Commercial Insights

How automating receivables can transform revenue cycle for healthcare providers

By leveraging technology to automate traditional paper-based processes, healthcare providers can save on costs, realize efficiencies and better manage liquidity.

Effective revenue cycle management can present challenges for any company. But for businesses in the healthcare industry in particular, an ongoing reliance on paper-based processes often leads to inefficiencies and delays in cash application and reconciliation.

“Many healthcare organizations still rely on manual processes within their accounting or treasury teams to manage payments and remittance details – critical components of the revenue cycle. This often requires staff to key data into internal systems, which is not only time-consuming but also increases the risk of errors,” said Liz Fedor Hancock, Regions Corporate & Institutional Banking Treasury Management Executive. “These inefficiencies can delay payment posting, slow down cash flow and ultimately impact revenue cycle performance, making it harder to access liquidity that supports patient care and operational priorities.”

However, automating the receivables management process can be game-changing in helping healthcare businesses become more efficient. “Healthcare providers ranging from large health systems to pharmacies and labs to physician groups can realize real benefit from working with their bank to implement solutions that streamline and effectively manage the entire payments process,” said Fedor Hancock. “Platforms like Regions Healthcare Receivables Services can automate complex payment and reconciliation workflows, which can ultimately lessen administrative burden, mitigate risk and accelerate liquidity to strengthen revenue cycle performance.”

Healthcare receivables automation: How it works

Solutions such as Regions Healthcare Receivables Services (powered by MediStreams) address common challenges in payment posting by delivering key benefits such as:

• Paper explanation of benefits (EOB) conversion – Leveraging lockbox services, an automated treasury solution can convert paper-based EOB statements into a digital format – which means payments can post faster and employees spend less time on manual data entry. This workflow can also identify insurance errors on EOBs and help quickly resolve them without intervention from the healthcare provider, which can facilitate faster payment posting.
• Faster patient payment processing – Payments post quickly and automatically to accounts receivable software, with the correct file format and payment confirmation.
• Electronic remittance advice (ERA) processing – Data and images from remittance information are automatically and securely imported into a healthcare provider’s existing accounting software.
• Reconciliation – Automatically reconciling bank funds for real-time cash flow overview can help reduce costs and save time.
• Correspondence – Businesses can view, categorize and work correspondence through an online platform, as well as assign and route requests to specific users for required follow-up tasks and keep track of updates in real time.

While there are many potential advantages to adopting treasury automation software from a technological standpoint, the human factor can also play an important role. “It can be daunting to diverge from processes that businesses have historically relied on and lean into leveraging new technology,” said Julie Bates, Regions Treasury Management product manager. “Working with a bank that has a team of trusted advisors who not only understand your specific needs but are also committed to working closely with you each step of the way can make all the difference in a successful transition to a new approach.”

Ready to help

To learn more about Regions Healthcare Receivables Services, contact your Regions Treasury Management relationship manager or call Regions Client Services at 1-800-787-3905.