With the looming threat of missing their community benefit goal and losing their non-profit status, Kaiser Permanente turned to MedeAnalytics and found charity care write-offs and reduced bad debt write-offs.

The Problem

Kaiser has financial counselors at each facility to screen patients for charity care and Medi-Cal. Potential applicants are manually referred to a centralized Community Benefit Office where paper applications are sent to patients for signature. In 2005, Kaiser had a Community Benefit goal of $32 million, but as of December that year only $15 million in charity applications had been processed by financial counselors.

The Solution

MedeAnalytics' Self Pay Analytics solution automatically segmented accounts receivable based on Federal Poverty Level and Medi-Cal eligibility. Using third-party data to identify the appropriate program and work flow for each patient account, Kaiser was able to significantly reduce bad debt and ensure that community benefit goals were achieved for the year.

The Results

• Identified $17M in charity care write-offs
• Identified 11% of uninsured eligible for Medi-Cal
• Identified 8% of uninsured eligible for Medicare
• Reduced bad debt write-offs by 30%
• Increased Medicaid reimbursement