In 2006, Bruce Latimer joined Kingman (Ariz.) Regional Medical Center as director of pharmacy services, and a little more than two years later, he and others within the hospital revenue cycle team were able to save $1.1 million in pharmacy department.
Mr. Latimer looked at various ways to reduce costs within the 235-bed hospital's pharmacy department. Two primary objectives were to update the pharmacy chargemaster and ensure all medications were being accurately billed and reimbursed.
The hospital partnered with Craneware to implement a pharmacy billing solution to hone in on those two actions. For Kingman Regional's 2008 fiscal year, the hospital found almost $1.1 million in savings due to incorrectly prorated billing of pharmaceutical charges.
Continual monitoring of Kingman Regional's pharmacy bills and charges has increased the department's margin and decreased costs, according to Craneware's case study.
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