Between the COVID-19 pandemic, the acceleration of telemedicine, and a fluctuating political landscape, hospitals and health systems continue to grapple with uncontrollable forces that affect their priorities. Amid these forces, organizations must build paths to navigate successfully through changes and uncertainty.
During a Jan. 20 webinar, hosted by Becker's Hospital Review and sponsored by Optum, presenters discussed how Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health achieved financial resiliency through a strategic revenue cycle partnership.
Presenters were:
- Shelly Schorer, Chief Financial Officer of CommonSpirit Health's Northern California division
- Doug Hires, Chief Operating Officer of Provider Solutions at Optum
Six takeaways from the discussion:
1. CommonSpirit Health, which operates 137 hospitals in 21 states, began a revenue cycle partnership with Optum in 2013. The basis for the outsourcing partnership was to standardize and streamline the health system's revenue cycle, including collections.
2. Partnerships like the one between CommonSpirit Health and Optum are about more than cutting costs. As Mr. Hires put it: "There's a need to drive cost out from cost of care, certainly from the revenue cycle and administrative perspective, [but] it doesn't have to be loss of control. With the right strategic partnership, there is a unified approach. With the right partner, it's also about innovation and how you can drive innovation in the revenue cycle. It's about being a strategic player and a strategic partnership."
3. At CommonSpirit Health, the Optum partnership enabled better management of COVID-19 issues, according to Ms. Schorer. She said CommonSpirit Health was able to transition staff to remote work without workflow disruption, and the partnership supported revenue cycle components associated with the accelerated shift to telemedicine. She said the health system also collected on old patient accounts and maintained solid cash flow — even as elective surgeries slowed during the pandemic — because of insights gained through Optum's analytics and tools.
4. There are key value drivers of any revenue cycle outsourcing partnership, including having more resources available, according to Ms. Schorer. She said a partner also can be a change agent and is another experienced voice at the table. "You have to be able to adapt to new technology. Our patients want healthcare at their fingertips, so having a partner at the table [to assist in implementing changes] helps," she explained. Additionally, Ms. Schorer said health systems can benefit from a revenue cycle partner's economy of scale, and there is ample opportunity to breed innovation together.
5. Optum launched a pilot program at CommonSpirit Health that allows registrars and hospital administrative workers to use robotic technology to engage with patients remotely from a patient contact center. Mr. Hires said registrars in the contact center can engage with patients via two-way video, complete the patient's registration and guide patients to the correct location for their medical care. Goals with the pilot are reduced wait times for patient check-in, ensure patient and registrar safety and improved patient satisfaction.
6. For health systems considering a strategic revenue cycle outsourcing partnership, Ms. Schorer recommended that they write down what they want out of such a partnership, network with peers at organizations that have entered strategic partnerships and thoroughly interview potential partners before picking one.
Click here to access a recording of the webinar. Click here to learn more about Optum.