Step-by-Step, Methodist Health System Cured the Pain Points within the Revenue Cycle

Methodist Health System, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, went all-in on automating the revenue cycle, starting in 2018 and going live in 2019. The health system worked with Alpha Health, now called AKASA, for unified automation in the revenue cycle that tied into its Cerner EHR. "Our director of patient financial services was interested. We knew there would be opportunities down this path," said Jeff Francis, vice president of Finance and CFO for Methodist Health System. "We went all in. It wasn't a hard buy-in."

Methodist started with what Francis called the "pain points" in the revenue cycle and continued until automation over human intervention no longer made sense. "We were learning with them as we jointly determined where the pain points were," Francis said. "It was more step-by-step." 

The work resulted in a reduced cost to collect, a higher yield and an improved patient financial experience. Francis, and Amy Raymond, head of Revenue Cycle Operations for AKASA, will talk about the journey in "How Automation Can Improve the Patient Financial Experience," at HIMSS22 in Orlando, Florida. The session will be held on Tuesday, March 15, from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m., in Room W300 of the Orange County Convention Center. Francis and the team began by addressing staff about how automation could affect their jobs and the potential for some positions to be eliminated.