hfma texas bronze sponsors · customers & partners •healthcare represents largest industry we...
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HFMA Texas Gold Sponsors
HFMA Texas Bronze Sponsors
HFMA Texas Silver Sponsors
Steven GerhardtMANAGING PARTNER, CEO
10615 Shadow Wood Drive, Suite 240 | Houston, Texas 77043 | (832) 532-4056 | ElementBlue.com
HEALTHCARE INNOVATION, DELIVERED .
PROV IDER AUTOMAT ION SOLUT IONS
Revenue Cyc l e Bo t s i n Ac t i on fo r Succes s fu lRPA Imp lementa t i ons
Introductions- Element Blue- RPA Technology
- Current state of RPA in health care providers
- Reference hospital related use case automations
- The backlog in patient access and pre-services - Developing bots in payor plan mismatch with EPIC- Other opportunities and work queues- Performance measures- Lessons learned
- Best practices in developing an RPA project and new automation program models
- Recent opportunities with COVID-19 related automation
Agenda
YOUR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION COMPANY
Digital Engagement andOnline Portals
Providing mobile, contentmanagement, search and
portal applications for morethan 20 years
Admissions and ReferralManagement
Pre-admission automation,Authorization workflows,
referrals management; providingvisibility into patient satisfaction
and metrics with CRM
Digital Business AutomationExperts with significant projects in
customer experience andautomation; developing process and
re-engineering revenue cyclemanagement, admissions
Healthcare Practice
Being health-tech advisor
–interacting with business patients and providing coaching online, in real
time
Generating loyalty and patient satisfaction
by addressing needs and expectations,
nurturing relationships, and creating positive
word-of-mouth advertising
Using technology to become more
accessible to patients conveniently
–when they want, how they want
Creating better value for patients
-
at a more personal, tailored level
Accelerate the processes of the patient’s care and
improve quality–
family members,loved ones, home care professionals, referring
physicians
Engaging and empowering individuals
-to mange health,
increasing compliance and supporting
prevention and wellness
Supporting Patient Access To Care
YOUR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION COMPANY
Customers & Partners
• Healthcare represents largest industry we support with 60% of revenues coming from healthcare providers
• Patient/Physician Portal integration capabilities and references with EMR integration
• Extensive experience working with Revenue Cycle, Marketing and IT in large providers and aligning organizations with project management and services
• Attend and speak regularly at HIMSS, Greystone HCIC and SHSMD conferences
• Patient referrals and admissions integrations
• Clinical communities enabling care coordination across multiple settings with physicians and nurses
RPA AND THE HEALTHCAREOPPORTUNITY
What Can Automation Deliver to a Healthcare Organization?
Robotic Process Automation Customer Outcomes
Accelerate Benefits From DigitalTransformation
Improve Customer Experience
Reduce Compliance Cost & Risk
Increase Employee Satisfaction & Engagement
Emulates a person by executing manual, repetitive tasks
Makes decisions based on set rules
Integrates with existing applications
Connect to system APIs
Move files and folders
Open emails and attachments
Make calculations
Log in to any application
Extract content from documents, PDFs, emails and forms
Read and write to databases
Scrape data from the web
Software Robots Can Mimic Humans
For example:
Ideal Process Candidates: High-Volume, Business-Rules-Driven, Repeatable
Healthcare Functions Prime for Automation
• Schedule Management
• Registration
• Insurance Verification
• Prior Auth/Pre-Cert
• Document Intake
• Financial Planning
Patient Access
• Screening
• Charge Capture
• Coding & Documentation
• Utilization Management
• Value-Based Care
• Clinical Data and
Analytics
Consultation & Care
• Insurance & Patient Billing
• Cash Application
• Payment Posting
• Denials Management
• Account Follow-Up
• Payment Audits
Revenue Cycle
RPA AND THE STATE OFHEALTHCARE PROGRAMS
Finance & Accounting Leaders face Three Major Challenges
Streamline financial and accounting operations
Minimize exposure to financial risk
Become a strategic partner with the
business
• Digitize operations to position the business for growth
• Optimize to remain relevant and competitive
• Predictable and sustainable growth
• Shift staff from swivel chair work to creative, critical thinking activities
• Reskill F&A talent to focus on advising and consulting
• Provide strategic insights, deep analytics and dynamic reporting
• Continuously evolving regulations are addressed with highly manual processes
• Compliance processes are error-prone and complex
• Support Merger & Acquisition Activities
“ 93% of finance leaders agree that their CFO actively supports an innovation culture by pursuing technology
initiatives that impact strategy.”2019 Grant Thornton CFO Survey
15Slide /
True Enterprise RPA
Current State of RPA
and Healthcare
Providers
Healthcare Innovation, Delivered.
• Revenue Cycle has captured front page news
• CFO, Finance, VP of Revenue Cycle
• Driving it Home: HFMA, Insurance, Finance Leaders
• Budgets and Ownership split with IT
• Tech knowledge and Support are Lacking
• Mixed Results
Providers Moving to Think Patient First with Automation First
• Identify Needs Aligned to the Patient Experience: Optimize Key Service Moments
• Patient Liaison, Patient Access, Nursing
The Automation First Blueprint Program Starts with Service Moment Automation
Healthcare Innovation, Delivered.
CURRENT RPA USE CASES
Cleveland Clinic
Process
Automated claim edits and registration eligibility
SystemEpic
Results
• Volume: 8000 avg per month
• $700,000 in benefits
• Resubmit Claims: 30% to 100%
• Cycle Time Reduction 80%
West Tennessee Healthcare
Process
Automated data entry of encounter information
SystemCerner
Results
• Volume: 3,500 – 4,100 per mth
• Labor Hours Saved: 1.0 FTE
• Reduced errors 30% to 2 %
• Improved Staff Satisfaction
Kaiser Permanente
Process
Automated EHR pre-migration regression testing
SystemEpic
Results
• Volume: 3000+ test scripts
• Labor Hours Saved: 6 FTEs
• Accuracy Up: 40% to 80%
• Cycle Time Reduction: 60%
Healthcare Use Cases – U.S.
1. Lab Order Processing
2. Patient Scheduling
3. Patient Pay Collect Reconciliation
4. Patient Referrals
Digitized lab order OCR with ABBYY infrastructure supported by UiPath intake directly into the EMR
Create new appointment in specialty EMR with patient schedule information from EPIC scheduling
Automated ledger balancing with 200,000+ accounts between outsource collection agencies and internal patient accounting system
Automated referral processing into EPIC from in-bound web forms or RightFax. 85,000+ out-of-network referrals processed annually
Process patient payor (self-pay) plan updates for payor coverage changes in an EPIC RTE mismatch work queue
5. Payor Plan Mismatch
Reference Blueprint Examples by Element Blue
PAYOR PLAN MISMATCH WORKFLOW PROJECT
October 2019
Uninsured Rates
total TX population
27.6 million
TX Expansion Status:
Adults in Coverage Gap:
759,000
Not Adopted
In TX, Medicaid Covers:
TX Eligibility
Levels
100% of FPL: $21,330 for a family of three; $12,490 for an individual
of adult Medicaid enrollees are working in TX
of children with special health care needs are
covered by Medicaid in TX
57%
50%
32% 17%
(as a % of FPL)
of TX population is low-income(<200% FPL)
of TX population is covered by Medicaid/CHIP
MEDICAID IN TEXAS
206% 203%
17% 0%74%
Children PregnantWomen
Parents ChildlessAdults
Seniors & Peoplew/ Disabilities
5 in 8 nursing home residents
2 in 5 children
1 in 12 adults, ages 19-64
1 in 3 individuals with disabilities
1 in 6 Medicare beneficiaries
25%
17%20%
10%
TX US
2013
2017
October 2019
Uninsured Rates
total TX population
27.6 million
TX Expansion Status:
Adults in Coverage Gap:
759,000
Not Adopted
In TX, Medicaid Covers:
TX Eligibility
Levels
100% of FPL: $21,330 for a family of three; $12,490 for an individual
of adult Medicaid enrollees are working in TX
of children with special health care needs are
covered by Medicaid in TX
57%
50%
32% 17%
(as a % of FPL)
of TX population is low-income(<200% FPL)
of TX population is covered by Medicaid/CHIP
MEDICAID IN TEXAS
206% 203%
17% 0%74%
Children PregnantWomen
Parents ChildlessAdults
Seniors & Peoplew/ Disabilities
5 in 8 nursing home residents
2 in 5 children
1 in 12 adults, ages 19-64
1 in 3 individuals with disabilities
1 in 6 Medicare beneficiaries
25%
17%20%
10%
TX US
2013
2017
Nationally Medicaid Pays For:
75%85%
65%
Total Democrats Republicans
National Share of Those that Hold Favorable Views of Medicaid
88% 86%85% 87%
57% 51%
Doctor Visit AmongAdults in Past Year
Satisfied with InsuranceCoverage in Past Year
Medicaid Private Uninsured
National Access & Satisfaction Measures
Eligibility
Delivery Systems / Provider Payments
Premiums / Cost Sharing
Benefits
Waivers
States Have Flexibility in Their Medicaid Design
Federal Standards
* Fee-for-Service
1 in 2 dollars on long-term services and supports
$$
$$$$$$1 in 6 dollars in the health
care system
TX Medicaid Enrollees & Expenditures Total TX Medicaid Spending by Service: $38.2 Billion
Elderly & Disabled
23%
Elderly & Disabled
63%
Adults & Children
77%
Adults & Children
37%
Enrollees Expenditures
Acute Care* 25%
Long-Term Care* 11%
Managed Care 56%
Payments to Medicare 3%
Disproportionate Share Hospital Payments 5%
Medicaid / Payor Plan Mismatch
Challenge
The Epic RTE function queues are provided on a plan by plan basis. A “plan mismatch” queue holds up patient scheduling or may affect back-end claims, and therefore requires resolution. This is a relatively simple bot operation to update a patient record with payor plan changes.
Medicaid / Payor Plan Mismatch
Solution
Pre-Service Status
Updated to Complete
Log into EPIC &
Navigate to Work Queue
Open patient record and inspect plan status info
Mismatch, Self-pay,
Estimation, Notes
Corrects with Updated
Information
Challenge
The Epic RTE function queues are provided on a plan by plan basis. A “plan mismatch” queue holds up patient scheduling or may affect back-end claims, and therefore requires resolution. This is a relatively simple bot operation to update a patient record with payor plan changes.
Medicaid / Payor Plan Mismatch
Results
400+ Hours
work per month
85%Cycle Time
Improvement
4-6 WeeksDesign to Production
90%Mismatch Claims
being processed –up from 30%
Challenge
The Epic RTE function queues are provided on a plan by plan basis. A “plan mismatch” queue holds up patient scheduling or may affect back-end claims, and therefore requires resolution. This is a relatively simple bot operation to update a patient record with payor plan changes.
Solution
Pre-Service Status
Updated to Complete
Log into EPIC &
Navigate to Work Queue
Open patient record and inspect plan status info
Mismatch, Self-pay,
Estimation, Notes
Corrects with Updated
Information
The bot uses its own, personal credentials to log into the Epic system. This enables status reports, productivity checks and other metrics to be used in order to assess the bot's performance as a digital worker.
This is the patient work queue which the bot will process
Bot pre-filters list based on similar statuses in the queue:
i.e. Mistmatch, Self-Pay, E-Rejected, E-Verified
The bot opens a patient record and, depending on the status of the patient, it will then add a new coverage, add a self-pay estimate, etc.
Upon closer inspection of the patient's response history, the bot identifies there has been a plan mismatch and sets to add the new coverage indicated in the response to the record.
If no alternate plan, another status is likely, and bot will continue with another path to resolve
This screen shows the bot using the coverage search function to find the plan indicated before
Once the bot is done adding a new coverage - or if it identifies the record as something other than a mismatch - it will navigate to referrals and add a note to verify that the record has been reviewed.
The bot changes the pre-service status of the record to complete, allowing the record to 'leave' the work queue before moving on to the next record
Revenue Cycle Bot Productivity
Plan Medicaid Mismatch 820 records completed
Self-Pay/Out-of-Network 2,550 records completed
Cumulative monthly reporting
§ 5 unattended bots – number of queues
condensed to one
§ 1 service account. Scaling to four bots soon.eVerified 621records completed
eRejected 296 records completed
Elapsed 451records completed
BEST PRACT ICES IN RPA PROGRAMS
Program Summary
HOSPITAL INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION
OPERATING MODEL
PIPELINE MANAGEMENT GOVERNANCE IMPLEMENTATION APPROACH WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT
QUALITY MANAGEMENT– Automation Reviews– Customer Surveys– Stakeholder Focus Groups
PERFORMANCE AND ANALYTICS– COE Performance– Employee Performance– Benefit Realization
SERVICE DELIVERY MODELTECHNOLOGIES
COMMUNICATION AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Digital Workforce
Mgmt.
Human Workforce
Mgmt.
Functions Process Owners Business Units
Program Organizaton Balance hierarchy with speed of decision-making
Intelligent Automation Program Steering Committee
• Aligns strategy and assets with decision-making authority
• Has overall program responsibility
• Reviews program status monthly
• Approves changes in program scope that require revising the level of effort, fees or time.
Intelligent Automation Program Management Team (Program Manager)
• Responsibility for all IA program activities.
• Meets weekly with business stakeholder, technology, project managers (Needs, Risks, Technical, Change, etc.) to review project status and major tasks.
• Project integration / Quality control
• Reviews new requirements beyond the initial project scope, that that do not require Steering Committee approval.
• Detailed program planning and status monitoring
• Identify problems and track resolution
Intelligent Automation37
Project Outcomes and Deliverables
• Overall solution is documented
• Test cases are built and test data is identified
• Automations are developed• Deployment plan is created
• Solution is tested and deployed on production environment
• Solution is stabilized and handed over to operations team
• Documentation is updated• Lessons learned are
captured
Analysis Solution Design Hyper-Support
• In scope processes are documented to the most detailed steps, including exceptions and how these are handled
• IT Security and Compliance requirements are identified
• Operating model components (e.g. Governance, Change management, Release Management) required for delivering the engagement are in place and clear to all parties involved
• Delivery team is assembled
• The plan for delivering the project is built
Planning TestingDevelopment
Out
com
esD
eliv
erab
les
Project Plan
Team charter
Risk matrix
Infrastructure architecture
Status Report
Process Definition Document (PDD)
Solution Architecture Document (SAD)
Test Cases & Data
Updated PDD
Updated Project Plan
Development Specifications Document (DSD)
Move to Production Document (MTP)
Updated SAD
Updated Project Plan
UAT Report
Handover to Operations Document
Updated DSD
Updated MTP
Updated Project Plan
Lessons learned
Updated Handover to Operations Document
Process Modeling
Intelligent Automation38
Modeling to Document Existing Processes
• Describe the existing process and design for the “to-be” and get user buy-in
• Use a tool such as MS Visio or Blueworks Live to communicate with stakeholders
Patient Pre-Authorization Workflow Example
Introducing New Tools from UiPath
• StepShot – document processes faster and generate the necessary document quickly
• ProcessGold – visualize your processes in motion. While BI tells you where your problems are, Process Minining tells you WHERE you need to go.
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The Leading Enterprise RPA PlatformRPA COE types
ADVANTAGES:– Unified and centralized RPA IT support for all BUs– Expertise, lessons learnt & best practices easier to
disseminate – Standardized RPA processDISADVANTAGES:– Automation prioritization challenges – Relies on distant communication
ADVANTAGES:– The main COE handles the most complex
projects while the smaller COEs cover the rest– Decreased risk of prioritization challenges due
to smaller and dedicated RPA COEs– Higher process knowledge specific to business
units concentrated in the smaller RPA COEsDISADVANTAGES:– Discrepancy in know-how between main &
smaller RPA COEs– Potential incoherence in process
methodologies
ADVANTAGES:– Each business unit drives and is fully in control
of automation projects and their prioritization– All RPA COEs are close to each business unitDISADVANTAGES:– Regular exchange of best practice across
different business units must be enforced– High risk of incoherence in process
methodologies– Incoherent technical solutions may be applied – Certain RPA roles will be duplicated
Center of Excellence
(COE)
Business Unit
Business Unit
Business Unit
Business Unit
Business Unit
Business Unit
Business Unit Center of
Excellence(COE)
COE
COE
Business Unit
Business Unit
Business Unit
Business Unit
Business Unit
Business Unit
Business Unit
Business Unit
Business UnitBusiness
Unit
Business Unit
Business Unit
Business Unit
COE
Business Unit
COECOE
COE
COE COE
COE
There are various models for COEs ranging from a centralized delivery model, to a model where the COE empowers other business units to build their own COEs within a framework set out by a central COE, or totally independent of each other.
CENTRALIZEDOne RPA COE serving all Business Units.
HYBRIDOne main RPA COE, linked to several smaller
RPA COEs dedicated to business units
FEDERATEDIndependent RPA COEs within each business
unit.
Intelligent Automation40
Must Haves
PROCESS FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS
CLEAR PROCESSSCOPE DEFINED
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
CLEAR SUPPORT MODEL
Intelligent Automation41
Process Feasibility Study
PROCESS FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS
– Prevents working on processes that have very fragmented scope and low number of benefits associated with High development effort
– Considers future project activities, type of activities that will become obsolete versus new initiatives
– Analyzes the up stream and down stream effort and changes that intervene in the process, validations required and quality checks performed
– Analyzes the impact of the systems and applications used.
– Data availability of HC and volumes to be prepared and available, current and historic data.
Process Scope Definition
CLEAR PROCESSSCOPE DEFINED
– Linear process description is essential. Process explanations that are not fully captured in the deep dive will produce exceptions later impacting the designs and development timeline.
– Process alignment should be done by the business and IA team upfront to have an unitary view on the process steps and rules.
– Process deep dive sessions should be run face to face and SHADOWING, as much as possible. Developers should be involved in the process deep dive sessions.
– Stand up a Department of Intelligent Automation (DIA)
– Build the necessary IT infrastructure to support UiPath
– Work with the Application Leads to evaluate opportunities
– Partner with your departments on how to evaluate opportunities
– Embed developers within each department
– Engage HR early and often for change management and workforce transformation
Lessons in the Operating Model
RECENT AUTOMAT ION OPPORTUNIT IES WITHCOV ID -19
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True Cost of COVID – Automation for Business Continuity
Healthcare System Capacity
Number of COVID Cases
Volume of Claims/Related Transactions
Cash and Equity
• Billing volume related to COVID19 could be 20x more than normal volumes seen at seasonal peaks. Furlough will create larger backlogs as the denied claims could go untouched
• Automation strategy as part of business continuity planning will reduce backlogs while handling ongoing volumes
• Current proposed legislation would encourage more telehealth operations and full patient access to their health data. Interoperability and full transparency will need be resolved knowing many platforms will not have API capability
Ops Staff
Automation Strategy is needed to manage volumes to keep Opex low allowing time for low risk recovery
46
Key COVID Trends:
Supply Chain Disruption –Reduction in Business Activity
Just in time to stockpiling has started. Quick onboarding of new vendors is difficult and not
fast enough
Health and safety of employeesTracking employee health to ensure front line
staffing is not a current process. Ability to ensure habitual response and analysis is important
Health Data interoperabilityState and federal level reporting on infection control and inventory is now 3x per day. Not
easy for a non-connected HIT
Healthcare InfrastructureHospital staff is typically not work from home and
HIPAA compliance is hard to control remotely. Infosec will need new audit practices
Rapid increase in queues & ClaimsFuture appointments for cancelled surgeries
and backlog of COVID related claims are quickly building (Avg pend is 10,000 claims as
of 4/1)
Reduced Financial Health & Liquidity
Cash flow has been reduced by 40% with mass furlough being necessary to sustain
cash
47
Mobilize: Immediate tactical automation to support the front line and ensure patient transparency and treatment (Attended Strategy)
Sustain: Automation strategy in conjunction with continuity planning to keep services and cash flowing(Unattended Strategy)
Evolve: Transformation to adapt to new Healthcare standards and tele/social health practice (Hyper Automation Strategy)
April – May: Next 30 Days May – October : Next 60 Days October – Q1: Next 120 Days
Front Office & Clinical
Operations and RCM
Supply Chain
• HR: Short Term disability questions and claim submission
• HR: WFH designation and tax adjustments
• Clinical: Testing registration• Clinical: Daily CDC and State reporting
IT/Application
• Staffing: Daily health survey• Staffing: Skill set re-alignment/matching• Contact Center: Chat bot surveys and
information requests. • Telehealth: Realtime telehealth solutions• Credentialing: Provisional reviews.
• NOC: SSO resets/self service• NOC: Chat bot for L1 technical questions• Infra: VM spin up/level loading• Compliance: Access and log audits• Testing: Rapid application testing (chat
bot, telehealth, EMR workflows)
• Procurement: Pass through ordering for authorized vendors (Stockpiling)
• Inventory: Inventory dashboards for real time shortages
• HR: Furlough adjustments for benefits and pay
• HR: Temp staff onboarding• HR: ST disability for Mental distress• Clinical: Digital appointment and UM
management
• Staffing: Timecard for temp staff• Contact Center: Eligibility/PreCerts• Contact Center: Adverse effects hotlines
for vaccinations. • RCM: U07.1/U07.2 mass claim billing• RCM: Cash/Credit Adjustments
• IT Procurement: L1 and L2 approvals and ordering
• NOC: Self service for account set-ups and onboarding/offboarding
• Testing: EMR quarterly update testing regression
• Procurement: Mass vaccination ordering
• Payments: 3-way PO match• Inventory: Inventory balancing across
storerooms
• HR: Quick rehiring and onboarding• HR: COVID Testing/Vaccine tracking• Clinical: Medicare Eligibility and PAP
services• Clinical: Predictive reporting on
readmissions and pop health
• Credentialing: Full credential renewal at 180 days
• Contact Center: Referral coordination• RCM: Prior Authorization • RCM: EOB/835 Insurance changes• RCM: Medicare mismatch and rebill
• Infra: FHIR conversion for API end point (CARES)
• Infra: Onboarding service account provisioning• Testing: Platform and mobile testing• Testing: Process testing/failure reporting
• Inventory: Supply decommissioning/reclamation
Continuity Planning with Automation for COVID19