Patient Financial Services Case Study
THE CASE: Gila Regional Medical Center, Silver City, NM
The Challenges
To serve growing volumes, Gila Regional had taken on its second construction project in recent years. It was not a good time for turnover in a key revenue cycle role. With the patient financial services director position vacant, Gila turned to QHR to restore the department’s stability and efficiency:
- Cash had fallen below 100 days: bond covenants required higher reserves
- Billing was bottlenecked: accounts discharged not billed (DNB) reached 15 days revenue outstanding
- Collections were lagging: gross days revenue outstanding had climbed to 78
Q Solutions
QHR helped the hospital quickly reverse negative trends by supplying a skilled interim patient financial services director. To enhance his effectiveness, QHR also provided project management support to the interim director. The director set the tone by bringing the business office and registration staffs together: the goal was better cooperation. Mentoring and
training, he nurtured teamwork.
“QHR’s interim director was very personable and easy to work with,” comments Beth Allred, assistant CFO. “He was also extremely capable. We trusted him to keep us on track, but he did much more than that.”
Guiding a registration process team in identifying ways to reduce errors, for faster, cleaner billing, he also placed a financial counselor in registration to reduce write offs.
To improve collection of patient revenues, he held daily meetings with the billing staff, and increased the number of accounts billed electronically.
Outsourcing some collections, he divided accountability for the remainder, assigning direct responsibility for accounts over $10,000 to department supervisors.
The veteran director also offered insightful assistance in interviewing candidates for the position. “He was instrumental in helping us choose the right person,” adds Allred. “And he left our department much more effective than he found it.”
The Outcome
In just four months, QHR’s interim director
delivered results:
- Accelerated billing, reducing DNB days from 15 to seven
- Recorded the highest collections month in the hospital’s history: $4.5 million
- Reduced accounts aged greater than 120 days by $430,000 and accounts aged greater than 60 days by $516,000
- Trimmed gross days revenue outstanding from 78 to 56
- Assisted in transition of the department to a new director
"This is an important service. QHR brought us a knowledgeable, experienced person very quickly. And he brought us new ideas. This process helped us make big improvements while we recruited."
Beth Allred
Assistant CFO, Gila Regional Medical Center
Related Services/Resources
- PFS Educational Course Offerings
- PFS Case Study
- Revenue Cycle Solutions
- Clinical Documentation Management
