Plateau Pediatrics in Crossville combines an information-filled website, digital tools such as electronic medical records, and traditional face-to-face visits to provide quality patient care. Donna Summerford, owner of Aunt Dee’s
Macon Community Hospital in Lafayette, Tennessee. (Credit: Macon Community Hospital)
Macon Community Hospital in Lafayette, Tennessee, is a small, rural hospital. With a legacy revenue cycle management system, its accounts receivable days had risen and its collection rate of revenue had dropped.
The system performed the billing function, and while staff tried to work with the technology to make it work, the continued cash erosion made it critical to make a switch, said Scott Tongate, CFO at Macon Community Hospital.
The hospital decided to go with revenue cycle technology from Cerner. It started the conversion process in October 2019 with a go-live date of March 30, 2020.
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Like em or hate em, electronic health records are here to stay. Now it s just a matter of making them work to the best of their ability for patients and clinicians.
Some recent efforts are afoot to rethink the approach to these glorified billing systems from the bottom up. Others are focused on refining and streamlining their user experience to combat the scourge of burdensome charting and alleviate burnout.
In the meantime, with more than 18 million COVID-19 cases and counting so far in the U.S., it s never been clearer that interoperable, ideally telehealth-connected digital records are essential for quality care and public health going forward.