Ovation Revenue Cycle Services’ CEO Receives Award for Best Article from HFMA
April Langford, CEO of Ovation Revenue Cycle Services (OvationRCS), recently received the 2015-16 Helen Yerger/L. Vann Seawell Best Article Award from Healthcare Financial Management (hfm) magazine for an outstanding contribution to the professional literature in healthcare finance.
Langford co-authored the award-winning piece with Frances Voelker, senior director of revenue cycle at UPMC. Their article, “Reengineering the Healthcare Claims Management Work Flow,” discussed how UPMC, a large health system in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania uses automation and an exception-based work flow to focus collectors on activities having the greatest impact on the bottom line.
Langford and Voelker’s article highlighted how UPMC and Ovation developed a web-based tool to give staff on different patient-accounting systems better information during the insurance follow up process so they could work smarter and better. This tool, coupled with enhanced claim status transactions enabled staff to build an exception-based work flow to get claims paid more quickly. The article also featured some of the key performance indicators realized by UPMC after instituting these technologies.
UPMC reduced its billed days in accounts receivable (A/R) from 42 to 29 days, with a 79 percent reduction in the percentage of A/R aged more than 90 days. In addition, by identifying and correcting inefficiencies, UPMC became a better partner with payers.
The Helen Yerger/L. Vann Seawell Best Article Award is an annual award presented by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) that recognizes articles for outstanding editorial achievement in hfm magazine. Winners are selected by a panel of five leaders in the healthcare industry who review each article published in hfm between June 2015 and May 2016. Articles are judged on the writer’s demonstration of technical quality, and writing skills, and overall contribution to the literature of healthcare finance professionals.
“It’s truly an honor to be recognized by HFMA, hfm and my peers,” says Langford. “This article was in response to the struggle some health systems continue to have today as their margins are tightening and they’re looking for better strategies to reduce their staff’s manual workload while accelerating cash flow. As we wrote about, however, leaders whose organizations, like UPMC, adopt exception-based work flows and automated tools will be positioned to transform their revenue cycles and protect their bottom line.”
The announcement of the Best Article Award will appear in the September 2016 issue of hfm. A complimentary copy of “Reengineering the Healthcare Claims Management Work Flow,” is available for download.
April Langford is CEO of Ovation Revenue Cycle Services and chair of the sponsorship committee of HFMA’s Western Pennsylvania chapter. Frances Voelker is senior director of revenue cycle for UPMC and is a member of HFMA’s Western Pennsylvania chapter.
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