There is no doubt more Americans now have insurance coverage following passage of the Affordable Care Act. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, at least 5 million people, who were previously self-pay, are now insured. More insured patients, increasingly complicated insurance contracts and additional regulations mean more work for hospital patient accounts departments – but can they afford to hire additional staff to handle the increased work load? Most cannot. Many hospitals are struggling to keep up, and some have found welcome relief by outsourcing Insurance Follow Up projects to Hollis Cobb Associates. Our clients have let us know that they have experienced significant savings by engaging our services to handle this time-consuming piece of their revenue cycle.
Saves Cost of FTE
Along with the cost of a salary, employers pay at least 7-10% more for each FTE (full-time equivalent) in recruiting costs, training, taxes, space, equipment, supplies, benefits like life, health and disability insurance as well as tuition reimbursement, required continuing education, retirement plans and paid time off. Each FTE is a huge investment for an employer, and with lower reimbursements from payers, hospitals are struggling to make the numbers add up. Hollis Cobb supplies staff to handle insurance follow up, saving hospitals all of the extra FTE costs. Our staff can access client systems and work remotely saving hospitals the cost of space, equipment and supplies, and our skilled staff members have passed background checks and completed extensive training in HIPAA, TCPA and other laws and regulations governing healthcare. Their work is closely monitored by our Quality Assurance Team, and revenues for our hospitals are measured daily to ensure we are exceeding client goals.
Frees Staff to Work other Vital Projects
Overwork and frustration is common in many healthcare financial offices as employees work hard to keep from falling behind. Delays in obtaining authorizations, filing claims and following up on payer requests costs hospitals money each month due to denials, untimely adjustments and delayed payments. Outsourcing part of the insurance process helps hospitals keep their billing and follow up current, and generates maximum revenue each month. Hollis Cobb has experienced particular success helping hospitals with small balance insurance follow up, allowing hospital staff to focus on high dollar accounts. Our staff also has the necessary time to devote to slow paying claims that require research or other special attention.
Denials Management
Working through denials is a problem that will never go away, but Hollis Cobb provides qualified staff to work every denial to resolution. We also provide our clients with feedback to identify what types of claims are being denied most often so that they can re-train staff to bill cleaner claims. Hospital staff do not have time to linger over difficult denials as hundreds of new accounts come in the door each day. Hollis Cobb staff simply has the time, the expertise and the tools to stay on top of time-consuming denials and provide payers with the information needed to resolve each claim.
Decrease in A/R Days
The faster claims are billed, corrected and followed up on, the less time accounts stay unpaid on the Accounts Receivable. Fewer A/R days mean more money coming in each month. It is simple math. Some hospitals, however, have experienced an increase in A/R days as a result of more claims to bill and additional requirements from payers, but no additional staff to handle the extra work. Hollis Cobb has assisted many hospitals with backlogs in unpaid insurance claims which have caused their A/R days to creep up. Getting the A/R days back within an acceptable range, and keeping them there, has allowed our clients to experience healthy revenues once again.
Use of Technology
There are a plethora of tools, applications and software products on the market that help hospitals manage their revenue cycles; however some are quite pricey and many hospitals are unable to build those technology costs into their budgets. Hollis Cobb has access to the most advanced technology available in our industry and is able to use it to benefit unlimited numbers of clients. Even though a hospital may not be able to afford high level technology to help keep insurance accounts identified, billed, worked and resolved, they can still have access to it by outsourcing their toughest challenges to Hollis Cobb.
Healthcare Systems all over the country are getting creative with outsourcing as they strive to provide their communities with high quality healthcare services and a positive patient experience. Hollis Cobb has risen to the challenge working directly with our clients to create new services that meet the ever-changing requirements in the healthcare world today.
