Category: Uncategorized

Medical claims go through a long process of pricing, editing, analytics, and payment. And it’s vital that health plans pay claims accurately, quickly, and comprehensively—the first time.

An integrated workflow management system like HealthEdge Source™ can centralize claims processing and facilitate payment accuracy by offering:

• Contract visibility
• Pricing tools and algorithms
• Analytics and benchmarking
• Custom and history-based editing
• Comprehensive audit trail
• Data modeling

The Data Reference module within HealthEdge Source brings editing and pricing capabilities together in one cloud-hosted platform. Payers get full-audit support and access to actionable insights that help improve payment integrity. Below are three ways a Data Reference tool can give your health plan a claims processing advantage.

Utilize clean, aggregated data from multiple sources

Keeping track of multiple payment schedules and maintaining their accuracy can be a challenge. The Data Reference feature within HealthEdge Source brings together the most up-to-date fee schedule information and is refreshed every two weeks—giving users one less manual task to remember and ensuring higher levels of accuracy. In 2023, the HealthEdge Source delivered more than 1,500 data updates to its users and made more than 350 updates to policy and pricing met—giving users one less manual task to remember and ensuring higher levels of accuracy. In 2023, the HealthEdge Source delivered more than 1,500 data updates to its users and made more than 350 updates to policy and pricing methodologies across all lines of business.

Data Reference delivers insights based on information such as:

• Medicare rates and prospective payment data
• CMS policies and statistics by provider, region, and system
• CMS provider rates and statistics
• ICD-9, ICD-10, and HCPCS codes

Adjust quickly to CMS updates and policies

Information about updated Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) policies and regulations is available in many formats and in multiple locations. Many of the documents containing key information are difficult to understand, and data is not easy to verify between documents. When it comes to provider rate data, for example, health plans have to cross-reference National Provider Identifier (NPI) and Online Survey Certification and Reporting (OSCAR) numbers to match providers and ensure accurate payments.

CMS is expected to make more than 600 changes throughout 2024. Make sure your health plan is ready to adapt to these changes right away. With the Data Reference tool, Source aggregates and aligns key data in a way that’s easier for payers to view, search, understand, and use.

Streamline fee schedule and contract management

When it comes to off-cycle payment updates, some health plans are forced to knowingly pay claims inaccurately because they don’t have the most updated payment information or internal resources to make timely updates. Prevent these issues from impacting your health plan by working with a payment integrity solution that gives you access to the most recent and accessible information—and see it all in one place.

Source users can update payment policy and pricing methodologies to improve fee schedule management, pricing transparency, and auditing. Instead of juggling multiple websites and documents, the information you need is gathered in a single view that allows users to sort data by region and other filters.

Adjust to policy changes, prevent payment delays, and improve provider relations at your health plan by using a payment integrity solution that gives you access to the most recent and accessible information. With the Data Reference tool, you can readily access essential payment information in an organized and searchable format.

 

No matter how much your health plan prepares for a new technology integration, unexpected changes often arise. Healthcare market dynamics are always shifting, and health plans must adapt with them. Developing risk mitigation strategies can save your health plan from falling behind in digital adoption and help you pivot to address changes faster.

It is critically important to leverage risk management best practices at the beginning of the process and throughout implementation to avoid and address potential risks. Based on my experiences with customer implementation, I’ve compiled a list of the most common risks health plans face—including successful risk management strategies we’ve applied.

1. Risk: Misaligned Expectations

Lack of engagement from key business & technology stakeholders may result in misaligned expectations.

Mitigation: Establish a formal Program Governance entity for the implementation to facilitate organizational and vendor communication.

Key executive stakeholders should be involved throughout the implementation and onboarding process—including provider representation. Engaging internal leaders helps to expedite decision-making and stay on schedule. If stakeholders are not part of the Program Governance group, your health plan runs the risk of losing organizational alignment.

Health plans can measure involvement and gauge buy-in by ensuring stakeholders are attending and participating in key strategic and educational meetings. How can your plan gain buy-in? Share the value the new solution will bring, and how it helps meet key performance indicators (KPIs). Establishing KPIs up front also helps your team understand how to best leverage the solution to meet their goals.

2. Risk: Delayed deliverables

Lack of scope management processes may result in scope-creep, delayed deliverable completion, missed business milestones, and increased costs to the overall program.

Mitigation: Implement a formal change control process, including a Change Control Board, to review and evaluate all proposed changes to assess their impact on the program timeline, budget, and business objectives.

Every step of the process should be directly tied to achieving key business goals. When a request arises, ask, “Is this a necessary capability, or is it a request based on a legacy concern?” Your plan can also provide a channel to help expedite and escalate critical changes requiring Program Governance reviews and approvals as needed. Implementing a new solution is complex—to keep the process manageable, start by solving the most widely applicable issues and fine tuning for new markets later.

3. Risk: Digital interoperability

Integration issues within the Enterprise ecosystem (such as system compatibility & readiness, solution selection, data quality & exchange, or missing capabilities) will impact end-to-end system verification and operational readiness.

Mitigation: Define integration requirements early in the planning phase and follow test-driven development practices with iterative delivery for early, ongoing cross-solution validation.

During program start-up, identify vendors and solutions that will work with and support the use of the enterprise ecosystem. Even with an integrated solution suite, your health plan will need to utilize third-party technology. Third-party testing and integration after implementation can cause delays and reduce functional efficiency. Reduce this risk by fully testing data exchange and other key digital interactions before go-live.

4. Risk: Undefined objectives

Lack of operational objectives without defined measurement will lead to competing or disconnected business stakeholders within the organization, leading to a failed implementation.

Mitigation: Define KPIs for your organization and the new solution at the beginning of the process so your organization knows what to aim for.

Once you’ve defined organizational objectives, regularly monitor your progress toward these new metrics. This makes it easier to identify when you’re getting off-track and adjust quickly to support your business objectives. As you implement the new ecosystem, continue to monitor KPIs for opportunities to optimize usage and performance to get the most value.

Risk management is a necessary part of implementation and is a dynamic process—risks change throughout the implementation and go-live process. To stay proactive, health plans must develop and maintain risk management strategies to stay on schedule and on budget.

Whether your health plan is replacing an existing CAPS solution or launching a new enterprise product to support an emerging market opportunity, implementation challenges will arise. By applying Risk Management best practices, like assessing potential enterprise blockers from the start and having documented mitigation plans, the chances of a successful implementation are in your favor.

 

 

 

 

 

“Healthcare organizations face increasing complexity in reimbursing care with value-based payments, self-funded business and more; however, claims-pricing software remains largely stagnant. U.S. healthcare payer CIOs need to procure claims-pricing software that addresses this complexity.”

— Gartner® “How U.S. Healthcare Payer CIOs Handle Effective Claims Pricing” Austynn Eubank, 5 December 2023

Complexity can be found everywhere you look in the healthcare industry today. But never before has there been so much pressure on payers to respond to providers’ rising expectations for timely and accurate payments while also addressing members’ rising expectations for more personalized and flexible benefit plans. 

When you combine these pressure points with the industry’s shift toward value-based care models, the growth in self-funded employer contracts, and evolving Medicare Advantage Star Ratings criteria, it’s easy to see how payers can become overwhelmed by the complexities of accurate and timely payments.   

In an attempt to address these challenges, payers have stacked claims editing and pricing solutions on top of each other, but many have found that their antiquated systems are creating more problems than solutions. In fact, in a HealthEdge research report, 90% of payers depend on two or more payment vendors. However, many of these systems do not afford the flexibility that is necessary to support payers’ ability to meet rapidly evolving provider and member demands.   

It’s Time to Reevaluate Claims Pricers 

“U.S. healthcare payer CIOs advancing healthcare digital optimization and modernization should: Build flexibility and efficiencies into the claims adjudication process by leveraging modular, cloud-native and API-first platforms for claims processing, pricing and editing that support members’ and providers’ needs.” — Gartner® “How U.S. Healthcare Payer CIOs Handle Effective Claims Pricing” Austynn Eubank, 5 December 2023 

Flexibility is the name of the game, especially for payers with multiple, state-managed Medicaid contracts, unique self-funded arrangements, or wide provider networks that require more flexibility and fee scheduling capabilities.  

HealthEdge Source™ (Source) delivers the flexibility today’s payers need to address complex provider contracts and multiple fee schedules, ensuring that payers can meet the needs of their providers while also optimizing operational efficiencies.  

How it Works 

With Source, payers can combine dynamic configuration capabilities with a smart hierarchy structure to reduce the overhead of maintaining and updating contracts. Source also automatically supports the consistency of terms across provider contracts without jeopardizing the unique requirements of each contract.  

Several health plans that have implemented Source have benefited from a 90% reduction in the number of managed configurations, leading to faster times to contract, more accurate payments, and less provider abrasion.  

A Flexible Future For Claims Pricing Solutions

As payers work to implement more flexible claims pricing solutions that can accommodate today’s fee schedule complexities and rising provider demands for more timely and accurate payments, Source delivers a modular, cloud-based solution supported by a robust set of APIs that can connect to any existing CAPS via a single instance. As a result, payers can develop more collaborative and trusting relationships with their provider networks that ultimately lead to better member outcomes and lower operating costs.  

To learn more about how HealthEdge Source can help your organization meet the evolving demands for more timely and accurate claims payments, visit www.healthedge.com.  

1Source: “How U.S. Healthcare Payer CIOs Handle Effective Claims Pricing” Austynn Eubank, 5 December 2023.  

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product, or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner’s research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. 

  

In a recent Becker’s podcast, Steve Krupa, CEO of HealthEdge, and Ryan Mooney, EVP and General Manager of Payment Integrity at HealthEdge, discussed the transformative role of technology and transparency in payment integrity practices. The leaders reviewed how traditional payment integrity solutions often operate retrospectively, identifying and recovering erroneous payments after they have been made. This reactive approach can lead to inefficiencies, provider friction, and higher costs.

In contrast, Krupa and Mooney revealed how HealthEdge’s prospective payment integrity solution, HealthEdge Source™, aims to correct errors before payments are made, emphasizing the importance of accuracy and efficiency from the outset. This forward-looking approach reduces the need for costly post-payment recoveries, minimizes provider abrasion, and improves payer-provider relationships.

From Black Box to Open Book

A key innovation of HealthEdge Source is its departure from the industry’s “black-box” methodology, where payment integrity processes are opaque, and solutions are proprietary, to an “open book” philosophy. This transparency lets payers see precisely where and how errors occur, facilitating root cause analysis.

The first solution to bring together contract configuration, reimbursement, editing, and analytics, HealthEdge Source provides the tools payers need to in-source capabilities to make real-time corrections—completing a virtuous cycle of payments.

This shift enhances operational efficiencies by empowering payers with the information they need to correct any process errors further upstream before the claim is paid. It also fosters a more collaborative environment between payers and providers, ultimately contributing to a more transparent and effective healthcare system.

The Payment Paradigm

• Post payment: You’ve already made a mistake, and the claim gets paid, leading to excessive recoupments and provider abrasion.
• Pre-payment: Let’s catch the mistake before it leaves the door, but its root cause is unknown.
• Prospective payment integrity: You can identify the root cause of the mistake and correct the issue to avoid the mistake entirely in the future.

The Solution to Payment Integrity: Payment Accountability®

Payment integrity transformation can inform various aspects of a payer’s organization enterprise wide. While traditional payment integrity solutions provide a quick fix to problems, HealthEdge Source delivers Payment Accountability with software that creates transparency to address root cause inaccuracies so payers can pay claims accurately, quickly, and comprehensively the first time.

With HealthEdge Source advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms, payers have the tools needed to identify and prevent payment errors. The cloud-based platform can quickly analyze large amounts of data from multiple sources to identify patterns and anomalies that may indicate payment errors and proactively correct them.

Here are a few examples of how HealthEdge Source also helps payers go beyond claims accuracy to gain greater insights and make more informed decisions.

• Retroactive change management identifies claims impacted by retroactive changes and reprocesses them, which helps improve provider satisfaction and performance during audits.
• Predictive Policy Modeling monitors any new payment policy edits before they are put into production to determine the impact prospectively. This enables health plans to make appropriate business decisions and improve provider-payer relationships.
• Contract Modeling enables a transparent analysis of the performance of contract changes or conversions to new contracted payment methodologies before implementation with a plan’s providers.

HealthEdge Source was recognized in the 2023 Gartner^®  Hype Cycle™ as a Representative Vendor for Prospective Payment Integrity Solution Category. From 2019 to 2021, HealthEdge was recognized as Burgess Group in the Gartner Hype Cycle for Payment Integrity (PPI) Solutions category. HealthEdge acquired Burgess Group in August 2020.

To learn more about how HealthEdge Source can help your organization get out of the black box and embrace an open-book approach to payment integrity, visit www.healthedge.com.

Gartner, Hype Cycle for U.S. Healthcare Payers, 2023, Mandi Bishop, Connie Salgy, Austynn Eubank, 10 July 2023

GARTNER and HYPE CYCLE are registered trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

 

A pivotal moment has arrived in the ever-evolving landscape of the healthcare insurance industry. Healthcare consumers are no longer content with traditional engagement methods and seek more personalized experiences from their health plan providers. It has never been more important for health plan leaders to be aware of the key issues surrounding members’ rising expectations. The challenge is two-fold:

1. Consumer buying experiences in other industries: Consumers now expect a level of engagement and convenience from their health plan providers that mirrors their experiences in other sectors, such as retail and banking. The days of primarily relying on phone calls for problem-solving are giving way to more digital and automated solutions. They want omnichannel communications that adhere to their lifestyles and interests.According to a recent HealthEdge survey of more than 2,800 healthcare consumers, the number one way health plans can improve member satisfaction is by adhering to members’ communication preferences. This shift underscores the need for insurance companies to adapt and equip their teams with modern, omnichannel engagement solutions.

 

2. Increased access to healthcare information: With more health and wellness information available on the internet, members have unprecedented access to healthcare information. They are more educated about their conditions, treatment options, and even the costs associated with healthcare services. They can more easily find doctors on the internet who meet their specific needs. When they do engage with their healthcare provider, they typically leverage digital tools, such as appointment reminders, portals, and even text messaging.

This newfound knowledge and availability of more modern tools empower consumers to play a more active role in managing their care. As a result, they also expect greater access from payers regarding benefit information, authorizations, costs, and even clinical guidance that can help them make better decisions about their health.

A New Generation of Members Requires New Engagement Strategies

Health plan leaders must be cognizant of the changing preferences of consumers in a post-COVID world.  According to the same HealthEdge consumer study, today’s members seek self-service mobile tools and prefer to engage with their healthcare plans and providers on their own terms. Furthermore, when assigned a care manager, members want care managers to:

1. Communicate with me in the ways I prefer
2. Enable me to actively participate in my care plan
3. Refer me to social services and resources
4. Help me get and manage my medications
5. Have my health information on hand when we communicate

Healthcare consumers are not the only ones pushing for greater transparency and better experiences. One significant regulatory development driving change in the industry is the Transparency in Coverage Act, which requires health plans and providers to provide members with greater visibility into the cost of services before they receive them. This transparency places additional pressure on healthcare payers to offer solutions that enable their members to access pricing information easily and make informed decisions about their care.

Additionally, CMS announced that it is doubling the weight of member experience when calculating payers’ 2023 Star Ratings.

Never before has there been a more important time for health plan leaders to address their members’  evolving demands when it comes to digital engagement strategies.

The HealthEdge Approach

HealthEdge recognizes these challenges and offers health plans a comprehensive strategy to address them. By providing both data and software solutions, the company aims to support healthcare payers in meeting the demands of the evolving healthcare market. From clinical engagement tools to benefit and health risk predictions, HealthEdge’s solutions are designed to enhance member experiences and improve overall wellness.

Here are some practical examples of how the HealthEdge portfolio of solutions helps payers create more personalized and meaningful member experiences:

HealthRules^® Payer

• • Enabling health plans to provide superior customer service with first-call resolution
  • Real-time data allows members and providers to make decisions at the point of care
  • Enable self-sufficiency for members seeking cost transparency
  • Faster and more accurate claims payments lead to higher member satisfaction

HealthEdge Source™ payment integrity platform

• • Delivering accurate and transparent claims payments reduces the clerical burden on clinicians, which leads to burnout
  • Minimizing clerical burden on providers by removing rework, review, and waste
  • Ensuring that member eligibility and benefits information is accurate and available
  • “Every minute they spend on administrative tasks reduces the time they spend practicing medicine”

GuidingCare^® care management platform

• • Drives secure member communication with their designated care team
  • Mobile clinician application enables offline access for care management staff in the field, enabling connection to members anytime, anywhere
  • Designed to meet NCQA health plan guidelines for Member Self-Management
  • View care plan goals and actions, access personal health records, track health and wellness data, complete health assessments, and more.

Wellframe member experience platform

• • Enables highest needs members to get access and support outside of traditional care delivery settings
  • Omni-channel communication seamlessly connects members
    to designated care teams, with an average of 34 digital touchpoints/member/month
  • Self-service digital resources empower members to reach their health
    and wellness goals proactively
  • Modern user experience increases both member satisfaction and engagement

Visit www.healthedge.com to learn more about how HealthEdge can help your organization engage with your members more personally and meaningfully, proactively reduce costs, and address ever-evolving regulatory requirements.

 

From rapidly changing regulatory requirements and new competitive forces to changing payment models and rising consumer expectations, 2024 is shaping up to be another challenging year for health plans. In this 5-part blog series entitled HealthEdge Horizons, we dive deeper into the trends that are shaping our industry and explore how HealthEdge solutions are helping payers address their biggest challenges head-on. Be sure to check out the entire series:

• Simplifying the Complexities of Healthcare Industry Regulations
• The Evolution of Health Insurance Technology: Embracing End-to-End Integration – Coming soon!
• New Market Expansion in 2024
• Value-Based Care in 2024
• The Changing Face of Healthcare Engagement in 2024 – Coming soon!

The Origins of Value-Based Care

Since the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) first articulated the Triple Aim in 2008, the healthcare industry has undergone a massive transformation over the past 15+ years, shifting from paying for services (fee-for-service or FFS) toward paying for quality (value-based care or VBC).

Initially, the Triple Aim provided a framework for “optimizing health for individuals and populations by simultaneously improving the patient experience of care (including quality and satisfaction), improving the health of the population, and reducing per capita cost of care for the benefit of communities,” according to the IHI. Several years later, it evolved to include a focus on the well-being of the healthcare workforce and advancing health equity, with some now referring to it as the Quintuple Aim.

With the passing of the Affordable Care Act of 2011, the concepts of healthcare providers and payers working together to embrace quality finally began to take hold. However, when the existing FFS payment structure was put to the test in the Medicare Acute Care Episode (ACE) Demonstration Project in 2018, the feasibility of value-based care became apparent. It ushered in a new era of bundled payment initiatives, including what we now know as value-based care.

The Financial and Care Incentives

Value-based care introduces financial incentives for healthcare providers to ensure patients stay healthy. Under this model, providers are financially rewarded for maintaining their patients’ well-being. The key lies in value-based contract arrangements that distribute funds to providers at a broader level, such as a “bucket” or global level.

When patients remain healthy, cost savings are shared with the provider, creating a win-win situation. Patients benefit from improved health, lower expenses, and better care coordination. Providers are incentivized to focus on preventive care and wellness, as it directly impacts their financial compensation. In this way, value-based care aligns the interests of patients, providers, and payers.

Value-Based Care Today

So, where do VBC payment models stand after all of these years? According to a May 2023 Healthcare Payer Intelligence report, CMS recently reported successfully linking 90% of payments to value, and 40% of all payments flow through alternative payment models (APMs). While the rest of the healthcare industry is transitioning toward value-based care contracts, fee-for-service arrangements still represent a significant portion of the market. However, administering these contracts and transitioning from traditional models to value-based care has proven challenging. This is where modern technology, like HealthEdge solutions, comes into play.

The Role of Modern Technology

Transitioning from fee-for-service to value-based care requires a fundamental shift in managing and reimbursing healthcare. Traditional systems designed for fee-for-service models must adapt, but unfortunately, many legacy and outdated systems cannot support this transformation.

It’s one thing to say you are going to move from fee-for-service to value-based care, but it is another to administer the many different forms of value-based care, such as shared-risks, capitated arrangements, and many different forms of bundled payments.

How do payers take a traditional system that was designed for the model of “patient gets sick, patient goes to the doctor or hospital, a hospital gets paid, repeat the cycle” and convert it to supporting new models that tie reimbursements to patient outcomes and experiences with the doctor/hospital?

The answer: They can’t. Modern, flexible systems are a must-have in value-based care.

A Brighter Future with Value for All Stakeholders

HealthEdge recognizes the need for an integrated approach that combines contracting, claims administration, and care coordination in a single entity. This holistic approach ensures that the financial and care components of value-based care align seamlessly. With HealthEdge’s ecosystem of these three essential components, payers can efficiently manage value-based care programs and control costs effectively.

With HealthEdge, digital health plans have a unique opportunity to make this transition highly successful for all stakeholders: payers, providers, and patients. They can do so by leveraging the advanced automation capabilities and real-time data insights readily available in modern core administrative processing systems (CAPS) like HealthRules^® Payer. With the right CAPS in place, the value of value-based contracts becomes crystal clear:

• Cost Control: Value-based care models can help health plans control costs over the long term by focusing on preventive care and early intervention
• Improved Member Health: By promoting healthier lifestyles and proactive healthcare management, value-based care can lead to improved health outcomes among members. This enhances members satisfaction and reduces the financial burden on payers.
• Competitive Advantage: Payers that embrace value-based care early gain a competitive edge. They can attract providers and members who appreciate the benefits of this approach.

Here are a few practical examples of how all HealthEdge solutions are helping health plans navigate this transformation successfully, improving patient outcomes and reducing healthcare costs in the process:

• HealthRules^® Payer
  • Agile & flexible HealthRules Language
  • Quickly configure new benefit plans and contract arrangements
  • Share actionable data
    with stakeholders
  • Make value-based reimbursement & improved customer satisfaction a reality
  • Up to 96% billing accuracy, including with complex value-based agreements
  • Learn more about our core administrative processing system.
• HealthEdge Source™ payment integrity platform
  • Accurately price claims based on complex contractual arrangements
  • Run in parallel with fee-for-service contract terms
  • Handle both prospective and retrospective bundles
  • Enable predictive modeling and impact reconciliation reports
  • Learn more about our payment integrity platform.
• GuidingCare^® care management platform
  • Facilitates complex workflows to manage care plans in value-based arrangements
  • Intuitive gaps-in-care analytics identify high-risk patients and potential health improvement opportunities
  • Evaluate performance across configurable measure sets such as HEDIS and Star ratings, plus state and custom measure sets
  • Learn more about our care management platform.
• Wellframe member experience platform
  • Assigned programs focus on whole-person health and improved care outcomes
  • Proven ROI in utilization management outcomes, with a 17% reduction in inpatient admissions** and a 23% increase in preventive medicine utilization**
  • Builds framework for assessing target population and managing clinical needs
  • Learn more about our member experience platform.

Health plans that want to remain competitive and win new business need to support value-based arrangements at every touchpoint in their ecosystem and have access to relevant data outputs for internal and external tracking and analysis.

To learn more about how HealthEdge solutions can help your organization successfully implement value-based care, visit www.healthedge.com.