April 23, 2019
Something to Consider: Scalable, Adaptable RCM Solutions That Grow With Your Organizational Needs
Your healthcare organization — big or small, acute or ambulatory, for-profit or not-for-profit — has plans for the future, and those plans undoubtedly involve growth. Whether that growth comes through acquisition, merger, or expansion, one thing is certain: your organization will not look the same in 10 years as it does today.
One particularly agonizing growing pain that comes with organizational growth in healthcare is changing revenue cycle management solutions. Perhaps you’ve experienced this pain already in your prior growth. If not, you likely will. So how can you prevent outgrowing your RCM vendor? It starts with finding an innovative partner that can flex and expand along with your organization.
Evaluating RCM vendors can be tricky business. Asking the right questions from the beginning can help with the evaluation process.
5 Questions to Ask RCM Vendors
Scalable, adaptable, and flexible are words most revenue cycle management companies will throw at you to prove their value. Ask these questions to find if a vendor’s performance can back up their claims.
How can you help our organization today?
You’re evaluating new vendors because you have an immediate need, so start with that. If the vendor can’t satisfactorily answer your pressing questions and address your needs today, then they are out — this is a non-starter.
If you’re impressed with their answers and capabilities, continue with your evaluation.
Have you worked with organizations similar to ours in size and situation?
Request case studies and success metrics detailing the vendor’s experience working with organizations similar to yours. Specifically look for metrics like:
- Lowered claim denial rates
- Increased cash collected
- Decreased bill holds
- Reduced accounts in AR and AR balance
- Decreased AR aging
- Increased online payments
Have you worked with organizations similar to what ours aspires to be?
Depending on your growth projections, request case studies and success metrics for organizations that yours plans to resemble in the future. You want a long-term partner, so ask for examples and references that will show how you can expect the relationship and solution set to evolve over the next five, 10, or 20 years.
Be as forward-thinking as possible — this won’t scare off the right vendor, it will excite them. Ask which solutions the vendor would recommend adding at certain milestones and how they can scale up to meet your changing needs.
Also, ask to speak with a client reference or two, preferably one with a long-standing relationship with the vendor, so you can assess the company’s ability and willingness to adapt.
What is your product roadmap?
What you’re looking for here is a culture of innovation. The vendor should be excited to tell you about what’s coming down the pike (provided they can disclose the information).
While they can’t predict their product roadmap too far in advance, you should be able to see signs of an innovative company culture in terms of new products, technology adoption, automation, patient communication, and internal processes.
Assess how the vendor is forward-thinking in their offerings. Is their patient communication program robust? Can they accommodate future patient trends and needs? Are they using data analytics? If so, how can the insights and data help you measure success?
What support and education do you offer?
A true RCM partner goes a step beyond a basic solution vendor by providing the personal touches that will help your organization make the most of your RCM technology investment.
Does your potential partner have a consulting component? Ask about their integration and onboarding processes. Do they provide ongoing education and training? How about responsive and competent technical support?
It’s always a good idea to consult third-party research analysts when making a major purchase. The chief players in healthcare are KLAS, Black Book, IDC, Gartner, and Forrester. These analysts and their reports can help you understand how the vendors rank in the marketplace, which are forward-thinking in terms of RCM innovation, and which are keeping their clients happy.
Ask these and similar questions to find a partner that can grow with you and be an advocate for your organization when assessing budgets and needs. It will be much less costly and time-consuming in the future to keep the same trusted vendor and add solutions as you need them.
H2: RevSpring Can Help
Integrated payment communication is part of RevSpring’s DNA. We tailor the payment conversation to influence behavior and inspire action. Our segmentation rules and workflows help you become hyper-focused on the patient, understanding their ability to pay and mapping their financial obligations to repayment pathways.
If you’d like to learn more about our comprehensive patient engagement and billing solutions, we’d love to help you. Request a demo to see how we can help your organization me
