Family practice sees AR improvement with ARIA RCM Services

Revenue cycle management case study

Family practice sees dramatic improvement in accounts receivable with ARIA RCM services

La Joya's Neighborhood Doctor—both the name of the practice and a well-earned moniker for its physician, Dr. Norma Cavazos—is a family practice that has been providing high quality healthcare to the people of Mission, TX, for more than 20 years.

Dr. Cavazos, her three PAs, NP, and the rest of her staff have been using CGM eMDs EHR and Practice Management for many years, and recently chose to move to our CGM eMDs hosted service to keep them focused on patients, not technology.

In the summer of 2016, Dennis Laughlin, Dr. Cavazos' Practice Administrator, received a phone call from a longtime colleague. The discussion included billing operations, which got Dennis thinking.

"To be honest, we were having issues with our old billing company," says Dennis. "We were noticing money left on the table." The colleague told Dennis to get in touch with CompuGroup Medical, their PM/EHR vendor, and ask about revenue cycle management (RCM) services.

"CGM can add their RCM services to the CGM eMDs application you're already using," Dennis was told. "It's worth it." Dennis contacted CompuGroup Medical immediately.

A new RCM partnership

"We were a little skeptical at first because outsourced billing is a big step," says Dennis. "We got on the phone and had a few conference calls. CGM guaranteed us that they could bring up the revenue, straighten up errors, and not leave the money on the table. We needed that extra revenue to grow. If you're not growing, you end up shrinking."

After CompuGroup Medical provided a free assessment of their financials which allowed them to pinpoint exactly where they were losing money, Dennis and Dr. Cavazos decided to take the plunge. "When we looked at everything, it didn't make sense to NOT try it."

By September of 2016, they were live.

"The service has been ideal, and the staff is attentive," says Dennis. "The whole experience with RCM has been great."

The practice is in regular contact with their ARIA RCM Services account manager who reviews their financials with them every month and provides an easy point of contact.

While the customer service has been very good, Dennis is even more pleased with the results.

"Revenue coming into the practice has increased. We added a provider because our revenue was increasing. Turnaround time on invoices from billing to when we get everything back has decreased. The number of errors and zero-pays are vastly different."

An eye toward growth

La Joya has seen its most striking improvements with its accounts receivable. Thanks to the help from ARIA RCM Services, the percentage of their AR that is more than 90 days old has plummeted from 87% to 23%.

Almost half of their AR is under 30 days old now, where before it was a paltry 7%. Their overall, average number of days in AR has dropped by nearly 20. All of this speaks to drastic improvements in how much and how quickly La Joya gets their money in the door.

Dennis adds, "Dr. Cavazos likes the turnaround time in particular. She likes knowing when we'll get paid and how much."

Because the ARIA RCM Services team works directly in the practice's CGM eMDs application, Dr. Cavazos and her team have full transparency into the RCM team's activities. If they have any questions, they can communicate using the system.

The financial impact has been so positive that Dr. Cavazos now has growth in mind.

"We're looking at opening a second practice next door because of the increased revenue," says Dennis. In this case, ARIA RCM Services is unlocking the door to better serving this Texas community's patient population.

"The combination of letting CompuGroup Medical manage our EHR software on their servers and the billing with their ARIA team has helped us focus on our business and what we do best: delivering care to our patients.”

_{*Customer received compensation as a referral and was told in advance that they would be featured in an advertisement.}