Revenue Cycle Management: | Risk Mitigation | Financial and Information Technology
The University of Utah Hospital is a research and teaching hospital on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. The encompassing healthcare system provides care for Utahns and residents of five (5) surrounding states in a referral area encompassing more than ten (10) percent of the continental United States. Since the University of Utah Hospital opened its doors in 1965, they have grown from a single hospital to an extensive health care system that includes four (4) hospitals and ten (10) neighborhood health centers staffed by 1,000 board-certified University of Utah physicians trained in 200 medical specialties. The University of Utah Hospital has won many awards including being named one of "100 Great Hospitals in America" in the issue of Becker's Hospital Review.
“University of Utah Health Care recently underwent a change to the patient billing system, an implementation that encompassed both facility and professional billing. We partnered with JTS Health Partners to perform a risk mitigation analysis and create an action plan. Our experience with the JTS team was positive.”
Mr. Clint Reid
Director, Finance
The Challenge
University of Utah Health Care (UUHC) was in the final phase of implementing Epic’s enterprise-wide revenue cycle management suite of applications (i.e., hospital billing, professional billing, registration, and scheduling). In addition, UUHC was also implementing a central billing office and a combined patient bill as part of the initiative. The implementation involved thousands of end users as well as the go-live timing that was strategically planned to avoid the holiday seasons along with seasonal patient volume concerns.
Based upon the organization’s current state as well as its need to maintain key cash management levels with billing accounts receivable, senior management requested that a financial risk mitigation assessment be conducted with strategic recommendations prior to launch.
The Collaborative Approach
JTS Health Partners (JTS) performed a financial risk mitigation analysis with an operational plan to follow. JTS had great support from the client so that collectively both parties could identify key performance indicators that needed to be addressed. In addition, JTS collaborated with UUHC in designing an action plan to support all financial, billing, and accounts receivable related metrics.
The Accomplishments
As a result of a successful engagement, UUHC was well positioned with its planned go-live date, which was successfully met. The risk mitigation assessment, which included the financial/operational revenue cycle management findings, highlighted the areas that needed focus in order to maintain success post launch. The effective communication and involvement between the Finance and Patient Financial Services Departments within UUHS prior to the go-live date marked significant achievements for the engagement. Other key accomplishments included:
- Identifying and reviewing key financial and operational metrics applicable to revenue cycle management (including financial statements, progress reports, Epic status reports, operational issues with specific attention to the critical and high-priority matters, decision support reports, etc.)
- Developing a strategic and tactical strategy with an operational plan (with co-developed financial models) to support the financial risk areas of concern
- Developing a financial go-live readiness dashboard supported by the UUHC Finance Risk Mitigation Committee