Colorado Plains Medical Center in Fort Morgan plans to outsource physician billing by the end of 2019, according to the Fort Morgan Times.
The medical center plans to close its physician billing practice in Fort Morgan and centralize that service to Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Pacific Medical Data Solutions, the Times was told.
"With our physician billing services, the company has made the decision to transition to basically outsource with a company in [the] Denver [area] over this year," Sandy Schneider Eagle, the medical center's marketing director, told the Times.
Ms. Schneider-Engle said the move won't affect hospital operations but could affect 14 people involved with physician billing within Colorado Plains Physician Practices.
A medical center statement obtained by the Times notes, "Decisions like this are never easy, and while we are confident this change is in the best interest of our hospital, we regret the personal impact it will have on the affected employees."
The medical center is working with affected employees and hopes to move as many of them as possible into other positions within the organization or elsewhere, said Ms. Schneider-Engle.
The outsourcing decision comes months after the medical center's management company, Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint Health, completed its merger with RCCH HealthCare Partners, which is owned by Apollo Global Management.
Ms. Schneider-Engle said LifePoint views the outsourcing "as an opportunity to leverage a centralized service for revenue cycle and billing functions."
The transition is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of this year.
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