Like other safety net systems in the nation, healthcare challenges continue to impact our culture, financial viability, employee/physician engagement and quality of patient care. Alameda Health System (AHS) leaders have faced these challenges head on and have committed to transform our organization for long-term sustainability and high reliability.

The BEST Initiatives (Building Excellence, Sustainability, and Trust) are designed to positively impact Alameda Health System employees and clinicians while improving patient care. BEST will allow AHS to increase our ability to reallocate money to patient care and enhance our commitment to our mission of caring, healing, teaching, and serving all.

BEST encompasses the following areas and leaders:

  • Revenue Cycle, Kim Miranda
  • Pharmacy, Diana Thamrin
  • Supply Chain, Greg Mitchell
  • Care Optimization, Mark Fratzke
  • Medical Practice, Felicia Tornabene

Several of the initiatives mentioned above are already underway, and you can expect to hear more about their specific updates and benefits in the coming months through monthly Leadership Desktop Chat presentations.

Updates for the Revenue Cycle workstream were highlighted in the April 6th Leadership Desktop Chat. The full recording can be found on the Intranet, but highlights include:

  • The Revenue Cycle Patient Access Services team increased the secure rate of elective admissions by 2% since December. The secure rate measures the percentage of elective admissions with completed insurance verification and authorization activities prior to date of service. Secured accounts greatly increase the likelihood of payment when a service is billed to the insurance company.
  • The Patient Financial Services team reduced Follow-up Work in Process (WIP) by 63% – from $104.8M to $38.9M! Follow-up Work in Process (WIP) measures the total dollars due for follow-up at end of each week.  Reducing follow-up WIP ensures the right accounts are receiving attention from our teams.

Congratulations to the Revenue Cycle teams for all of their success to date!