The growing number of self-pay patients is prompting one of the nation’s largest healthcare coalitions to expand its revenue cycle management tools.
The University HealthSystem Consortium, an Oak Brook, Ill.-based organization comprised of 107 academic medical centers and affiliated hospitals, is expanding its partnership with Chamberlin Edmonds and Associates, an Atlanta-based developer of patient eligibility and enrollment services. Chamberlin Edmonds currently works with 27 UHC member hospitals, and will use the new deal to extend its OnPoint and Advanced Payer Search solutions to more hospitals in the network.
Formed in 1984, the UHC represents roughly 90 percent of the nation’s academic medical centers.
“Our successful partnership with Chamberlin Edmonds continues to evolve as their expertise enables UHC members to increase coverage options available to patients and maximize reimbursements,” said Dan Skiles, program director at UHC, in an Oct. 12 press release announcing the expanded partership. “We continue to work with Chamberlin Edmonds because they are able to provide a range of solutions that can be custom-tailored to each organization's specific needs – including inpatient eligibility services, technology for the emergency department and outpatient areas, and back-end screening throughout the hospital.”
Chamberlin Edmonds’ tools and services are designed to help hospitals funnel self-pay patients to the appropriate federal, state and charity programs, including Medicare, Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Benefits. OnPoint offers hospitals a quick approach to identifying patient eligibility in emergency department and outpatient settings, while APS links patients whose expenses had previously been written off as bad debt or charity care to available Medicaid and Medicare programs.
“We are looking forward to exploring new opportunities with UHC and their members to help identify untapped benefits coverage,” said Kirk Reid, executive vice president at Chamberlin Edmonds, which earlier this month was acquired by Emdeon, a Nashville-based developer of RCM products. “The 46 million individuals in the nation who lack health benefits but nevertheless deserve quality care are having a significant impact on the financial stability of many hospitals. A comprehensive approach to eligibility services can help counter this effect.”