Amid rising medical loss ratios, administrative value pressures, and elevated competitors, Health plans are underneath strain to ship high-performing cost integrity packages. However when selecting between a software-only cost integrity vendor versus a full-service associate, Health plans have many elements to contemplate when IT involves their prepay declare evaluation, DRG validation, coordination of advantages, and information mining packages.
On the third episode of our Fee Integrity Insights podcast, Cotiviti’s cost integrity leaders talk about:
- The scale of cost integrity worth that transcend medical value financial savings
- The advantages of pairing scientific experience with superior Technology
- The worth of consultative experience together with benchmarking and analytics
Pay attention as Cotiviti’s Matthew Hawley, government vice chairman of cost integrity operations, is joined by Amy Carlton, senior product director, Scientific Chart Validation, and Kevin Laskey, vice chairman of audit operations. Keep tuned for future episodes of Fee Integrity Insights on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else that you just get your podcasts.
Podcast transcript
Matthew: Right here at Cotiviti, we work with over 100 Health plans of their cost integrity packages and we in addition to anyone perceive the pressures that they are underneath, notably as we enter 2024 and the shift of value construction from the place suppliers had really been struggling financially. Now, IT seems that whether or not pushed by unit value or by consumption enhance, the MLR for all of our shoppers is rising dramatically, and that creates a set of monetary pressures that by means of the pandemic that they had not been dealing so instantly with in that additionally they have administrative value pressures to maintain the best steadiness pushed by the Reasonably priced Care Act. They have aggressive pressures in acquisitions and folks getting into market house. As at all times, they’ve to concentrate to their supplier community and the response of that supplier community and cope with employers and members and their satisfaction to take care of their enterprise.
On this podcast, we’ll define what a Health plan ought to actually think about and what they need to be on the lookout for relative to their cost integrity packages, whether or not these be service suppliers or software program distributors. We at Cotiviti take a look at the overall worth of a program and that goes past only a monetary return or a financial savings quantity. IT actually has to do with the entire dimensions of worth {that a} software program vendor or a service supplier can deliver to the desk. So past medical value financial savings, whether or not that is innovation, whether or not that’s consultative partnership, these components that transcend financial savings is essential a part of an total program and is one thing that must be thought-about. So worth is simply a part of the story when IT involves ROI or a enterprise case. The true measure there’s usually much less tangible and the worth that comes from service fashions have a tendency to supply extra advantages and relieve the executive burden on our shoppers.
So we need to speak about dimensions of worth and clearly in any cost integrity program, we have to get to the purpose the place we’re targeted on error prevention, waste and abuse being the highest in that. However in what the business calls second move modifying, there are a number of extra dimensions of worth to be thought-about. So within the potential house, one of many dimensions of worth that we have a tendency to supply for our consumer is taking the burden off of the shoppers’ relative to understanding the market palatability of specific edits. We take off the burden of setting these edits up in a system. We take the burden of having the ability to look cross market in wanting throughout information. We offer flexibility and agility.
Amy, in your small business space of DRG scientific evaluations or scientific chart validation, how can Health plans entry additional dimensions of worth past the medical value financial savings that you just present?
Amy: I am glad you requested that. Matthew. For scientific chart validation program, which is our CCV program, we ship day in and day trip our market main inpatient medical value financial savings, however we do extra than simply that. What we do is we hone in on that algorithm, leveraging our machine studying, our AI, to make sure that we’re wanting and choosing probably the most worthwhile highest chance claims to make sure that we’re returning worth to our shoppers. And with that choice we’re then having a strong SME like name heart that helps our chart retrieval and we’re getting in over 90% of our charts by means of a supplier pleasant setup. And so with that, once more, past the medical value financial savings, we’re ensuring that that supplier community feels supported on behalf of that Health plan as we undergo our course of and with that, we have now one other set of crew that moreover would help when it comes to our chart evaluations and there is a complete group of crew leads and auditors supporting our charts.
And with that we have now 37% change fee and 96% audit sustainability. So driving that worth whereas additionally supporting and tailoring our evaluations to help the factors that the Health plan has agreed upon with us. With that further is the quite a few groups that I simply talked about. There’s a group of groups that’s supporting these alternatives, supporting that chart receipt, supporting that audit findings and ensuring end-to-end course of is past the medical value financial savings, however contains supporting all avenues whereas making IT as worthwhile and worth to the client by means of the entire lifecycle of the chart evaluation program.
Matthew: So that you commented in there about choice a few occasions and amassing the charts and also you used some metrics in there. What do you see as the important thing differentiator within the DRG functionality that we have now at Cotiviti?
Amy: That is a fantastic query. So the important thing differentiator could be that we ship the worth, however we have now the employees behind IT to help and be sure that we are able to complement the Health plans when it comes to our assets and leveraging our SME expertise and having the ability to take within the stock from the entrance of a paid declare all through the evaluation course of to the restoration course of and delivering that service worth that has a complete sturdy crew supporting these metrics that I simply shared.
Matthew: Thanks, Amy. Kevin, might you please share your expertise on how Health plans ought to measure whole worth of their COB and postpay information mining packages?
Kevin: Within the COB discipline, we hear quite a bit about member information and the way usually Health plans workflows must depend on restricted information sources to find out primacy and the right order of advantages, however we discover to ship probably the most financial savings and extra, a full service associate will deliver worth by finally understanding when, the place, and increase information and leverage supplemental information sources. And IT‘s actually about making use of experience to these processes. So for instance, we regularly discuss quite a bit about or hear quite a bit about CAQH, which Health plans must exit and buy upfront after which apply an amazing quantity of prices to then work by means of since CAQH is just an indicator, however what we all know from our experiences, IT‘s usually outdated and or incomplete. Because of this we consider whole worth in COB is usually captured by supplementing member information with different sources and that skilled evaluation. We have seen by means of COB evaluations upwards of over 40% of our findings are on members not even listed on that consumer’s CAQH file at Cotiviti. We have actually labored to refine the method of understanding when, the place and increase that information and that not solely permits us to deliver worth working behind Health plans inner efforts once they resolve to work that CAQH file themselves, however we have additionally herald a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars} in worth behind even third get together distributors that our shoppers deploy.
Matthew: Each of you commented on the groups that we have now that stand behind the service that we offer, and that jogs my memory of a element of the potential service that we regularly speak about and that is the skilled panel or skilled crew of clinicians backed by what we name network-wide information. And that’s the notion of getting information throughout a number of shoppers and what choices and decisions they make, whereas a singular Health plan has their very own expertise, solely we are able to mix the experiences of many Health plans in a given market after which we again that up with scientific experience that may present wonderful recommendation to our shoppers you could’t get by means of merely a software program vendor. And that may be unfold all through the group, whether or not that’s particularly round cost integrity companies or dealing with appeals and disputes from the supplier group no matter what they’re associated to.
Let’s transition over to the subject of innovation and in that, we have heard quite a bit lately within the information about generative AI, about AI and common machine studying, however IT‘s actually necessary for innovation to be sensible and significant. So I need to have us discuss somewhat bit about that and one of many issues that I’ve seen within the cost integrity house that is drawing plenty of curiosity is the motion of postpay companies into the prepay house, and understanding that in that that there is at all times a spot for postpay companies, however I feel there’s in all probability some worth in having a few of that moved up entrance when potential. We frequently speak about the best intervention on the proper time limit, and when you concentrate on IT, the healthcare business is without doubt one of the few remaining industries that is okay with getting IT fallacious the primary time and fixing IT later. And I do know there’s improved economics and conditions of lowered supplier abrasion by shifting issues ahead. That is a few large explanation why you would possibly need to transfer some issues ahead, however I consider that the actual winner available in the market of cost integrity goes to be the submit and prepay firm that has actually tight integration in that prepay house. So Kevin, might you broaden on this just a bit bit and inform us in regards to the necessary improvements you’ve in postpay information mining and COB relative to that?
Kevin: True worth can also be delivered to Health plans by means of the experience and innovation. So on the postpay information mining entrance, IT‘s about going past the analytics. I take into consideration innovation when it comes to each breadth and depth, breadth in our improvements occurring throughout all features of evaluation. So is your cost integrity vendor offering help and innovation throughout pharmacy, contract compliance, supplier billing, and numerous different sorts of claims. After which depth within the sense of figuring out errors past the analytical indicators. So two examples soar out to me. One the place on the pharmacy space we take a look at contract traits particular to medical pharmacy claims and we discover a selected development with certainly one of our shoppers which resulted in them saving $20 million in lower than three months. The second instance is in regards to the skill to establish errors the place, for instance, preliminary coverage replace was carried out, which we all know is widespread and we regularly see analytical indicators that say a declare is billing totally different than a coverage replace that has been made.
Nevertheless, after we take into consideration innovation, we take a step again and we take a look at not solely is the declare billing in response to the coverage, however was the coverage up to date utterly accurately? And we found on this one instance that that was not the case and that along with seeing that the claims invoice in a different way, we truly recognized over $1.6 million for a consumer and created vital avoidance for that consumer in that house by figuring out that the coverage they made a coverage they up to date truly wasn’t utterly carried out. In each of those examples, the overall worth was captured by our specialists wanting past the analytical indicators and dealing to establish the underlying traits after which the appliance of these traits to the cost integrity program.
Going again to COB for a second, we have additionally seen vital improvements on this house the place we have deployed a real pause and pay resolution that mixes the experience and the power to know when, the place, and increase the information that I spoke about earlier than. And by Health plans deploying this pause-and-pay resolution, we consider they’ll seize 25% or extra of their COB findings in that prepay atmosphere, which creates a greater monetary outcome, a greater supplier expertise, and scale back the executive burden for our Health plans in that space.
Matthew: And does that remove the necessity for the postpay facet of IT or is that form of a further profit that you just’re simply in a position to shift?
Kevin: IT‘s a further profit. So solely about 25 to 30% will we really feel assured normally will be moved to that prepay resolution. However the great thing about having each the prepay and postpay mixed is that we are able to apply these learnings and likewise take a look at these members in a postpay atmosphere. So there’ll at all times be conditions the place retro terminations happen or working statuses or issues like that are not recognized earlier than declare is paid. However by bringing these options collectively, each prepay and postpay, the Health plans profit by that experience and that analysis to finally speed up findings. So the place they can not be recognized prepay, they’re recognized shortly within the postpay atmosphere. To
Amy: To segue in with what Kev has within the prepay for COB and the postpay for COB, the identical factor has occurred within the CCV atmosphere. We’ve been within the retro house and we at the moment are innovating and we at the moment are shifting claims evaluations to the prepay house. So we have now now innovated leveraging our machine studying, leveraging our AI fashions to tug ahead into the prepay house for our evaluations. So we are able to shift about 20% of our retro stock into the prepay house for CCV evaluations after which we nonetheless complement with that retro CCV evaluation as nicely. So we’re consistently innovating. We’re the place we are able to shift evaluations to the entrance the place we’re doing value avoidance on behalf of the Health plans reasonably than that pay and chase. So the values realized sooner and the place we are able to discover that stock prepayment, we’re wanting and supporting our Health plans in that house.
Moreover, with our improvements within the retro house, we’re additionally how can we go deeper and extra exact with out a chart. So we even have expanded innovation within the CCV house to what we name our cross declare scientific evaluation. We’re in a position to leverage the machine studying and the entire historic information to construct a member’s historical past and be capable of take a look at that by means of our information analytics and discover overpayments which might be sustainable by means of the enchantment course of with out a chart, which has been a fantastic adaption with a few of our Health plans to this point. We have already got about 5 to 6 Health plans who’ve turned on cross declare scientific evaluation and due to this fact IT‘s lowered that supplier administrative burden on the entrance finish the place we are able to discover these overpayments, we are able to ship these findings letters out after which that reduces the supplier’s have to submit the chart as a result of we have now excessive confidence to have the ability to say that IT is a findings and people do maintain by means of that course of.
And with that we’re persevering with to say simply because we’re doing DRG evaluation quick keep evaluations, we’re at all times these evaluations and the way we are able to dig deeper into ideas, how we are able to try this steady suggestions loop. After which of that once more, what can we shift to the prepay house for that value avoidance and what can we shift into the cross declare scientific evaluation as we broaden our evaluation varieties, our data and we’re in a position to go wider and deeper and help the Health plans on either side of the spectrum. Now within the prepay and postpay house as we hearken to the market and we hearken to our Health plan suggestions that claims, how will you help us in numerous areas, CCV continues to innovate day in and day trip. With our 20 plus years of expertise, we’re persevering with to seek out areas that we are able to develop and broaden and haven’t any idea be stale that each one of them stay present and that they’re persevering with to innovate.
Matthew: Amy, I feel you commented in there that 25 to 30% you considered the ideas or the worth you would transfer ahead. Are there sure issues that lend themselves to shifting to prepay versus needing to depart IT in postpay?
Amy: With shifting into prepay, what we do see is that exclusions that we see within the retro house have a tendency to not be within the prepay house. And a few of that is contractual, that means if a supplier contract says you may’t work this within the retro house due to a supplier restrict, but when we do shift that given set of suppliers to the prepay house, these supplier limits, these exclusions change into lifted. And so that’s the place we do see a few of that acquire as nicely on behalf of our Health plans is we are able to take a look at the contracts and help and say these can get round exclusions and round these supplier limits we see within the retro house by doing IT in prepay the place we’re day by day alternatives and day by day claims which might be coming in and honing these in for our alternatives the place IT does not affect like IT does within the retro house the place there could possibly be limitations throughout the cost integrity house in a retro Health plan the place shifting to the prepay advantages the Health earlier than that pay and chase
Matthew: These feedback lead me to think about the virtuous cycle {that a} service supplier has over a software program vendor in that they’ve the entire information and the outcomes on behalf of their shoppers and may interrogate that intelligence if you’ll, and produce enhancement and create further, whether or not IT‘s worth or high quality or further functionality to supply worth to their shoppers. One final query I need to contact on, however somewhat preamble to IT is that service suppliers must work in actual shut partnership the place software program distributors are inclined to have somewhat extra of an arm’s size relationship. And that mentioned, service options usually get in comparison with software program options strictly on the premise of worth as if they supply the very same set of capabilities. Amy, if you check out the CCV service mannequin, what are among the capabilities that you just present a Health plan that the Health plan must think about when making an attempt to carry out these companies inside their store or by means of only a software program vendor the place they’re constructing the group round IT?
Amy: A number of the capabilities that the Health plan must soak up if IT‘s a software program is the assets to have the ability to reprice these claims on our behalf. So if we had been to carry out the evaluation and move the findings, they must have assets on employees to help repricing help paybacks. Whereas with Cotiviti, we have now the employees within the SMEs that help that at the moment the place we are able to leverage repricing a declare stock administration, there is a employees that helps the appeals by means of and thru. So we provide that finish to finish not simply the information piece however the useful resource piece the place we are able to even have quite a few crew members help by means of the end-to-end life cycle of a declare and be capable of give perception as claims transfer alongside that life cycle.
Matthew: Thanks. IT additionally strikes me that any given Health plan must develop the intelligence of what to go take a look at, what to request, after which audit these issues. Kevin, from a COB and information mining standpoint, what would you add to that?
Kevin: Sure, Matthew, I like this subject as a result of from afar these two companies can look comparable, however if you go nearer, there’s a very significant distinction. So within the information mining and COB house, IT‘s the same story that Amy talked about within the DRG space the place IT‘s our service mannequin and the outcomes which might be actually finally to maximise worth in a cost integrity house that allows a Health plan success. I feel it’s a must to create sustainable and defensible findings that may finally be transformed into financial savings, notably if you’re speaking a few postpay resolution, that means a software program resolution might point out a possible discovering, however IT can lack that skilled validation that helps a Health plan seamlessly convert IT into financial savings and worth. Moreover, we discover robust cost integrity packages usually require a vendor to have the ability to deliver capabilities to help audits past what a Health plan might be able to present.
So for instance, at Cotiviti we carry out supplier outreach companies, which permits us to attach with suppliers and ensure issues like items or authorizations. We additionally carry out worker verifications to assist us perceive working statuses. These are simply two small examples that assist us establish, validate, and create a greater supplier expertise when pursuing the overpayment. In these situations, we even have the power to accommodate and help distinctive processes. So we talked about innovation earlier and people usually include distinctive white paper and validation evaluations, the power to speak about stock and change reporting, discuss to 3rd get together instruments in some circumstances, discuss to portals. After which even going so far as enabling our Health plans to arrange for and facilitate conversations with networks, these are companies that we carry out to finally once more, assist our shoppers create financial savings. After which lastly, within the postpay house, the power to ship recoveries.
So at Cotiviti we have now sturdy capabilities to navigate issues like supplier notification by means of lettering and handbook collections. Cotiviti performs over 70,000 assortment calls to suppliers the place offset and recoup can happen every month. We even have the power to carry out changes or repricing to facilitate offset or recoup processing. After which lastly, even the executive actions resembling lockbox administration or distinctive invoicing. IT‘s these companies that I feel actually are differentiating and finally assist Health plans successfully navigate a excessive worth cost integrity program. They assist create, once more, legitimate defensible findings that finally assist shepherd them by means of to restoration, which permits a Health plan to actually obtain the good thing about a full cost integrity resolution.
Matthew: Thanks each. I will add somewhat bit on the prepay aspect, and that’s after I take into consideration the software program versus service mannequin and the way a Health plan and what a Health plan has to do once they have a software program associate, is I simply start to consider all of the issues which might be supplied and provisioned to them, resembling in a software program mannequin, it’s a must to fear about infrastructure and interoperability of software program and repair mannequin. You do not in a software program mannequin, it’s a must to develop your individual content material in a service mannequin that’s provided to you in a software program mannequin. You must do your individual analysis and growth and work out apply and what the supplier group can undertake and bear in a service mannequin that’s provided to you with a cross market perception. However I feel finally the best worth comes from the enhancement or the innovation of latest content material areas, new coverage areas.
Within the prepay house, there is a large motion into inpatient genetic testing, medication and biologicals pharmacy, et cetera. And all of that within the prepay house is underpinned by information and in a service mannequin the place your supplier and your associate has entry to the entire information throughout the whole U.S., or an enormous phase of the U.S., they’ll interrogate that information day in and day trip with new applied sciences to assist develop these contents and take a look at market them. And in a software program mannequin, you are left coping with that by yourself. In order that to me supplies an fascinating view of how worth will be totally different between a service mannequin and a software program mannequin.
The final main subject that I would like to the touch on is within the worth of partnership. And to construct a extremely profitable cost integrity program, you want experience and that experience must have a foundation in scientific data and plans should be educated whether or not on their very own or with a associate.
And oftentimes that pertains to metrics, however the actual worth comes from a supportive crew and having the ability to meet all of the wants of the Health plan by means of that supportive crew. Within the prepay house, I consider among the needs that Health plans want and that’s round agility. A associate that may transfer sooner than their inner IT store usually can round flexibility, the notion of having the ability to accomplish issues, whether or not IT‘s an edit or in any other case that they can not do internally within the fraud, waste and abuse house. We function very collaboratively with shoppers in deciding which suppliers to incorporate in this system, and we try this by means of the analytics of their information and algorithms and machine studying ideas to recommend to them what must be taken a take a look at within the fraud house that they must do on their very own. So Kevin, what might you share within the COB and information mining house about partnership and the way you’re employed with shoppers?
Kevin: IT‘s one thing that we take plenty of pleasure in and I feel IT‘s actually necessary, once more for a Health plan to realize their cost integrity targets. So a pair examples that come to thoughts are such as you talked about when it comes to experience. So we deploy many specialists within the instance in our pharmacy house the place we have now pharmacy specialists and technicians, after which we have now people which might be specialists in understanding not solely contractual phrases however their intent and the way they work. We use this experience to associate with our shoppers to know their intent, their insurance policies, and IT permits us to be very versatile in understanding finest deploy our specialists in a means that the consumer can pursue these findings.
Amy: Partnership is one factor that’s close to and pricey to my coronary heart. Earlier than being the product proprietor, I used to be a consumer service supervisor after which a director. And so partnership is so key to the success as a result of we are able to ship metrics, we are able to ship findings, however IT‘s the true partnership that builds the success that when, as Matthew talked about, that advert hoc is available in and the Health plan wants us to flex inside a day and get us this response or that response. The crew is there to help. On CCV, we have now a complete crew devoted to supporting our shoppers and so they’re known as our consumer service crew. They’ve a bunch of oldsters that help not solely simply our inner crew, however they’re the liaison to the Health plans. And with that, when the Health plans are needing a session name amongst our medical administrators, our consumer service crew is there to help internally.
We’ve a bunch of auditors, we have now a bunch of crew leads, medical administrators, repricing, stock administration, so many of us on employees able to associate with our Health plans to ship on that worth and to be sure that they get that tailor-made hands-on method, that partnership method to be sure that we work and ship on the identical worth each internally and externally, which is success. We purpose to drive and ship success daily. And so with Cotiviti CCV, we be sure that there’s a lot finish to finish between as I shared the alternatives to the chart retrieval to the evaluations, to the findings letters, that each one of that’s supported and our Health plans have that line of sight by means of the partnership, by means of the totally different conferences that we arrange, by means of the totally different flexibilities that we have to help when there’s ever-changing necessities.
Matthew: If I had been to sum up each of your feedback, IT jogs my memory of the notion of creating experience by means of expertise. And a service supplier with many consumers has many makes an attempt and lots of revisions and the power to hone their processes and groups, whereas a Health plan, making an attempt to do one thing on their very own or by means of a software program resolution has form of one try and IT will take actually time to get to a extra refined course of and a extra refined functionality.