Advanced Data Systems Presents on Revenue Cycle Management at Behavioral Health Network Resources’ EMP Series California Conference

February 1, 2019 – Paramus NJ – Advanced Data Systems Corp (ADS), a leading national provider of facility automation and revenue cycle management (RCM) for Behavioral Health and Addiction Treatment centers, participated and presented in the panel discussion at Behavioral Health Resources’ EMP Series on Marketing for Addiction Treatment at The Fete in Costa Mesa, CA.

Organized by Charles Davis and Behavioral Health Network Resources, the conference brought together over two hundred leading executives from addiction treatment centers throughout CA and neighboring states. An RCM panel discussion was presented on ways treatment centers can automate labor-intensive processes to improve collections from both insurance companies and the centers’ patients / clients. 

Jim Woods, ADS Vice President of Behavioral Health Services, participated in the RCM discussion. Mr. Woods said, “Unfortunately, so many people are faced with the challenge of battling addiction today, especially as it’s fueled by the opioid crisis gripping the US. Fortunately, there are a growing number of quality treatment facilities available to assist those in need of all levels of appropriate care. As those facilities help people return to their families and lead productive lives, the facilities themselves need help in ensuring they remain financially stable.”

Mr. Woods continued, “That’s why leveraging automation and technology is vitally   important. Treatment organizations across all levels of care need to be certain they’re capturing the appropriate revenue for services provided. Without a doubt, financial viability and visibility is key to providing a gold standard of care for the long term. We’re always amazed at how much revenue is lost because of issues with claims management. Over 70% of denied claims or delayed reimbursements can be attributed to registration issues, insufficient authorizations, and claim submission errors. It’s a critical point in time to begin leveraging more technology to improve revenue capture and manage clinical outcomes.”

Technology and business intelligence tools can provide a wealth of information related to payer trends in healthcare. Today, identifying expected insurance values (EIV) and managing out-of-network payments is an important revenue cycle function. Mr. Woods said, “You must be able to anticipate future cash flow enhancing your ability to forecast and make sound business decisions leading to growth. Tracking, calculating, and creating data points around historical payments by insurers is crucial.  Insight into your payers and payer trends allows you to make revenue cycle process improvements enhancing cash flow dramatically. Further, understanding how payers are trending over time provides insight into best marketing practices per-dollar-spent in advertising.

“But ensuring being paid begins before the patient or client arrives,” Mr. Woods said, continuing, “The system or RCM company should be able to automatically batch-process verification of benefits (VOB) in advance, providing enough time for any issues to be resolved between the insured and his or her payer.” 

ADS has recently launched business intelligence tools to help maximize per-claim revenue for detox, residential, and outpatient facilities across the US. In addition, appealing claims that are paid at lower-than-expected rates can also bring in significant revenue. But first, you have to know where you’re losing revenue,” Mr. Woods said.

Mr. Woods continued, “The third largest payer group in the US right now are patients. It’s not unusual to see their balances equaling what insurance is paying. This is an especially troubling phenomenon in addiction treatment where amounts due can be high, especially based on the level of care. Being able to capture those balances is essential. Today, living in a mobile world supports that. People want the ability to manage their healthcare bills online and through their smartphones. It’s a required   piece in the effort to collect patient or client balances while providing long term clinical engagement.”

“At the same time, delivering a positive experience is part of the health IT landscape today. Utilization of a patient portal makes the treatment facility available 24 x 7 x 365 for scheduling appointments, completing questionnaires in advance, and for bi-directional messaging eliminating phone calls, waiting on hold, leaving voicemails, and making callbacks. It’s a great engagement feature for enhancing everyone’s experience, especially if the portal is iPad, iPhone, and Android-friendly,” Mr. Woods said.

Mr. Woods noted, “Without question, financial and operational reports, analytics, key performance indicators, and patient or client outcomes management are integral parts of managing a treatment facility. Reports need to be user-friendly and viewable in simple, interactive dashboards that can simply tell the story about the current health of your facility. Not only must you track clinical assessment scores for people you’re treating, you must also track your success at being paid by insurance companies.”

Mr. Woods pointed out in the discussion that, “Treatment centers and behavioral health hospitals also need to generate daily charges through a bed board for people who are admitted. More times than not, we still see manual charge logs being created which is extremely labor intensive. In 2013, ADS launched its proprietary BedManager as part of the company’s MedicsCloud Suite of practice management, clinical documentation, outcomes management, and RCM services allowing ADS’ clients to handle every aspect of their facility on one single platform.”

On the clinical side, the MedicsCloud EHR is complete with automated consent forms, assessments, ASAM, treatment planning, and clinical alerts designed to support our clients in delivering the gold standard of care to each and every patient and client.

Regarding telemedicine, Mr. Woods said, “As the global transition continues on a road to ease care access, telemedicine will be a key platform enhancement for providers everywhere. ADS has its own - not a third party - telemedicine feature which can be utilized by your patients or clients through their iPads, iPhones or Androids. The person simply signs into the MedicsPortal on their device while the provider invokes the person’s record in the MedicsCloud EHR. Notes are seamlessly saved exactly as they would in face-to-face encounters. Telemedicine encounters generate revenue and are approved through many insurance plans. The world is changing and we need to make sure we are as well!”

As to marketing, Mr. Woods noted, “Marketing has become a staple in the world of detox treatment, creating a need to track campaigns and advertising. Your system or RCM company should accommodate that. MedicsCRM is a built-in MedicsCloud capability designed to report on your marketing efforts. MedicsCloud can also be interfaced with CRMs such as Salesforce®, Zoho®, Sugar®, and so many others as may be preferred by our clients.”

Mr. Woods closed by saying, “It was great meeting and speaking with so many EMP Series attendees, hearing their about their automation concerns, and reviewing how the MedicsCloud Suite provides real world solutions to the real world challenges being faced by addiction treatment organizations today. We very much look forward to attending future EMP Series.”

Contact ADS at 800-899-4237, Ext. 2264 or email info@adsc.com for more information on the MedicsCloud Suite and / or for a no cost assessment on how MedicsRCM can increase your revenue, typically by 10% - 20%.