When you’re a pediatric practice running your own business, outsourcing anything can cause trepidation. Yet, moving services outside your organization can give you the support you need and free you up to focus on patient care. Some services, like revenue cycle management, are too significant to hand over to just anyone. You need a safe, trusted partner and expert who communicates well and produces results. 

Nancy Thomas, the long-time practice manager at Forest Hill Pediatrics, found herself in this position at the end of 2017. She had just signed on with OP RCM after experiencing a failed RCM partnership with a different EHR provider. Nancy had reservations, as anyone would, after a bad experience. Today, she is confident that she made the right choice and shares three key factors for success with other practices looking for the highest quality RCM support.

Transparency

When outsourcing something as important as the financial health of your practice, transparency is vital to the process. Outsourcing RCM services does not replace ownership of your practice’s economic success; it is a shared responsibility. You should expect your financial data to be fully visible and accessible at all times and have the peace of mind that your business is going in the right direction. 

Transparency with your RCM partner also makes billing communication with your patients and their families easy. If a parent calls in with questions about the statement they received, how can you assist them if you don’t have access to the EOB or the mailed statement? Having current and accurate information at your fingertips helps you provide excellent service and an overall positive patient experience. 

Partnership

One of the most significant benefits of working with an external partner like OP RCM is getting the expertise of an entire financial team. If your on-staff biller gets sick or has an emergency, you don’t have to scramble to fill the gap and worry about losing weeks of lost revenue. 

Just as important as having a team, is having a dedicated representative to work with on revenue cycle management. An account manager or customer service specialist intimately familiar with the service will be able to answer questions quickly and spot opportunities for optimizing results. They’re also someone you can build a relationship with over time and who will understand the historical context and progression of your RCM needs. 

When seeking a new Revenue Cycle Management service, be sure to ask how the partnership will support you and your team and who your customer advocate will be.

Replicable Results

Last, consider what kind of results their other customers are seeing. RCM comes down to numbers above all else. Unless it’s a trusted partner with solid and consistent outcomes, it may not be worth your time.

Revenue increases can come from a variety of sources. Some practices will see a boost regardless of who they choose to work with simply due to economies of scale. There will be inevitable benefits if you’re going from one biller to a team of billers. But what standards is your potential billing partner following to boost results in other ways?

Always ask any RCM service provider about their current clients’ results and, more importantly, how they are delivering success. 

For the team at Forest Hill Pediatrics, OP RCM met all three of these key factors with ease. Transparency was a no-brainer: their team works out of the same system as OP RCM’s team. Accessing up-to-date information is as easy as clicking a button. 

When it comes to a strong partnership, practice manager Nancy Thomas is thrilled: “The customer service and the support within the RCM team is phenomenal.” 

And the results? They speak for themselves. Over the past year, the average payment per visit increased by more than 40 percent, charges increased by over 20%, and insurance payments increased by 25%.

To learn more about Forest Hill’s success using OP’s RCM services, you can read their client success story here.

EHRs are the key to streamlining operations, identifying efficiencies, and freeing up valuable time for clients. Our EHR and Revenue Cycle Management solutions offer features designed to help keep your practice’s financial and clinical operations running smoothly, so you can focus on what you do best – taking care of your patients. To learn how Office Practicum can help your pediatric practice operate at its best, contact us today.