Continued Dedicated Service to Our Community
For Pay Period Ending March 1st
Sometimes we just like to play the blame game…so I will throw the Chiefs under the bus and blame their lethargic play on February 9th for the lethargic rest of February that we experienced at MCH relative to an expected normal winter month. Not that I am unappreciative of the large number of patients that we were fortunate enough to look after but it is the first time in a while that we so drastically fell below our budgeted service line numbers. Thanks for our Lab department, our Endoscope procedures, and our Cardiac Rehab spike in patients, or we would really have had a dismal last pay period of red values. Cash collections were also a plus, but that is a tribute to the infusion of property taxes we receive at this time of year.
I want to make a public statement for the benefit of our patient base. Our Revenue Cycle Team that processes and files claims, receives and posts payments, and in general manages ALL patient accounts properly, has simply not been at the standard we strive to maintain, over the past few months now. A large last quarter of 2024 turnover in our contracted billing service’s staff has played into this, as well as a significant turnover and sick days within our local hospital team. The healthcare business sector does not experience any smooth sailing when it comes to collecting from third party insurance plans these days. And when new people are trying to learn their computer software as well as all the insurance company nuances thrown at them daily, we have been set up for a step back in accurate and timely claims processing…and we are experiencing it. It is a grueling exercise to catch up from multiple discovered corrections that are needed on patient’s accounts, and that is where we currently find ourselves trudging through. And to help with this process moving forward, a reorganization of the department is being conducted…more on that later.
So, with this confession, I ask you to attempt being patient with our correcting some erroneous statements that have gone out in recent weeks…and know that by the first of April we hope to have them fully corrected. We will not send out any new statements until then, and if you prefer to hold off on making payments until then, we understand. But if your statement does concern you, please call our Business Office to make sure that someone is looking at and working your account.
I realize this has not been an uplifting report. Sometimes they simply won’t be. But hey…February is over, the fume of spring is hinting at us, and the Chiefs have a new draft ahead of them to plug a gap or two. Thanks for all you do and do spread this message to those whom you might have heard grumbling. Have a great next two weeks!
Kevin Leeper, CEO
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