Deaconess Health System Integrates Network with Availity

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Deaconess Health System Integrates Network with Availity

AvailityShannon Thuren, 904-470-4545Director of Communications

Deaconess Health System has selected Availity to provide clearinghouse and revenue cycle management services for its five southern Indiana hospitals, 20 primary care locations and several specialty facilities, replacing multiple technology platforms with one solution that satisfies the needs of the entire enterprise.

Evansville, Ind.-based faced an increasingly common challenge among health systems that have grown through acquisitions of physician practices – disparate billing and payment systems that can create operational challenges in cost, security and privacy, and technical support.

Deaconess, which has used Availity’s Revenue Cycle Management system for its physician practices for the past five years, wanted to achieve a seamless exchange of information across the enterprise. Deaconess had amassed several different systems during that time, and wanted to achieve greater consistency through one vendor. The health system required a flexible, scalable solution for its hospitals and practices that also integrated with Epic, its enterprise practice management system.

Having already realized significant value from Availity’s Revenue Cycle Management product for professional practices, Deaconess selected Availity to provide similar services for its hospitals.

“Hospitals find that Availity’s solutions go beyond standard clearinghouse capabilities to address problems specific to the claim and payment phases of hospital and integrated/networked physician practice reimbursement, reducing the need – and cost – to implement and manage disparate solutions,” said Jeff Chester, Availity’s senior vice president and chief revenue officer. “We’re proud to include Deaconess among the hospitals and health systems that have realized the greater value Availity can bring to their businesses.”

Steve Russell, manager of patient financial services for Deaconess, said he was “very pleased” with the implementation and early success of Availity Revenue Cycle Management.

“Implementation went very well. The Availity staff was well-prepared, extremely knowledgeable, and worked well with my staff,” said Russell. “Our partnership with Availity will help position Deaconess for the revenue cycle challenges ahead.”