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“Moving our billing functions to a new central site in shelby township not only gains us $20 to $30 million a year in efficiencies, but lets us use our
$4 billion clout for better service on reiMburseMents.”
Harry crane
vice president, revenue cycle, Mclaren health care
With McLaren Health Care’s major funders either cutting back or upending their established payment patterns, our system is responding with nancial and structural innovation. We’re continuing to reshape our supply chain to gain the economies of scale and just-in-time delivery. Such economies are being teased out through the entire widespread McLaren system, where there are still many savings to be found. “We’ve grown through acquisition,” says Mazurkiewicz. “That means we own a lot of systems with multiple, standalone products that overlap and are a prime target for streamlining.” A major initiative in this area is our move to implement a single, enterprisewide IT system for nance and medical records throughout the McLaren network. This uni ed platform cuts costs in surprising ways. “We face lots of regulatory changes every year,” Mazurkiewicz observes. “We do not want to sustain the costs of reprogramming 10 di erent systems 10 di erent ways.”
To gain additional e ciencies, a new centralized McLaren billing center in Shelby Township will keep frontline sta in our local facilities,
but consolidate back-end operations at one site. Such back-o ce consolidation pays compound interest throughout our system. Every step in the patient process — scheduling, registration, treatment, insurance veri cation, creating bills, billing itself, and payment follow- up — is a cost-added process, demanding its own sta , systems and time. If we move from 12 hospitals individually processing through this cycle to a single system, we cut costs and reduce both gaps and overlaps. Further, this creates a single, powerful entity with the size and in uence to demand better terms and more timely payment.
Such cumulative transition in the nancing of health care is a massive, ongoing venture for McLaren Health Care, and generates an accumulation of savings that adds up to a scal reinvention. But it is necessary for our system’s long-term health. “The reality of nancial planning is that, if we do not stay pro table as a company, we won’t be able to invest for the future," is how Mazurkiewicz sums up.
McLaren HeaLtH Care
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