Survey Names Top RCM Outsourcing Firms
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Black Book survey also finds hundreds of healthcare providers have contracted RCM companies in the past two years.
The 2014 Black Book RCM User Survey found more healthcare providers are outsourcing their revenue cycle management in the midst of the shift to value-based payments models, and many anticipate the market for RCM outsourcing could reach $10 billion by 2016, according to Healthcare Finance.
The survey is conducted annually by Black Book Market Research LLC, and this year polled more than 2,250 hospital executives at 445 hospitals nationwide. The survey found, over 80 percent of hospitals with over 200 beds that outsourced their RCM operations saw average revenue increases of 5.3 percent and 78 percent of hospitals with fewer than 200 beds saw revenue climb nearly 7 percent.
Users gave the top spot in RCM outsourcing to Conifer Health Solutions for 2014. According to the survey findings, “Larger, better-integrated RCM outsourcing solution providers like Conifer are meeting the demand by hospitals for fully integrated, end-to-end solutions.” In the 2014 Black Book Top Ranked Financial Services and Software Vendors, Value-Based Care and Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) survey , Conifer was named as the top provider of value-based care solutions to Medicare and commercial ACOs in its 2014.
“Hospital CFOs are facing profound challenges in their effort to preserve the bottom line while navigating towards value-based payment models,” said Matthew C. Michaels, president of Hospital Revenue Cycle Management for Conifer Health Solutions. “Conifer’s stand-out showing in this year’s Black Book RCM user survey confirms that health finance leaders are seeking end-to-end expertise to both streamline operations and lay the foundation for successful value-based reimbursement.”
“It has been no surprise that many overwhelmed hospital leaders have realized that RCM isn’t their organization’s core competency, and have turned to large end-to-end outsourcing firms for RCM to refocus on patient care and clinical service delivery, ” Healthcare Finance quoted Doug Brown, managing partner of Black Book Market Research as saying.
In fact, 70 percent of hospital CFOs view end-to-end RCM outsourcing as the current best solution amidst evolving value-based payment models. Brown explained that, without end-to-end RCM, average processing costs for claims reimbursements run from $30 to $90 per transaction, according to Black Book, totaling $252 billion for providers in 2014. “Outsourced RCM knocks down the cost. The healthcare industry also has the opportunity to leverage the economies of scale offered by RCM outsourcers, which successfully handle high volumes of encounters," he said.
The survey found other top RCM providers were: Parallon, Optum, MedAssets, McKesson RelayHealth, Convergent, Xtend, HBCS, MedAssist, Firstsource, Emdeon, and Citadel.