PartnerCare Recovers $1.3M in Aged AR by Outsourcing Its RCM to Assembly Health

Meet PartnerCare

PartnerCare, a multi-state interventional Pain Management group with Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs) was facing financial and operational challenges. Its five divisions were operating on five different EMRs, billing was handled by three revenue cycle management (RCM) vendors and a central business office, and its AR and bad debt were creating significant cash flow challenges.

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“We knew this model wouldn’t sustain our growth,” explained Conrad Walz, PartnerCare’s VP of Revenue Cycle Management. “Our denials weren’t being managed appropriately and there wasn’t enough communication. We needed and expected better.”

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Choosing the right RCM partner

Walz wanted a singular RCM partner that could deliver exceptional financial, operational, and reporting results. He led a rigorous vendor evaluation where “Assembly presented its best-in-class RCM capabilities to us.”

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Expertise in Pain Management and ASC revenue cycle management

“Assembly has a lot of experience in pain management and ASC billing, and it shows,” explained Walz. During the vendor evaluation, Assembly assessed PartnerCare’s AR across locations and specialties, highlighting issues like incorrect medical diagnoses in billing procedures, misuse of ICD-10s, and unaddressed denied claims. “They looked at our internal processes and presented us with a clear implementation plan that would resolve the issues.”

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We need vendors who move with urgency, solve problems quickly, and deliver consistent results. Assembly fits the bill."

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Technology insights and an ability to scale

Assembly also assisted PartnerCare with its transition to a new practice management system, including setting up all enrollments, migrating all practices to a consolidated clearinghouse, and implementing RCM in the new environment. Assembly’s expertise was  invaluable in tweaking the system, building rules, and creating workflows to streamline operations.

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“Tech transitions are notoriously complex, but we haven’t seen a lag in our collections or cash flow during any of our cutovers,” said Walz. Assembly’s migration performance bolstered Walz’s confidence that Assembly can scale with new acquisitions. “We’re a growth-oriented group. We need vendors who move with urgency, solve problems quickly, and deliver consistent results,” said Walz. “Assembly fits the bill.”

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Consolidated and detailed reporting

PartnerCare was also looking for consolidated and detailed reports for its operators, executive team, and board. Assembly created a custom dashboard that includes standard metrics like clean claim rate and denial rate, as well as days in AR, aged receipts, bad debt, charity reporting, revenue lag, and charge entry. PartnerCare can drill into each practice and compare performance across practices.

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Transforming PartnerCare’s financial performance

Assembly Health assumed responsibility of RCM for its first PartnerCare location, Axis Pain Management, in September of 2023. Nine months later they had onboarded the remaining four practices and according to Walz, “We’re seeing clear results. We created an incentive program foraged AR that Assembly exceeded, allowing us to collect cash we thought was nonviable.” He continued, “They also worked on strategic RCM planning, allowing us to have a firm process when we acquire new companies."

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Assembly has increased PartnerCare’s cash flow, improved its other RCM metrics, and implemented new processes to streamline workflows. It recovered $1.3M in aged AR and cleaned up $5.9M in bad debt.

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“We’ve increased the revenue per encounter at each of our practices, our days in AR have dropped by over 30%, and we can get Assembly on the phone anytime we need to,” shared Walz. He continued, “Access and responsiveness are key. Assembly is in constant communication with our practices, and they hold monthly trainings for physicians. They’re part of our team.”

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With hundreds of RCM providers to choose from, Walz understands that outsourcing your RCM can be challenging. However, after all the analysis and consideration, he is confident that PartnerCare made the right decision. “Assembly’s work has been best in class, and I would fully endorse them taking over any practice’s RCM.”

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