{"id":3888,"date":"2025-02-21T11:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T11:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/?p=3888"},"modified":"2025-02-21T11:00:48","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T11:00:48","slug":"boost-self-pay-collections-novant-health-cone-healths-patient-collections-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/?p=3888","title":{"rendered":"Boost self-pay collections: Novant Health & Cone Health\u2019s patient collections success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Collecting patient payments is an ongoing struggle. Bills are confusing, reminders go missed and patients can\u2019t always afford to pay. Rising self-pay costs, new medical debt mitigation regulations, Medicaid changes and staff shortages all put added pressure on billing teams. The result is often poor patient financial experiences<\/a><\/strong>, wasted staff time and bad debt. As revenue cycle managers figure out a path forward in today\u2019s complex \u2013 and costly \u2013 healthcare environment, analytics-based collections optimization could be the answer.<\/p>\n

Solutions like Collection Optimization Manager<\/a><\/strong> help providers quickly understand a patient\u2019s ability and willingness to pay with screening and segmentation models, identify charity eligibility and implement effective patient billing outreach plans. This article summarizes a recent webinar<\/strong><\/a> with two longtime users, Wendi Cardwell of Novant Health and Wanda Taylor of Cone Health, who have successfully partnered with Experian Health to streamline collections, increase self-pay revenue and humanize patient financial experiences through segmentation and automation.<\/p>\n

How collections optimization boosts revenue<\/h2>\n

Cari Cesaro-Hoffman, Senior Director\u2013Enterprise Consultant for Collections Optimization Manager at Experian Health, set the stage with observations on how collections optimization solutions, like segmentation and automation, help providers maximize collections<\/a><\/strong> and engage patients compassionately.<\/p>\n

\u201cSegmentation is the driver of successful patient billing cycles. It guides the team to focus on collections with those patients or guarantors with a higher likelihood to pay while helping to create patient-centric, positive patient financial experiences. Automation<\/a> <\/strong>and customized operational processes embedded within collections optimization enhance the process even further.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having the right collections optimization partner<\/a><\/strong> is critical. Both Cardwell and Taylor agree that Experian Health\u2019s unique consultative approach and comprehensive technology have been key to their success. The technology integrates seamlessly with account receivable data, helps streamline collections processes and allows for quick pivots to meet ongoing regulation changes \u2014 all while adding humanization to the revenue cycle.<\/p>\n

How to optimize collections with patient-centric insights<\/span><\/h2>\n

In collections optimization, segmentation and automation allow healthcare organizations to evolve their payment collection strategies to keep up with rising healthcare costs, meet new industry regulations and drive more self-pay revenue. By using sophisticated, patient-centric insights, providers can make informed decisions on which accounts to prioritize, write off or refer to collection agencies.<\/p>\n

Collections optimization solutions, like Experian Health\u2019s Collection Optimization Manager<\/a><\/strong>, use multiple data sources to automatically screen and segment accounts based on propensity-to-pay scores. With a better understanding of each patient\u2019s financial situation, staff can prioritize high-value accounts and increase collections revenue.<\/p>\n

Experian Health\u2019s collections consultants provide ongoing support and expert advice, while advanced reporting allows revenue cycle managers to easily benchmark performance, refine patient payment forecasts and manage bad debt. Patient collections processes can be further optimized by integrating complementary financial screening and patient engagement tools, like Patient Financial Clearance<\/a><\/strong>, PatientDial<\/a> <\/strong>and PatientText<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Key takeaways from 2 real-world examples of successful collection optimization<\/h2>\n

Cardwell and Taylor share how they are using collections optimization<\/a><\/strong> to boost revenue in today\u2019s increasingly high-cost healthcare environment. Below are the key takeaways from their conversation about how segmentation and automation are helping streamline collections, improve the patient experience and meet ever-evolving regulations.<\/p>\n

Segmentation and automation improve collections performance<\/h2>\n

Segmentation and automation drive the patient billing cycle and enhance collection efforts \u2013 especially for self-pay collections. With the help of Experian Health\u2019s Collections Optimization Manager<\/a>, Novant Health and Cone Health are able to quickly identify those patients likely to pay their bills and implement patient-first collection strategies.<\/p>\n

Cardwell shares how segmentation helps personalize the patient collections experience. \u201cIf patients have a high propensity to pay their bill and it\u2019s a low balance, like $300, they may not need a call quite yet since they may immediately make a payment when they get their bill. But if it\u2019s a high propensity to pay their bill and it\u2019s $3,000, they may be sitting at home wondering, \u2018How am I going to do this?\u2019 So, they just need that little nudge by someone calling and saying, \u2018Did you know we have payment plans that are interest-free? Let\u2019s help you get set up on that.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor agrees, \u201cThe automation is just remarkable for the ability to give our patients that white glove treatment and to be able to either contact them in some way, talk to people that want to talk to us or offer the automation that others want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardwell and Taylor also note that collections optimization helps their billing teams easily integrate charity care and financial assistance processes more closely with collections and revenue cycle workflows. This allows both organizations to quickly adapt to industry changes and new requirements, like medical debt mitigation regulations.<\/p>\n

Optimizing collections delivers real-world results<\/h2>\n

The successful implementation of Collections Optimization Manager<\/a><\/strong> for Novant Health and Cone Health serves as a model for other healthcare organizations looking to improve their collections and revenue cycle performance. To date, Novant Health has seen an impressive ROI of 9.5\/1 with a $16 million combined lift across hospital billing and provider billing, while Cone Health cleared $14M in patient payments and a 6:1 ROI.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Caldwell and Taylor both report saving valuable staff time and resources. Automating some of the screening processes and routing through bankruptcy, deceased and return mail has resulted in more than 3,000 manual hours saved between the two organizations. Caldwell says working with Experian Health reduces IT hours, especially for organizations that outsource IT like Novant Health. For example, \u201cIf you decide you no longer need to use a particular vendor partner and need to send data to another vendor partner, Experian Health can quickly make that flip for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Successful automated call campaigns driven by segmentation have been another win. Taylor describes using segmentation to efficiently \u201crun unattended call campaigns that push calls out to patients with payment plan reminders.\u201d Caldwell agrees, and shares that Novant Health has seen similar successes with collections call campaigns. Novant Health is using the data to run automated Medicaid enrollment call campaigns and is \u201clooking into doing mother-baby\u201d call campaigns to remind new moms to enroll their newborns for insurance coverage.<\/p>\n

Choosing the right collections optimization partner matters<\/h2>\n

For providers looking to evolve their collections strategies, both Cardwell and Taylor stress the value of working with a collections optimization partner that offers turnkey solutions for a positive patient financial experience, seamless data integration and up-to-the-minute regulatory knowledge.<\/p>\n

Cone Health first adopted Coverage Discovery\u00ae<\/a><\/strong> and ClaimSource\u00ae<\/a><\/strong> before adding Collections Optimization Manager and Taylor says, \u201cIt just came together seamlessly. We\u2019ve successfully evolved those products into a multi-item suite of information that is seamless in passing information back and forth. Experian Health also has their ear to what\u2019s happening at the state level and in federal and regulatory matters. So anytime there are new things coming down that impact our functionalities, they are coming to us with solutions to keep us cutting-edge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardwell elaborates on how collections optimization<\/a><\/strong> helps Novant Health foster a human-centric financial experience. She says, \u201cWhen we look at engaging our communities, Collections Optimization Manager has enabled us to do that effectively and efficiently, allowing us to deliver on our brand promise to care for our patients, each other and our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The future of collections cycle management is here<\/h2>\n

Healthcare organizations are already making strides to adopt collections optimization strategies that improve patient collection rates and boost self\u2013pay collections. In today\u2019s fast-changing healthcare environment, it\u2019s critical for revenue cycle managers to evolve collections strategies to keep pace with patient needs and regulatory requirements. Working with a partner like Experian Health can help healthcare organizations better fulfill their financial goals, meet the needs of the patient population and deliver positive patient financial experiences.<\/p>\n

Find out more about how Collections Optimization Manager<\/a><\/strong> is changing the future of healthcare collections and watch the webinar<\/a><\/strong> to hear the full conversation on \u2018Boost self-pay collections: Novant Health & Cone Health\u2019s 7:1 ROI & $14M patient collections success.\u2019<\/p>\n

\nLearn more<\/a>\n

Contact us<\/a>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

The post Boost self-pay collections: Novant Health & Cone Health\u2019s patient collections success<\/a> appeared first on Healthcare Blog<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Collecting patient payments is an ongoing struggle. Bills are confusing, reminders go missed and patients can\u2019t always afford to pay. Rising self-pay costs, new medical debt mitigation regulations, Medicaid changes and staff shortages all put added pressure on billing teams. The result is often poor patient financial experiences, wasted staff time and bad debt. As…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3888"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}