Winners include Liberty Hospital, four Ardent Health Services hospitals, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics and Novant Health
Clarivate Healthcare Business InsightsTM , a part of Clarivate Plc, a global leader in providing trusted information and insights to accelerate the pace of innovation, announced the 2021 winners of its annual Revenue Cycle Awards. In its 10th year, the Revenue Cycle Awards recognizes healthcare organizations for achieving outstanding performance on revenue cycle KPIs, based on data from their most recent and preceding full fiscal years. The 2021 Revenue Cycle Awards recipients include Liberty Hospital– MO; four Ardent Health Services hospitals -ID, NJ and TX; University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics – IA and Novant Health – NC.
Read More: SalesTechStar Interview with Owen Frivold, EVP, Strategy & Co-Founder at Hero Digital
Launched in 2012, the Clarivate Healthcare Business Insights Revenue Cycle Awards were established to recognize hospitals and health systems demonstrating strong performance on revenue cycle KPIs that indicate the fiscal health of an organization. Participants can opt to enter a full health system, a flagship hospital or a subgroup of facilities within a system. This year’s recipients faced challenges, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, disrupted cash flow, rising patient out-of-pocket costs and revenue cycle staff turnover. Through their renewed commitment to process efficiency, forward-thinking initiatives, staff engagement and the patient experience, this year’s winners reinforced the foundation for revenue cycle operations – achieving high-performing revenue cycles and demonstrating top-decile performance in multiple studied metrics.
Winners were selected based on many KPIs, and the studied metrics were adapted in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. In past years, metrics have been heavily focused on financial outcomes. For the 2021 Awards, alternative metrics were included to assess the effectiveness of revenue cycle operations, such as the percentages of initial denials attributed to varying root cause categories, which provides insight into the efficiency and accuracy of staff workflows. Evaluation also included narratives provided by awards entrants describing recent revenue cycle initiatives, efforts made to improve the patient experience, strategies for staff retention and more.
Beth Reed, Principal Analyst, Clarivate Healthcare Business Insights: “This year’s winners demonstrated skill in adapting to the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Each participant emphasized staff engagement to prevent turnover and support efficient day-to-day operations while also investing in the patient experience. Balancing the needs of staff and patients in the coming years will be crucial for revenue cycle success.”
While all winners have high-performing revenue cycles in common, they represent varied segments of the healthcare landscape as defined by annual net revenue.
Healthcare Business Insights 2021 Revenue Cycle Awards Winners
Liberty Hospital – 2021 REVENUE CYCLE AWARD WINNER – $250 MILLION OR LESS NET REVENUE
Based in Liberty, Missouri, Liberty Hospital has 204 beds and has generated approximately $191 million annual net revenue. Liberty Hospital is a repeat winner, having won a 2019 Revenue Cycle Award.
Key achievements:
- Top decile year-over-year improvement on balance-after-insurance collection rate: 29.86% improvement
- Top decile year-over-year improvement on pure self-pay (uninsured) collection rate: 81.69% improvement
- Liberty Hospital leaders invested in digital self-service tools, such as online medical record release, and automation, such as for scheduling and coding, to improve the patient experience; leaders supported remote revenue cycle through virtual events and team recognition, which resulted in near-perfect staff engagement scores among Clinical Coding and HIM staff
Select Ardent Health Services facilities – 2021 REVENUE CYCLE AWARD WINNER – $250 MILLION TO $1 BILLION NET REVENUE
Read More: Challenger Introduces Loop, A First To Market Sales Coaching Technology, To Improve The Purchase…
Based in Nashville, TN, Ardent is a leading provider of healthcare in communities across the country. Four of its 30 hospitals were recognized as first-time Revenue Cycle Award winners: Hackensack Meridian Health Mountainside Medical Center, Hackensack Meridian Health Pascack Valley Medical Center, Portneuf Medical Center and Seton Medical Center Harker Heights, which total 763 beds. Ensemble Health Partners manages revenue cycle operations for these facilities.
Key achievements:
- Top decile performance on upfront collections as a percentage of net revenue in most recent fiscal year: 1.53%
- Top decile year-over-year improvement on percentage of dollars initially denied by payers due to billing errors: 99.22% improvement
- Leaders in professional development by implementing a “hire from anywhere” program for the revenue cycle, maintaining remote work options and soliciting staff feedback, all of which prevented turnover and improved productivity in 2022.
University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics – 2021 REVENUE CYCLE AWARD WINNER – $1 BILLION TO $2 BILLION NET REVENUE
Based in Iowa City, Iowa, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics is an academic health system featuring an 860-bed hospital and more than 200 clinics. The system has generated approximately $1.7 billion net revenue. University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics is a repeat winner, having won a 2020 Revenue Cycle Award.
Key achievements:
- Top decile performance on cost to collect in most recent fiscal year: 2.22%
- Top decile performance on percentage of patient payments made online in most recent fiscal year: 57.59%
- University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics leaders improved the patient experience by enhancing online financial services, such as bill pay and estimation, and plan further investments in financial assistance processes for 2022; leaders supported revenue cycle teams by launching a staff satisfaction task force that planned camaraderie events and prompted the development of the Outstanding Employee monthly award
Novant Health – 2021 REVENUE CYCLE AWARD WINNER – $2 BILLION+ NET REVENUE
Based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Novant Health includes 15 hospitals and 750 clinics across North Carolina. The system features 2,649 beds and has generated approximately $3.2 billion net revenue. Novant Health is a repeat winner, having won a 2019 Revenue Cycle Award.
Read More: Disruptions Force Enterprises To Rethink Procurement
Key achievements:
- Top decile performance on combined patient and payer credit balances as a percentage of net A/R in most recent fiscal year: 2.10%
- Top decile performance on percentage of dollars initially denied by payers due to patient access errors in most recent fiscal year: 20.69%
- Novant Health leaders invested in the patient experience by creating combined hospital and professional charge estimates for surgeries, which they plan to expand to additional service lines in 2022; leaders improved revenue cycle workflows through strategic automation, such as for late charges and billing
Clarivate Healthcare Business Insights is a proud partner of over 2,000 hospitals and health systems in the United States. Clarivate Healthcare Business Insights supports healthcare leaders by optimizing performance, engaging and retaining employees, and providing insights to help navigate the evolving market – all while putting the patient first. As part of the Revenue Cycle Awards program, throughout 2022, Clarivate Healthcare Business Insights will highlight the work behind the numbers with exclusive content, connecting leaders from the winning organizations with the HBI community. Submissions for the 2022 Clarivate Healthcare Business Insights Revenue Cycle Awards will open later this year.
