Press Releases
RelayHealth's Patient Compass™ Online Business Office Solution Achieves New Milestone as Hospital Adoption Rate Soars 80 Percent
Industry-leading product empowers growing numbers of technology-enabled patients while increasing providers' cash flow
Atlanta, GA, June 25, 2007 — Reflecting the skyrocketing increase in Internet usage in the United States, RelayHealth today announced record 80 percent growth in the use of its industry-leading Patient Compass™ Online Business Office. In the past year, the number of hospitals offering this solution to their patients has almost doubled, while enrolled users grew by 57 percent. Payments made online increased by 46 percent over the past year, including a 15 percent jump during the most recent month alone. Online collections through the application have increased to $23 million annually, with that amount expected to double in each of the next two years.
This news mirrors the findings of the Pew Internet and American Life Project report titled "Home Broadband Adoption 2006," which found that broadband Internet usage in homes increased from 30 percent to 42 percent in 2006. An initiative of the Pew Research Center, the project surveyed more than 4,000 Americans and found that most of the growth came from middle-income Americans with household incomes between $40,000 and $50,000 per year, African Americans and new users.
"Consumerism is making a major impact on the healthcare industry today," said Jim Bodenbender, senior vice president and general manager, RelayHealth. "More employers expect their employees to share a larger percentage of the cost for healthcare, creating a bigger personal stake for consumers to review and understand their bills. For healthcare providers, the shift of financial responsibility to patients translates into increased risk and collection expense. The Patient Compass solution is the right product at the right time to meet the pressing needs of technology-enabled Americans and their healthcare providers."
According to Bodenbender, experts estimate that hospitals spend three times as much to collect self-pay revenue as compared to dollars from third-party payors, with more than 30 percent of all self-pay debt is written off.
"By providing patients with easy-to-understand statements and an accessible means for managing and paying them, hospitals are reaping the benefits of increased revenue collection and decreased risk from unpaid items," he added.
To minimize the risk of self-pay debt, solutions like Patient Compass Online Business Office address one of the primary causes of consumer dissatisfaction with healthcare delivery - confusing and complex bills. A health system can consolidate accounts from multiple account receivable systems at multiple locations and present the patient with one, easy bill where the patient can choose to pay a specified encounter, pay in its entirety or set up installments.
The Patient Compass solution simplifies and enhances financial interactions in a secure environment between healthcare providers and their patients. It creates a simplified experience for patients via a "virtual business office" with online self-service and consolidated patient-friendly billing on a single statement. Patients can access current financial account information through their healthcare service provider's Web site, update insurance information online, receive e-mail notifications when insurance payments are received, pay multiple accounts at once and specify electronic rather than paper distribution of bills. The system also provides access to important supplement information for patients such as an organization's charity policy, claim appeals process and much more.
Novant Health in Winston Salem, N.C., has signed up more than 4,600 households for the solution. During that time, self-pay collections have increased more than $5 million on an annual basis. Accounts receivable days have been cut in half. The health system's customer service department is reducing paper and mailing costs as patients migrate from receiving paper bills monthly to receiving daily online updates.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles found that its Business Office generated 20 percent faster payments and collected more than $2 million through online payments since being deployed in April 2005. "During the earlier, paper-based stage of the project, customer service saw a 31 percent decrease in patients' financial related calls," said Donell Cohen, Senior Financial Management Analyst at Cedars-Sinai. "These improvements helped fuel more than $250,000 in operational savings the first year of implementation." Now Cedars-Sinai patients also can pay their bills online, saving postage fees and the hassle of writing and mailing checks.
Patient Compass Online Business Office is recognized as the industry leading patient financial billing communications solution. Following a rigorous six-month process review, the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) designated the Patient Compass solution as one of their few Peer Reviewed products. This industry seal of approval means that the solution meets the stringent standards of HFMA's peer review program and provides value to its members, the Association, and the company. Just five other industry products have passed this extensive process, but the Patient Compass solution is the only product in its category to do so.
About RelayHealth
RelayHealth is McKesson's vendor-neutral connectivity services business. Its intelligent network is designed to streamline clinical, financial and administrative communication between patients, providers, payors, pharmacies and financial institutions. RelayHealth works to accelerate the delivery of high-quality care and improve financial performance through solutions such as those for online consultation of physicians by patients, electronic prescribing by physicians, point-of-service resolution of pharmacy claims by payors, pre-visit financial clearance of patients by providers, and post-visit settlement of provider bills by payors and patients. For more information: www.relayhealth.com.
