As patients take on more responsibility for their healthcare costs, health systems across the nation are focused on improving revenue cycle management.
Patients' decisions about where to receive care are frequently made based on out-of-pocket fees and their satisfaction with the provider. Therefore, hospitals and health systems must adopt new practices to improve patient experience when it comes to billing and collections.
In the move toward this goal, the following health systems have invested in or acquired RCM companies to simplify billing and improve collections.
Mercy Health
To improve revenue cycle performance, Cincinnati-based Mercy Health acquired Ensemble Health Partners, a revenue cycle firm based in Huntersville, N.C. Mercy Health added 200 jobs through the acquisition, which took place in May 2016, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Ascension
In February 2016, Accretive Health and Ascension in St. Louis completed a transaction that included revising and expanding their existing services agreement for another 10 years. Under the service contract, Accretive exclusively provides revenue cycle services and physician advisory services to Ascension's hospitals. A newly formed investment vehicle — owned by Ascension and TowerBrook Capital Partners — invested $200 million in Accretive Health, in exchange for convertible preferred stock and warrants.
Dignity Health
San Francisco-based Dignity Health and Minneapolis-based Optum in October 2013 created a new joint venture company, Optum360, that focuses on modernizing registration, documentation, billing, payments and other revenue cycle areas for other hospitals and providers. At the time, officials from Dignity and Optum, a subsidiary of health insurer UnitedHealth Group, said they wanted to simplify hospital billing to reduce patient stress. Optum is the majority owner in the new company, while Dignity Health, which has more than three dozen hospitals across Arizona, California and Nevada, agreed to contribute equipment and intellectual property to hold a noncontrolling minority stake.
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