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Grow Your Billing Company with RPA Solutions - 5 Tips to Use Today
By Alesa Lightbourne | February 02, 2022
A medium-sized billing company had a chance to go after a major client – and scale up into a new league. Could a new EMR and automated data input help it compete against the big guys?
SYFR Health Information Management was in a dilemma. Providing superior customer service in medical billing has always been its number one priority. But this became increasingly difficult as it accepted clients using diverse EMR systems. Some clients were even still using paper.
“It was really tough on staff just to keep up,” says Dustin Martinson, CEO of SYFR. “They had to become proficient on many different platforms. Cross-training was a nightmare. We thought it was impossible to grow while maintaining the soul of our company.”
Then came an opportunity that was too good to pass up on. “We were bidding on a really high-volume client, against much larger players with sophisticated automation and machine learning. We realized there was no way we could enter the arena with our existing mix of technologies and limited analytics,” he says.
By implementing an RPA solution, he won the contract and hasn’t stopped growing since. Now his firm serves clients in more than 20 states from coast to coast with a staff of 40 – and has doubled in size every year. Here’s what he did.
Robotic Processing Automation (RPA) is software that automates healthcare billing. It computerizes repetitive manual tasks – improving accuracy, reducing costs, and freeing up staff for more fulfilling tasks.
“When I heard about Kareo’s RPA solution, the lights went on for me,” says Martinson. “I saw how RPA technology would let us accept billing data from any platform and process it exactly the way we wanted, giving us a much more powerful way to serve our clients.”
When Martinson selected Kareo's RPA software, he also migrated to choosing Kareo for his EMR. “Once we could receive data from various EMRs, we needed a way to process it. Kareo offered us a robust suite of reporting and data management tools. Kareo's EMR worked seamlessly with their RPA solution and was also really easy to learn and use. That sealed the deal for us,” he notes.
What were the results? “With Kareo, data flows by itself,” Martinson explains. “Our daily operations are at least 50% more efficient. Before, each of our team members processed about two claims per hour. Now we’re pushing four.”
Profits are up too. “Errors have decreased significantly, giving us clean claim rates of up to 95%. Denial rates are much lower, around 2-3%. And the average days a claim spends in A/R is about 25% better than the national standard. Similarly, our revenue per clinical encounter is up by 30%. All of these improvements work together to greatly boost the bottom line – for us as well as our clients,” he continues.
Intangible benefits have been important as well. “Maintaining quality personal relationships with clients is our hallmark at SYFR. Thanks to PatientlySpeaking, our staff members spend a lot less time every day on data entry, and a lot more interacting with clients. They also have more time to devote to recapturing every dollar of revenue that might otherwise have been left on the table,” Martinson says.
“These factors contribute to improved client satisfaction. But they also improve internal morale, too. When our people enjoy coming to work, I don’t have to worry so much about retention. We are blessed with a stable, highly competent team with very low turnover. We’re extremely proud of this.”
“Some years we’ve grown by as much as 400%!” Martinson exclaims. “And we have done it all without a single piece of advertising. Most importantly to us, however, is the fact that we could compete against the big, faceless billco giants and win. We didn’t have to choose between quantity and quality. We actually have both.”
For more information on Kareo's EHR solution, visit us at Kareo.com/ehr. And to find out more about Kareo's RPA technology, visit our hub page here and sign up for our upcoming webinar, The Future is Now, Drive Workflow Efficiency and Improve Profitability with Robotic Process Automation. You can save your seat here.
SYFR Health Information Management was in a dilemma. Providing superior customer service in medical billing has always been its number one priority. But this became increasingly difficult as it accepted clients using diverse EMR systems. Some clients were even still using paper.
“It was really tough on staff just to keep up,” says Dustin Martinson, CEO of SYFR. “They had to become proficient on many different platforms. Cross-training was a nightmare. We thought it was impossible to grow while maintaining the soul of our company.”
Then came an opportunity that was too good to pass up on. “We were bidding on a really high-volume client, against much larger players with sophisticated automation and machine learning. We realized there was no way we could enter the arena with our existing mix of technologies and limited analytics,” he says.
By implementing an RPA solution, he won the contract and hasn’t stopped growing since. Now his firm serves clients in more than 20 states from coast to coast with a staff of 40 – and has doubled in size every year. Here’s what he did.
1. Learn about RPA technology.
Robotic Processing Automation (RPA) is software that automates healthcare billing. It computerizes repetitive manual tasks – improving accuracy, reducing costs, and freeing up staff for more fulfilling tasks.
“When I heard about Kareo’s RPA solution, the lights went on for me,” says Martinson. “I saw how RPA technology would let us accept billing data from any platform and process it exactly the way we wanted, giving us a much more powerful way to serve our clients.”
2. Integrate the RPA solution with your EHR.
When Martinson selected Kareo's RPA software, he also migrated to choosing Kareo for his EMR. “Once we could receive data from various EMRs, we needed a way to process it. Kareo offered us a robust suite of reporting and data management tools. Kareo's EMR worked seamlessly with their RPA solution and was also really easy to learn and use. That sealed the deal for us,” he notes.
3. Get ready for super efficiencies and profitability.
What were the results? “With Kareo, data flows by itself,” Martinson explains. “Our daily operations are at least 50% more efficient. Before, each of our team members processed about two claims per hour. Now we’re pushing four.”
Profits are up too. “Errors have decreased significantly, giving us clean claim rates of up to 95%. Denial rates are much lower, around 2-3%. And the average days a claim spends in A/R is about 25% better than the national standard. Similarly, our revenue per clinical encounter is up by 30%. All of these improvements work together to greatly boost the bottom line – for us as well as our clients,” he continues.
Want to achieve more clean claims in 2022? Then check out our latest webinar hosted by billing expert and author, Elizabeth Woodcock. You can access a recording to Setting Your Practice (or Client's Practice) Up for Success With Achieving Clean Claims and Reducing Denials in 2022 here.
4. Reassign staff to keep everyone happier.
Intangible benefits have been important as well. “Maintaining quality personal relationships with clients is our hallmark at SYFR. Thanks to PatientlySpeaking, our staff members spend a lot less time every day on data entry, and a lot more interacting with clients. They also have more time to devote to recapturing every dollar of revenue that might otherwise have been left on the table,” Martinson says.
“These factors contribute to improved client satisfaction. But they also improve internal morale, too. When our people enjoy coming to work, I don’t have to worry so much about retention. We are blessed with a stable, highly competent team with very low turnover. We’re extremely proud of this.”
5. Plan for expansion.
“Some years we’ve grown by as much as 400%!” Martinson exclaims. “And we have done it all without a single piece of advertising. Most importantly to us, however, is the fact that we could compete against the big, faceless billco giants and win. We didn’t have to choose between quantity and quality. We actually have both.”
For more information on Kareo's EHR solution, visit us at Kareo.com/ehr. And to find out more about Kareo's RPA technology, visit our hub page here and sign up for our upcoming webinar, The Future is Now, Drive Workflow Efficiency and Improve Profitability with Robotic Process Automation. You can save your seat here.
Submitted by cher.knebel on Wed, 2022-02-02 14:31
About the Author
Alesa Lightbourne is a prize-winning author, professor and former dean of an international business school. As a freelance writer, her clients have included Fortune...
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