Customer Success:
Improving Reqs/FTE by 150%
With labor costs increasing, reimbursements declining, and the demand for data accessibility at an all-time high, laboratories are finding ways to reduce costs, maximize collections, and gain better visibility into their business performance.
The Challenge
For years, a large clinical lab based in Indiana used a combination of an LIS and two separate billing systems to manage their revenue cycle. These systems were adequate to meet their needs at that time but as billing and insurance requirements became more complex, the systems failed to evolve and provide the tools necessary to execute billing tasks in an efficient manner.
Without the proper functionality and access to key analytics, this led to:
- Increased denials caused by front-end errors not caught early in the billing cycle,
- Increased staffing costs due to system limitations creating the need to hire more staff to manage billing complexities, and the
- Inability to maximize collections due to limited time and resources.
In 2018, the lab received 3,000 requisitions per day managed by 38 full-time billers. This resulted in 79 requisitions per full-time employee (FTE) per day. After looking for solutions to best fit their business model, they selected TELCOR RCM to streamline workflow processes, improve collections, and gain visibility into their analytics.
The Solution
TELCOR RCM provides extensive functionality and visibility to handle billing for all types of labs. As an exception-based system, charges are sent directly into TELCOR RCM where they are processed through a rules engine checking for errors.
If a charge passes through the rules engine without errors, a claim is generated and sent to the payer without any manual intervention. Transactions flagged with errors are stopped within the application and staff can make corrections. The charge is then sent back through the rules engine to ensure all errors were corrected.
TELCOR RCM maximizes workflow efficiency by focusing on transactions with errors. Working only transaction errors frees time for staff to go after hard-to-collect dollars—all in one single application. This efficiency provides labs the greatest ROI by:
- Reducing staffing costs by using automation and customization,
- Improving collections by working all denials, not just the easy ones, and
- Allowing labs to grow efficiently without needing to hire more staff.
The Results
Previously planned growth initiatives increased requisition volume by 71%. Due to the efficiencies of the TELCOR application, the lab was able to absorb the increased volume and still reduce staffing from 38 FTEs to 26 FTEs—a decrease of 31% and almost $1 million in total compensation costs. Productivity per FTE increased from 79 reqs/FTE to 198 reqs/FTE—an improvement of 150%.
Labs using TELCOR RCM are able to:
- Gain workflow efficiencies through automation allowing labs to reduce or reallocate staffing
- Improve collections by simplifying patient, payer, and client billing
- View key analytics to track trends and make smart business decisions
Request a demo to see why labs are switching to TELCOR RCM.