Winners of the annual award include ThedaCare Regional Medical Center, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics and Essentia Health
Clarivate Plc, a global leader in providing trusted information and insights to accelerate the pace of innovation, today announced the 2020 winners of the annual Revenue Cycle Awards, issued by Healthcare Business Insights to US based companies since 2012. The Revenue Cycle Awards recognize healthcare organizations for achieving outstanding performance on revenue cycle KPIs, based on data from their most recent and preceding full fiscal years. The 2020 Revenue Cycle Awards recipients are: ThedaCare – WI, University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics – IA and Essentia Health – MN.
The Revenue Cycle Awards were established in 2012 to recognize hospitals and health systems demonstrating strong performance on revenue cycle KPIs that indicate the fiscal health of an organization. While this year’s recipients faced challenges common to the entire healthcare community, at the onset of the pandemic, each participant adjusted operations to support staff and increased communication with patients to prevent the spread of COVID-19. For example, many expanded remote work for revenue cycle staff and developed workflows to meet increased demand for telehealth services. While adapting to these unforeseen challenges, leaders at these organizations were preparing for CMS price transparency regulations, which took effect in 2021, and managing ongoing improvement initiatives intended to further increase efficiency and accuracy in revenue cycle operations.
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Winners were selected based on multiple KPIs, and the studied metrics were adjusted for the COVID-19 pandemic. In past years, metrics have been heavily focused on financial outcomes. For the 2020 Awards, that focus was lessened, and new 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, COVID-19 pandemic response, and more.
Beth Reed, Principal Analyst at Clarivate for Healthcare Business Insights solutions, said: “Innovation is at the heart of every successful growth strategy. Now, more than ever, hospitals and health systems must be flexible, able to adjust operations when needed to ensure the best care can be provided. It was important to acknowledge the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in this year’s awards process. Each participant demonstrated their commitment to the health and safety of their staff and patients during a time of upheaval.”
While all award recipients have high-performing revenue cycles in common, they represent varied segments of the healthcare landscape as defined by annual net revenue.
2020 Revenue Cycle Awards Winners:
$251 MILLION TO $1 BILLION NET REVENUE – ThedaCare
Based in Neenah, Wisconsin, ThedaCare includes seven hospitals and more than 30 clinics. The system includes five critical access hospitals and two general acute-care hospitals. ThedaCare features 460 beds and has generated approximately $734 million annual net revenue. The system operates under a partnership with Ensemble Health Partners, which provides full revenue cycle outsourcing.
Key achievements:
- Top decile performance on first-pass appeal success rate in most recent fiscal year: 89.08%
- Top decile year-over-year improvement on cost to collect: 29.40% decrease
- Improved business office staff accuracy and efficiency, as well as payer relations, by integrating robotic process automation and AI into claim status workflows and account follow-up prioritization
$1 BILLION TO $2 BILLION NET REVENUE — University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics
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 $1.9 billion net revenue.
Key achievements:
- Top decile performance on percentage of dollars initially denied by payers due to insufficient clinical documentation in most recent fiscal year: 1.32%
- Top decile performance on percentage of patients pre-registered before scheduled service in most recent fiscal year: 83.18%
- Demonstrated leadership and community commitment by mitigating a local natural disaster’s effects on patient access to care during summer 2020, such as by identifying revenue cycle team members who could not work remotely due to power outages and developing safety protocols to prevent COVID-19 infection while they were brought back onsite temporarily
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$2 BILLION+ NET REVENUE — Essentia Health
Based in Duluth, Minnesota, Essentia Health includes 14 hospitals, more than 70 clinics, several postacute and nonacute living facilities, and more, across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota. The system features 1,150 beds and has generated approximately $2.0 billion net revenue.
Key achievements:
- Top decile performance on percentage of patient payments made online in most recent fiscal year: 91.15%
- Top decile year-over-year improvement on percentage of patients pre-registered before scheduled service: 90.67% improvement
- Modified patient-facing revenue cycle processes to provide a positive in-person experience (such as through curbside registration) and virtual experience (such as through remote patient monitoring) during the pandemic
Clarivate and its Healthcare Business Insights solutions, is a proud partner to over 2,000 hospitals and health systems in the United States. We support 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 2021, Clarivate will highlight the work behind the numbers with exclusive content, connecting leaders from the winning organizations with the healthcare community. Submissions for the 2021 Revenue Cycle Awards will open later this year.
