Customer Impact
Streamlining Revenue Cycle Management to Improve Cash Flow
Opportunity
St. Mary's Healthcare recognized the potential to significantly improve operational and financial efficiency through better remittance processing and tasking systems, leading to quicker reimbursement, reduced denials, and improved cash flow.
Results
By focusing on ease of access, data entry, and payment, St. Mary's Healthcare achieved substantial improvements in revenue cycle management with MEDITECH's Expanse Revenue Cycle. They reduced the number of aging accounts, improved cash collection speed, and enhanced financial accuracy.
Key Product
MEDITECH Expanse
148%
increase in self-pay collections
90%
drop in A/R over 180 days
40%
fewer suspense days
“As healthcare providers, we don’t need more systems; we need smarter systems. Transitioning to an intelligent EHR gave us the tools we need to modernize our healthcare delivery so that we can reduce costs and increase operational efficiency, ultimately supporting our mission to provide exceptional care to our community."
Grant Norton, MBA, MS
Director of Patient Accounting
St. Mary's Healthcare
"Investing in innovation is a strategic priority at St. Mary’s Healthcare, especially when that investment delivers significant advantages for patients and providers."
Julie Demaree, PA, CPHIMS
Executive Director of Clinical Innovation and Transformation
St. Mary's Healthcare
About St. Mary's Healthcare
In addition to inpatient care, St. Mary’s offers a robust and expanding range of outpatient services designed to meet community needs close to home, including primary and specialty care, emergency and urgent care, surgery, oncology, behavioral health, rehabilitation, and more. The organization continues to invest in the future of healthcare delivery, transitioning to MEDITECH Expanse in 2022 to enhance connectivity, efficiency, and patient-centered care.
The Challenge
St. Mary's Healthcare was facing several operational inefficiencies and financial challenges. Aging accounts receivable, inefficient remittance processing, and outdated tasking systems were major pain points. These issues not only led to reduced reimbursement rates and increased denials but also strained the hospital's cash flow.
The Solution
To address these challenges, St. Mary's Healthcare focused on three essential pillars: ease of access, ease of data entry, and ease of payment. Reducing the complexity of both billing and patient statements transformed an hours-long process into something manageable for both patients and end-users.
By transitioning to Expanse, MEDITECH's intelligent EHR system, the organization was able to utilize MEDITECH's powerful RCM solution, which is fully integrated into the Expanse EHR. This unified platform enabled the seamless flow of clinical and financial data, automated routine tasks, and made self-pay the easier option through simplified processes, user-friendly access, two-click online payments, and competitive self-pay pricing. These changes positioned the organization to solve long-standing pain points — such as frequent errors due to manual processes and lagging follow-up protocols — and deliver measurable improvements in efficiency and accuracy.
“We realized that automation and integration were pivotal in enhancing our revenue cycle efficiency," said Grant Norton, MBA, MS, Director of Patient Accounting at St. Mary’s Healthcare. “These changes allowed us to reduce errors, improve follow-up protocols, and streamline operations.”
The Results
The implementation of MEDITECH's Expanse EHR yielded remarkable outcomes for St. Mary's Healthcare. Self-pay collections surged by 148%, and the volume of accounts receivable over 180 days plummeted from 33% to just 3%. St. Mary's Healthcare's commitment to simplifying revenue cycle management has yielded significant financial improvements. Embracing automation, enhancing patient communication, and streamlining workflows has accelerated cash collections at St. Mary's, expanding operating margins and reducing A/R days. These efforts have created sustainable operations, happier patients, and a healthier bottom line.
Learn more about how our customers are improving their financial health with MEDITECH's Revenue Cycle solution.
