More than Table Stakes: Quantifying Trustworthiness when Assessing Your Ancillary Services RCM Outsourcing Partner

Please note: This article series addresses the unique issues and complexities that hospitals and IDN ancillary services and outpatient diagnostic departments face. If you’re interested in a methodology tailored for clinical laboratories or medical device, remote patient monitoring, and durable medical equipment departments, we recommend those series instead.

PART 2: SECURITY, COMPLIANCE, AND TRUSTWORTHINESS

As hospitals and health systems continue to face financial, competitive, and operational pressures, they are increasingly leaning on outpatient and ancillary services to extend their reach and attract patients to their ecosystem. To extend that reach without further burdening financial performance means shoring up the revenue cycle, often with the help of an outsourcing partner. That, in turn, helps:

• Accelerate cash flow for the department–and entire health system
• Mitigate staffing challenges
• Improve financial margins

Realizing the fullest extent of those benefits, however, requires partnership with the right RCM outsourcing partner. At XiFin, we recommend assessing current and potential partners using four key criteria:

1. Expertise and Excellence
2. Security, Compliance, and Trustworthiness
3. Innovation
4. Quality of Service and Value

In part 1 of this series, we examined partner Expertise and Excellence. In this post, we take a close look at Security, Compliance, and Trustworthiness.

Unpacking Trustworthiness

With a current partner, you already know you trust them if: they deliver on promises; they’re organizationally stable; they’re transparent; they’re ethical; they’re forthright in response to your queries; and they demonstrate a clear commitment to security.

But for a potential partner, trustworthiness can be challenging to determine. Sure, you can get a read on it during the vendor evaluation process. But even the most thorough process has only so many touchpoints, none of which is as revealing as actually working with the partner. And ideally, you want your selection process to begin with a pool of trustworthy candidates.

Once again, that’s where the experiences of your peers can provide valuable insights. And once again, the Black Book Market Research annual report, “Diagnostic/Laboratory/Ancillary Services Revenue Cycle Management: Outsources & Managed Support RCM Services User Survey,” can help. Here’s how.

1. DATA SECURITY, PATIENT PRIVACY, AND BACKUP SERVICES (Question 16, page 25)

An important starting point is data security. In fact, it may be THE starting point. As an indicator of our commitment on that front, XiFin has earned HITRUST Risk-based 2-year (r2) Certification for its corporate headquarters and managed data center facilities, its revenue cycle management platform XiFin RPM, and the supporting infrastructure of the organization.

To help round out your assessment, Black Book Market Research asked its research study participants to assess RCM outsourced services providers on the following statements related to “Data security, patient privacy, and backup services.”

• In order to provide secure and constantly dependable outsourced service offerings for physician and hospital/IDN affiliate practices and entities, a contract services vendor must provide the highest level of security and data backup services.
• Vendor’s service in these two areas is superior to the security and backup system of past internal systems.

2. FINANCIAL STABILITY AND MANAGERIAL VIABILITY (Question 15, page 24)

To justify the time spent selecting and implementing your RCM outsourcing partner, you want your RCM outsourcing partner to stand with you for a long time. In that sense, stability is important. Black Book Research asked study participants to evaluate RCM outsourced services providers on the following statements related to “Financial Stability & Managerial Viability.”

• Vendor’s viability, employee turnover, financial stability and/or cultural mismatches do not threaten relationship.
• Senior management and the board exemplify strong leadership principles to steward appropriate resources that impact outsourcing buyers.
• The client is confident of long-term industry viability for this vendor based on investments, client adoption, exceptional outcomes, and service levels.
• Field management is notably competent, stable, and supportive of clients.
• Services vendor demonstrates and provides evidence of competent fiscal management and leadership.

3. RELIABILITY (Question 12, page 21)

You want your RCM outsourcing partner to be there when you need them. In the third performance metric related to security, compliance, and trustworthiness, Black Book Market Research asked research participants to assess RCM outsourced service providers on the following statements pertaining to “Reliability.”

• Outsourced services supplier meets agreed terms as evidenced by routine, acceptable service level reporting, and industry expectations.
• Depth and breadth of applications/solutions are acceptable in meeting client needs.
• Services reliability is maximized, and outages/downtimes are minimized.
• Solid product and service capacities are demonstrated consistently.
• Service levels are consistently met as agreed.

4. TRUST, ACCOUNTABILITY, ETHICS, AND TRANSPARENCY (Question 5, page 14)

A final metric that can help evaluate security, compliance, and trustworthiness is categorized by the Black Book Market Research team as “Trust, Accountability, Ethics, and Transparency.” Perhaps no portion of the study speaks more directly to a partner’s likelihood to do the right thing and stand by you – and behind its promises. Here, the Black Book Market Research team asked study participants to evaluate RCM outsourced service providers on the following statements:

• Trust in enterprise reputation is important to clients as well as prospects.
• Client possesses an understanding that its vendor organization has the people, processes, and resources to effectively deliver the desired business and clinical results, based on its industry reputation and past performance.
• There are no disconnects between promises and delivery.

Hospitals, IDNs, and health systems face an environment that brings as much complexity as it does challenges. And every day brings change – from new competitors and regulations to added nuances and dimensions within already familiar challenges. For outpatient and ancillary services departments, your RCM outsourcing partner needs to be a constant. After all, you don’t need another variable, let alone another headache.

And that’s why trust matters.

We’ve now examined two categories of core RCM services capabilities. In our next post, we’ll take a look at Innovation. Until then, download the full 2023 Black Book Market Research report to see which outsourced RCM service partners can help you accelerate cash collection and improve margins.

Download a free copy of the Black Book Report. DOWNLOAD NOW