Case Study: Tift Regional Health System
About the Client
Tift Regional Health System (TRHS) is a not-for-profit hospital system serving 12 counties in South Central Georgia. TRHS has more than 135 physicians with expertise in over 30 specialties. TRHS includes the Tift Regional Medical Center, a 181-bed regional referral hospital located in Tifton, and the Cook Medical Center, a 60-bed acute care facility located in Adel. Cook Medical Center also includes a 12-bed geriatric psychiatric unit and a 95-bed nursing home.
We knew we had a lot of work to do to bring our collections where they needed to be to align with our revenue goals. With Healthfuse, we’ve been able to meet and exceed those goals.
Dennis Crum, Chief Financial Officer
Tift Regional Medical Center
Challenge
The TRHS service area includes a large number of self-pay patients, so partnering with self-pay and collections outsourcers is essential to achieving their revenue goals. TRHS had worked with the same vendors for 15 years, but believed they were not achieving maximum return from those partnerships. An initial audit confirmed their belief; 68% of accounts were not being worked appropriately and their self-pay vendor was actually collecting less than their bad-debt vendor. The TRHS chief financial officer mandated a 12% reduction in collection costs and brought in a new vice president of revenue cycle and patient financial services to identify and resolve these issues and to develop a new self-pay strategy.
Solution
TRHS engaged Healthfuse to help evaluate and update service level agreements for existing vendors to ensure maximum performance. Audits were conducted on each account and corrective action plans were created for underperforming vendors. Healthfuse used its Vendor Source Knowledge Base to identify and implement new high-performing vendors with expertise in workers compensation, motor vehicle, and VA claims to improve collections in those accounts.
Results
With Healthfuse, TRHS was able to implement a more e ective vendor strategy and increase efficiency in its revenue cycle processes. TRHS has achieved improved performance of its existing vendors and developed partnerships with vendors known to excel in delivering results.
To date, Healthfuse has delivered:
Collections Improvements
Collections Improvements of $13M
- $14M in net collection improvement in 3 years
- 133% increase in self-pay collections
Cost Savings
Cost Savings of $318K
- Additional contract savings of $318K
generated just in the last 12 months
