revenue cycle leaders, with curriculum development help from R1. Although Mordach says they’re “just on the initial path of this long-term journey,” he says that part of this relationship will include scholarship funding for minority students.
Mordach says he believes the partnership will be an education, recruitment, and retention tool for the health system.
“[W]e can attract people that want to work at RUSH on the revenue cycle and know that this is a way for them to advance in the organization and to further sharpen their skills and keep up with things,” he says.
Mordach also believes now’s a great time for the health system to make such a move because it is in such strong shape financially.
“Good management plans for challenges proactively ahead and doesn’t wait to react,” he says.
HealthLeaders asked Mordach to discuss the new partnership, including why co-management was a better option for RUSH than outsourcing. The conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
Source: Health Leaders Media