Many community hospitals and physician groups still handle patient accounts the old-fashioned way – with paper printouts and highlighters. Ontario Systems would like to introduce them to the wonders of revenue cycle management software.
The Muncie, Ind.-based provider of revenue cycle and collection management solutions is making a push into the healthcare market with two recent announcements. This past June the company, which has a client base of more than 450 large-sized hospitals, launched Collect SAVVY, a software platform designed to enable providers to manage receivables and self-pay accounts more effectively for increased revenue.
"It's a very disconnected system," said LeAnne Hester, Ontario's chief marketing officer, of revenue cycle management departments within hospitals. "And with a lot of hospitals focused on EMRs right now, this is a good fit."
In September, Ontario announced a partnership with Connance, a Waltham, Mass.-based provider of healthcare self-pay solutions, to embed the company's Connance Scoring tools – including cash prioritization scores, collection workflow and treatment strategies – into the Collect SAVVY product line. Both companies say this integration will draw interest from healthcare providers looking for quicker and better ways to recover healthcare-related debt.
"By integrating the most innovative collection system on the market with the most innovative analytics and workflow models, Collect SAVVY users realize an immediate competitive advantage. With this joint alliance and integration, a Collect SAVVY user will have a complete and optimized collection platform for healthcare accounts," said Tony Reisz, Ontario's president and CEO. "We are convinced that powering Collect SAVVY with Connance Scoring will have both immediate and long term benefits to Ontario System's clients."
"By offering Connance Scoring as part of the standard Collect SAVVY offering, Ontario customers will be able to benchmark and optimize their collection processes in ways never before possible." added Steve Levin, Connance's CEO. "This alliance also establishes a platform for continued development, with commitment from both organizations for ongoing innovation."
According to Hester, the number one complaint among hospital CEOs these days lies in the inefficiency of the billing system. Patient account representatives aren't properly equipped to deal with the growing ranks of high-deductible health plans and self-pay accounts, she said, and often don't collect the data they need to manage the accounts.
"You need to take a holistic approach to billing," she said. "You start at the front end, and you take it all the way through to the back end. But you have to make sure you have all the data."
And that, she said, is where Collect SAVVY fits the bill.