Best of the 2022 Healthcare Revenue Cycle Virtual Symposium

Colleen Hall, healthcare managing principal at Crowe, introduced Jan Oldenburg, the opening keynote speaker, who set the patient-centric tone for the entire symposium. When healthcare leaders talk about putting the patient first, the context is usually access and quality – two parts of the healthcare triangle, with cost being the third. In her keynote, Oldenburg, principal at Participatory Health Consulting, showed healthcare revenue cycle leaders how to put the patient first in the context of cost and, specifically, in the revenue cycle. Oldenburg used three vignettes to illustrate what patients want from their healthcare revenue cycle experiences and what happens to providers who don’t meet those patients’ expectations. She said patients want clarity, such as accurate cost estimates; flexibility, such as understandable bills; and impact, such as coordination with insurers.  

“With patient responsibility becoming a larger and larger proportion of the payers’ allowable, how we support and serve patients with residual patient responsibilities is becoming more and more important.”

— Colleen Hall, Managing Principal, Healthcare, Crowe

In this second symposium keynote, Brian Sanderson, principal in Crowe healthcare consulting, described four foundational pillars and 10 operational steps hospitals and healthcare systems need to transform themselves into “patient management organizations,” or organizations that put patient management at the center of everything they do. The four foundational pillars are financial proficiency, technology interoperability, clinical continuity, and data science. Examples of some of the steps that use those pillars to put patients first are engaging with patients in their own environment on their own personal medical journey and running an efficient operation to support a cost structure that makes care more affordable to patients. The most important measure of success of a patient management organization is “customer lifetime value,” Sanderson said.  

“What the patient is looking for here is relatively clear. They are telling us one way or another that they want simplicity, ease, personalization, empathy, compassion, explanations or transparency, assistance, coordination, quality, and they want to get better."

- Brian Sanderson, Principal, Healthcare Consulting, Crowe

The final symposium session featured a panel discussion on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy and offered practical advice on how hospitals and health systems can consistently capture and report standardized ESG data that demonstrates their sustainability. Chris McClure, Crowe partner and ESG services leader, moderated the panel, which included Shameka Smith, principal in Crowe healthcare consulting; Mike Witek, senior manager in Crowe healthcare consulting; and Melissa Smith, vice president of revenue cycle at Inova Health System. Most hospitals and health systems publicize their commitment to ESG through their mission, vision, and value statements, but they lack a systematic way of quantifying their efforts. Panelists agreed that internal audit can be invaluable as it brings validation, control, and process competencies to an ESG initiative. 

“There are a lot more stakeholders who care about what’s happening at your organization, and what they’re looking for is comparability in the disclosures. They want data that’s verifiable. They want to able to compare organizations to make sure that they can see things are truthful because this information does impact investment decisions that impact which service provider you go to. So, what we’re seeing is that ESG is increasingly important to a wide variety of stakeholders, and we need really good data and processes around it.”

- Chris McClure, Partner, ESG Services Leader, Crowe

Colleen Hall, healthcare managing principal at Crowe, closed the 2022 Crowe Healthcare Revenue Cycle Virtual Symposium with her three takeaways that threaded through the symposium’s five sessions: 

1. Everyone needs to improve transparency in all aspects of healthcare, whether that’s price transparency or ESG performance. 
2. Everyone needs to work on their trust issues, whether that’s the lack of trust between payers and providers or the lack of trust by patients in the healthcare delivery system. 
3. The importance of relationships can’t be underestimated. Everything from pandemics to remote work environments to staff shortages are threatening relationships that bind together all sectors of the industry in a common cause, and that’s to do what’s best for the patient in all endeavors.