“Our call strategies did not yield the desired outcomes, and we recognized the need for additional data to better support our goal. We were also mindful of the potential risk of staff burnout and the impact it could have on overall performance.” —Carey Lawrence, Revenue Cycle Administrator Customer Service and Self-Pay Collections, Weill Cornell Medicine Challenge Weill Cornell Medicine is a leading medical school and research institution with $ 1.3 billion in annual patient revenue.… Case study: Weill Cornell increases collections by $15M with Collections Optimization Manager The post Case study: Weill Cornell increases collections by $15M with Collections Optimization Manager appeared first on Healthcare Blog.
“Our call strategies did not yield the desired outcomes, and we recognized the need for additional data to better support our goal. We were also mindful of the potential risk of staff burnout and the impact it could have on overall performance.”
—Carey Lawrence, Revenue Cycle Administrator Customer Service and Self-Pay Collections, Weill Cornell Medicine
Challenge
Weill Cornell Medicine is a leading medical school and research institution with $ 1.3 billion in annual patient revenue. Facing $42 million in annual bad debt and rising call center demands, Weill Cornell needed to upgrade their collections strategy. Staff lacked real-time insights into patients’ propensity to pay and often resorted to calling most patients — a frustrating and inefficient process. They needed a better way to verify insurance coverage, understand patient payment history and determine eligibility for Medicaid eligibility, charity care or other financial assistance.
The company had three specific objectives:
- Increase net revenue by improving self-pay collections through better segmentation and prioritization.
- Optimize call center operations through automation and better communication with patients.
- Select the right partner with expertise to provide technical solutions, consultative guidance and process improvements.
Solution
Weill Cornell turned to Experian Health’s Collections Optimization Manager to increase cash collections with smarter segmentation. The partnership provided access to dedicated support from an analytics consulting manager at Experian Health. Together, they used Collections Optimization Manager to create a more targeted collections strategy, and to automatically segment patient accounts based on propensity-to-pay scores.
This allowed staff to focus on high-value accounts and stop wasting time on uncollectible accounts. They were able to use Collections Optimization to screen out accounts that weren’t deemed collectible, such as accounts for deceased patients, those in bankruptcy, or those eligible for Medicaid or charity care. Access to better data also reduced manual workloads. Validating the database with their existing Epic data also helped catch and correct some missteps. “We were able to eliminate skip tracing, for example, because Experian’s extensive data sources ensure our mailing addresses are up to date,” says Lawrence.
To improve call center efficiency and deliver a more compassionate payment experience, Weill Cornell also implemented PatientDial, an automated dialer that uses the segmentation data from Collections Optimization Manager, to run targeted outbound patient call campaigns. The initial implementation of automated dialer campaigns increased net collections from 65% to 83%.
Outcome
Thanks to Collections Optimization Manager and PatientDial, Weill Cornell saw a 7:6:1 return on investment and achieved the following results:
- $15M collected in pending patient payments
- $7M reduction in annual bad debt placements
- 92% of recoveries trending at Champion Benchmarks
Automating call campaigns also led to a noticeable improvement in staff morale. Lawrence observes that “staff are more satisfied with the new, automated processes because they can be more productive and don’t have to guess at which accounts to call or when. Our operations are flowing more smoothly which decreases all our stress levels.”
Laurence also notes the power of good data: “The detailed, customized reports on our bad debt helped us identify issues early, allowing us to target collections more effectively. We reduced the number of accounts sent to agencies, ultimately saving time and money.”
Looking ahead, Weill Cornell plans to explore new ways to use automation to improve management of Medicaid eligibility, presumptive charity and agency reconciliation.
Discover how Collections Optimization Manager and PatientDial can streamline your collections process, enable higher collections rates and improve patient communications.
The post Case study: Weill Cornell increases collections by $15M with Collections Optimization Manager appeared first on Healthcare Blog.
