JFK Medical Center
2
Case Study JFK Medical Center Convergent helps JFK Medical Center reduce accounts receivable by more than 20 days. Founded in 1967, JFK Medical Center is a non-profit 498-bed community hospital in Central New Jersey. With more than 900 affiliated physicians, JFK offers a complete array of advanced services including general and specialized surgery, cardiac care, maternity and pediatric care, and emergency medicine. Issues Although JFK Medical Center made great efforts to manage their Workers’ Compensa- tion and motor vehicle accident accounts, JFK ultimately decided to seek outside help, freeing its patient account representatives to focus on managed care and government- involved payers. “Workers’ Compensation and motor vehicle accident claims have always been a problem. We wanted to find a partner to bring in the revenue from these difficult claims and free us to focus on current claims,” said Cindy Kaiser, JFK Corporate Director, Revenue Cycle. After considering other vendors, JFK chose Convergent as its revenue cycle outsourcing partner. Convergent offered JFK highly competitive rates, proven success collecting Workers’ Compensation and motor vehicle accident claims, robust tools for easy access to account information and a reputation for providing valuable education to hospital billing staff as a complimentary service. Answers Convergent immediately placed an experi- enced professional on site to gather the information needed to effectively collect on these accounts. Derek Pickell, President, Convergent Revenue Cycle Management, explained, “Convergent understands that cash flow and improved revenue are absolutely critical to the viability of any healthcare organization. Our primary focus is always to help our client partners improve their financial position from the very start of the relationship,” Convergent’s use of onsite staff also simplifies the reassignment of accounts. “We found the transition to outsourcing to be seamless with Convergent,” said Kaiser. “We were able to continue our own work with minimal disrup- tions while Convergent applied their legal bench strength to our difficult accounts.” Communications between customer and vendor drive the success of any business relationship. The Convergent web portal provides real-time summaries and interactive reports to give clients the facts and figures they need to effectively manage finances and operations. “Convergent is always able to give accurate answers on specific accounts, and the customer website is phenomenal. I can always count on finding the most up-to-date information on the work that Convergent is doing for us,” said Marilyn Smith, JFK Supervisor, Patient Accounts. Convergent included education services in the solution and regularly conducts workshops for the internal billing staff at JFK, helping to raise their effectiveness and morale. “Convergent is always able to give accurate answers on specific accounts, and the customer website is phenomenal. I can always count on finding the most up-to-date information on the work that Convergent is doing for us.” Marilyn Smith Supervisor, Patient Accounts JFK Medical Center 888.511.7901 www.convergentusa.com/healthcare Page 1
-
Upload
mattheweswain -
Category
Documents
-
view
88 -
download
1
Transcript of JFK Medical Center
Case StudyJFK Medical Center
Convergent helps JFK Medical Center reduce accounts receivable by more than 20 days.
Founded in 1967, JFK Medical Center is a non-profit 498-bed community hospital in Central New Jersey. With more than 900 affiliated physicians, JFK offers a complete array of advanced services including general and specialized surgery, cardiac care, maternity and pediatric care, and emergency medicine.
Issues
Although JFK Medical Center made great efforts to manage their Workers’ Compensa-tion and motor vehicle accident accounts, JFK ultimately decided to seek outside help, freeing its patient account representatives to focus on managed care and government-involved payers. “Workers’ Compensation and motor vehicle accident claims have always been a problem. We wanted to find a partner to bring in the revenue from these difficult claims and free us to focus on current claims,” said Cindy Kaiser, JFK Corporate Director, Revenue Cycle.
After considering other vendors, JFK chose Convergent as its revenue cycle outsourcing partner. Convergent offered JFK highly competitive rates, proven success collecting Workers’ Compensation and motor vehicle accident claims, robust tools for easy access to account information and a reputation for providing valuable education to hospital billing staff as a complimentary service.
Answers
Convergent immediately placed an experi-enced professional on site to gather the
information needed to effectively collect on these accounts. Derek Pickell, President, Convergent Revenue Cycle Management, explained, “Convergent understands that cash flow and improved revenue are absolutely critical to the viability of any healthcare organization. Our primary focus is always to help our client partners improve their financial position from the very start of the relationship,”
Convergent’s use of onsite staff also simplifies the reassignment of accounts. “We found the transition to outsourcing to be seamless with Convergent,” said Kaiser. “We were able to continue our own work with minimal disrup-tions while Convergent applied their legal bench strength to our difficult accounts.”
Communications between customer and vendor drive the success of any business relationship. The Convergent web portal provides real-time summaries and interactive reports to give clients the facts and figures they need to effectively manage finances and operations.
“Convergent is always able to give accurate answers on specific accounts, and the customer website is phenomenal. I can always count on finding the most up-to-date information on the work that Convergent is doing for us,” said Marilyn Smith, JFK Supervisor, Patient Accounts.
Convergent included education services in the solution and regularly conducts workshops for the internal billing staff at JFK, helping to raise their effectiveness and morale.
“Convergent is always able to give accurate answers on specific
accounts, and the customer website is
phenomenal.
I can always count on finding the most
up-to-date information on the work that Convergent
is doing for us.”
Marilyn SmithSupervisor, Patient Accounts
JFK Medical Center
888.511.7901 www.convergentusa.com/healthcare Page 1
These complimentary workshops target specific healthcare reimbursement issues that challenge the JFK team of billers, providing the legal and regulatory information they need to see faster, more positive results on the claims they manage.
Outcomes
For more than four years now, Convergent has been helping JFK collect on Workers’ Com-pensation and motor vehicle accident accounts. In that time, days in accounts receivable have come down substantially, from roughly 64 days at the start of the outsourcing relationship to approximately 38 days now.
“We attribute our ability to reach and maintain such a low number to the people and processes that Convergent brings to bear on the challenge of working these claims,” said Smith. “We are very pleased with our Convergent partnership and the financial results we have achieved. We know our bad debt would be much higher without them.”
Convergent’s relentless pursuit of process excellence has helped JFK improve its own internal revenue cycle processes.
“Convergent is always looking out for us,” said Kaiser. “For example, we’ve recently stream-lined our front-end processes and improved our back-end results by applying their ideas and recommendations.”
JFK recognizes that technology can contribute significantly to the effectiveness of collections efforts. The hospital is currently using manual processes for the Workers’ Compensation and motor vehicle accident claims that Convergent works. “We know that automation will improve our results,” said Kaiser. “We are talking with Convergent about putting the technology we need in place and looking forward to making that move with Convergent, building on our partnership well into the future.”
About Convergent
Formed in 1992, Convergent combines healthcare-focused legal expertise, advanced technology and superior claims reimbursement management to deliver outstanding results for more than 630 hospital clients, resolving theirmost significant receivables management challenges.
With more than 690 employees, including more than 60 healthcare attorneys, Convergent is the leading provider of solutions for non-governmental insurance, self-pay, Workers' Compensation, motor vehicle accident and aged problem claims, as well as patient access solutions. In addition to helping our clients resolve their most complex reimburse-ment issues, Convergent’s legal workshops, training and real-time interactive reporting enhance all aspects of the revenue cycle.
Learn about our services at www.convergentusa.com/healthcare.
“We are very pleased with our Convergent
partnership and the financial results we have
achieved.
We know our bad debt would be much higher
without them”
Cindy Kaiser, Director, Revenue Cycle
JFK Medical Center
Copyright © 2012 ConvergentAll rights reserved.
Convergent Revenue Cycle Management, Inc.
13575 Heathcote BoulevardSuite 300Gainesville, VA 20155888.511.7901
www.convergentusa.com/healthcare
888.511.7901 www.convergentusa.com/healthcare Page 2
