Case Study
Outsourced Business Office Transforms Accounts Receivable, Increases Cash
- Customer: Harlan County Health System (HCHS)
- Challenge: Optimize MEDITECH to decrease accounts receivable (A/R) via outsourced business office
Results
- Days in A/R decreased more than 60%
- Payments increased by 34%
- Insurance A/R aged over 181 days reduced from 5.5% to only 0.017% of overall A/R
- A/R aged over 90 days reduced to 1.41%, far below the industry benchmark of 10%
Working with Tegria has transformed our A/R. Their MEDITECH expertise has been extremely beneficial to our workflows and processes. They share their knowledge and have become a wonderful resource for everyone on the HCHS team.
STACY NEUBAUERCEO, Harlan County Health System
Background and Challenge
In July 2021, HCHS made the decision to outsource its business office to Tegria. The rural health system, which operates a 19-bed Critical Access Hospital (CAH) and a medical clinic in Alma, Neb., needed to streamline operations and reduce A/R. When the engagement began, average days in A/R was 97 and insurance A/R aged over 181 days was 5.5% of overall A/R. HCHS needed a partner with deep MEDITECH expertise to help optimize workflows and processes. Great customer service and the ability to foster and maintain a close business-client relationship were also top priorities.
Solution
Tegria provided a fully outsourced business office for the HCHS team that frees them to focus on caring for their community. The expert team not only billed and collected A/R, they also detected flaws and system build issues within MEDITECH. Tegria’s billing and analyst teams worked together to resolve many MEDITECH system issues that were causing denials or delays in payments to HCHS.
The suite of business office services provided to HCHS includes revenue cycle consulting and optimization, billing insurance verification, coding denials and appeals, patient statements and phone calls, and payment processing. HCHS Controller Cheryl Saathoff said, “The Tegria team goes above and beyond to assist us with our needs, and we share a close relationship. Their exceptional expertise and commitment foster our continued growth.”
Results
Over 24 months, Tegria’s partnership with HCHS successfully decreased days in A/R by more than 60% and increased payments by 34%. Insurance A/R aged over 181 days was reduced from 5.5% to only 0.017% of overall A/R. A/R aged over 90 days was reduced to 1.41%, which is far below the industry benchmark of 10%.