Barlow Respiratory Hospital Case Study
2000 Stadium Way Los Angeles, CA 90026
$68 Million Net Annual Revenue | HRG Partner from October 2013 - Current
Healthcare Resource Group
Healthcare Resource Group (HRG) was built on years of experience working in the healthcare industry and with facilities of all sizes, engaging in a wide array of challenges and providing solutions.
HRG’s OutPartnering™ Center is equipped with great people backed by superior technology. We produce industry leading services and get the results necessary for our partner’s to meet their individual goals and objectives.
Our growth success has been tied directly to our ability to work with our partners, to provide immediate benefits, long-term results, and exceed expectations.
Barlow Respiratory Hospital
Barlow Respiratory Hospital is a licensed 105 bed Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTACH) founded in 1902. They operate three locations in the greater Los Angeles area and are a specialty hospital that primarily serves patients with respiratory illness and other chronically complex medical conditions.
Patients are typically referred from short term acute hospitals and intensive care units throughout Los Angeles County. Barlow's reputation for expertise and quality has led to patients being referred to them from hospitals beyond the boundaries of Los Angeles.
“The HRG team has exhibited excellent leadership and exceptional organizational skills. They
are, without exception, motivated and dedicated to managing Barlow’s accounts efficiently and
effectively. I am happy to recommend the services of HRG and would be happy to discuss our
HRG experience with any potential clients.”
The Fit
As a long term acute care facility with a small staff, Barlow was in need of a partner. Managing Patient Financial Services (PFS) function as an in-house department, including adjusting to the complex changes in Medicare and Medi-Cal claims processing rules had been unwieldy.
PFS billing challenges:
The settlement of Barlow patients’ accounts often involves billing both the primary and secondary insurer of the patient.
Securing authorization from the secondary payer is often on a retroactive basis.
Payment resolution typically becomes more complicated than with short stay acute hospital accounts.
High percentage of Barlow's accounts dealt with unique Medicare payment rules involving: interrupted stays, short stay outliers, high cost outliers and the need to process Medicare Part A, Medicare Part B and a secondary insurance. component on a high percentage of Barlow’s accounts while
Medicare MS-DRG System and the Medi-Cal APR-DRG System
Healthcare Resource Group (HRG) was engaged by Barlow Respiratory Hospital in 2013 to support these PFS functions. HRG employed an onsite manager for Barlow and in 2014 transitioned their business office functions to their OutParnering™ Center in Spokane Valley, Washington where they provided complete remote business office services.
Key Accomplishments
Barlow Respiratory Hospital’s cash collections has steadily improved since being taken on by HRG’s OutPartnering™ Center and handled by their Complete Business Office (CBO) service division.
As a result of HRG’s Services, Barlow patient accounts receivable balance, as well as, the average time-to-collect has been reduced by 30%.
Accounts are closely followed utilizing HRG’s systems while all account transactions and follow-up activity are concurrently recorded in the Barlow Meditech BAR system.
Information is accessible for record keeping in real time for Barlow, due to HRG performing nightly transfer of information from Barlow’s Meditech System to HRG’s internal patient account management systems.