Centralized Business Office 2015
Who Helps Providers Succeed With Next-Generation Revenue Cycle Management Strategies?

1. CBO: EPIC LEADS IN A MARKET PRIMED FOR IMPROVEMENT

Epic had the most CBO clients in this study, mainly in large and complex environments. These customers highlighted Epic’s consolidated patient statements, robust work queues, and financially strong patient portal. Resolute’s weakness is the user interface, with its lack of consistency between institutional and professional billing and challenges associated with its combined reporting. Cerner has a few CBO customers among primarily smaller organizations who reported functional CBO reporting and a reduction in FTEs but minimal patient portal functionality when it comes to RCM. While vendors continue to push out RCM functionality, healthcare billing complexities and needs still outpace vendors’ delivery.

2. CERNER SOARIAN (SIEMENS) CONTINUES TO UNDERPERFORM: OTHER BEST OF BREEDS STRUGGLE TO MAINTAIN MARKET SHARE

Cerner’s (Siemens) next-generation RCM solution, Soarian Financials, scores the lowest overall and has shown minimal improvement in customer satisfaction over the last two years. Many customers are unable to obtain the product’s potential due to their lack of implementation expertise and the complexity of the product. QuadraMed and GE have the most customers considering whether their RCM vendor fits into their long-term plans, while Allscripts’ customers remain skeptical of the long-touted but still unavailable Sunrise Financial Manager solution. 

"For health systems, or even just standalone hospitals with a few practices, the [CBO] interoperability is beneficial because it allows for a clinical view of the patient as a whole. We can see everything from the documentation process all the way through to what the patient owes and why, so the patient is not shuffled around to different areas. The patient gets a more concise experience because we have his or her information, and the patient's provider can know what the hospical is doing and vice versa because we are all on one system now." - CBO System

3. CERNER/SIEMENS MERGER DRIVES OPTIMISM; INTEGRATION DRIVES LONG-TERM CHOICES

Although Cerner Patient Accounting and Soarian Financials have lower RCM performance ratings, both customer bases exhibit high optimism for the future. With the Cerner acquisition of Siemens, providers hope this combined vendor expertise will result in an RCM product that more fully meets their needs. For the industry overall, long-term RCM plans are generally directed by an integrated EMR/RCM strategy that favors vendors such as Epic, Cerner, MEDITECH, and McKesson.