Matthew Nealon serves as Chief Financial Officer for Union Hospital.
On September 14th, Matthew will give a presentation on "Case Study - How Union Health Turned Around Revenue Cycle" at Becker's Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place on September 13-15, 2021 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Matthew's sessions, click here.
Question: What technology has taken on greater significance or value during the pandemic?
Matthew Nealon: Well the paradigm shift is trying to learn how to live with a drastic decline in volume. The tough part of this question is how much of the lost volume will cause the patients greater issues into the future. There are and will be many positives to the situation so let’s as an industry take advantage. First off, it is always amazing to see how the clinicians come together and do what is absolutely necessary for the patients. We can rest assured that when a natural disaster occurs the first responders are there for us. Over the long term, we should capitalize on what we learn from the data. For instance, most Emergency Rooms are probably acting as a true ER. The recognition of Telehealth could become a great thing for providers and patients so why not compensate at an appropriate level? Let’s figure out how to incorporate this into the health care industry. The learnings are endless and I think we probably all have a different view on the supply chain channels having lived through this unfortunate situation.
Q: What is the most underrated trait of the best leaders?
MN: Availability and a consistent message. I think the best leaders are visible, willing to take the time to listen and provide a consistent message to all levels of the organization to gain alignment.
Q: What is one bold goal that you, your team or your organization is staring down for 2021?
MN: A bold goal that Union Health is starring down is the recovery of the balance sheet caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This will be accomplished by always focusing on the efficiency of resources, creating additional capacity within service lines to ensure that the clinical testing and procedures that were not completed during the pandemic are completed so that missed testing does not cause long-term health consequences for the patients and through effective communications at all levels in the organization. Effective communication with the physicians and the staff is vital in order to create an increased capacity because we all deal with shortages of critical skills within the workforce. Fostering a strong relationship where the employees feel they can trust leadership is critical to ensuring that the organization can successfully manage the volume. AS we continue to move towards the value model and risked-based contracts, the focus has to be on preventative medicine and it has been proven in the past that these pandemics can have long-term effects on the patient and increase the cost of care. So a well-defined process to identify and treat the appropriate patients is in the best interest of the community. Lastly, there are only a few levers to pull in health care to bend the cost curve. With 70% of most hospital organization's expenses around labor, benefits, and supply chain management, it is critical that there are controls in place to ensure proper management. Accountability through goal development and dashboards will help ensure this success.
Q: What fundamentals would you encourage your peers to revisit and refine when it comes to health IT and revenue cycle management?
MN: The cost of IT is becoming such a large part of an organization's annual expenditures. Platforms purchased need to be fully utilized so that cost offsets can be achieved or redundancies eliminated. Development of an electronic data warehouse that can be easily maneuvered to answer questions so that data is leading or at a minimum accompanying decision making will put an organization in a better position to succeed. In terms of Revenue Cycle Management, I really think it comes down to accountability, and making certain the discipline on both the front end and back end is engrained in the DNA of the organization. Effective communication and leadership presence will assist with this goal. Secondly, strong relationships with your vendors are imperative to maximizing collections. Whether you feel your organization is good at RC or not, ask an “expert” to come in and complete a soup-to-nuts evaluation'