Customer Success Story
Organization:
Faith Community Health System, Jacksboro, Texas, is a comprehensive healthcare system covering four counties and serving 120,000+ people. With four rural health clinics, two emergency rooms, and a main hospital campus, the organization has experienced remarkable growth in the 13 years Frank Beaman, Faith Community CEO, has been in his role. Faith Community serves a large region in specialty areas such as OB, Podiatry surgery, and orthoscopic neck and spine.
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Objective:
Faith Community needed business intelligence/data analytics to facilitate a fact-based decision regarding the validity of a major contract proposal. In a broader scope, Faith Community wanted the ability to track where and when there were contractual underpayments or denials. As a second core objective, Faith Community wanted to comply with the Price Transparency rule to avoid fines now being levied for non-compliance, to improve their patient experience, and to build trust.
Situation:
It became apparent to Frank Beaman and his team that there was an opportunity and need to evaluate contract proposals – particularly a contract proposal from a very large insurance payor. It was important to avoid getting into a bad contract and equally important to make data-based factual decisions. Time was of the essence, and analysis requires opening up your system, so Faith Community needed a trusted advisor to help quickly and efficiently – and a company that would protect their data.
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Additionally, a community hospital doesn’t have the economies of scale to hire additional staff, so Faith Community needed help filling gaps in contract management, business intelligence, and price transparency compliance.
Solution:
SlicedHealth Contract Management, Business Intelligence, and Price Transparency solutions were obvious choices for Frank Beaman and his leadership team. Frank had experienced working with SlicedHealth CEO Reed Liggin through athenahealth, and had grown to trust Reed, the SlicedHealth team, and the SlicedHealth technology solutions that would meet their stated objectives. Frank shared, “I trust Reed and his organization. And I was also in a situation where I needed to move quickly; I needed to move efficiently with someone that I trusted to get in, especially with the major contract negotiation we had in progress.”
Outcomes:
SlicedHealth Contract Management allowed Faith Community to identify cases with underpayments or unjustified denials. In one case, a denial was immediately ID’d and processed, and the recovery was enough to pay for the cost of the technology for two years. Being able to extrapolate data in literally seconds has had a significant impact on efficiencies. SlicedHealth has helped Faith Community mitigate the expenses of staffing and potential price transparency non-compliance penalties while identifying contractual underpayments at the same time.
Narrative:
Founded in 1958, Faith Community Health System (FCHS) provides healthcare services for residents of Jack County, TX, and four surrounding counties. Serving a population of around 120,000 people, Faith Community has more than 42 medical providers and offers more than 20 core programs and services. The Women’s Choice Awards named Faith to the 100 Best Hospitals for Patient Experience 2023 listing, a national honor focusing only on patient satisfaction and female preferences. The 100 Best Hospitals list (of community hospitals) is based on an analysis of Faith’s Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores.
Rural hospitals and healthcare systems confront mounting challenges, compelled to do more with less – less funding, fewer resources, and limited access to trained staff. Previous solutions were costly and not tailored to smaller facilities. There was difficulty effectively identifying and addressing underpayments, and the budget was limited. The cost of other solutions and the need for additional staff to implement and execute were a barrier to entry.
Further, pending federal and state legislation, managed care contracting and payment reductions from all payers required Faith Community to proactively be able to analyze revenue and reimbursements by payer, provider, service type, or charge. Price Transparency rules require Faith Community to remain compliant despite changing rules and standards.
Specific to Faith Community Health System was the need to evaluate proposals from a major insurance provider/payor. This evaluation was the pivot point to realizing these proposals were not in their best interest and kept them from getting into an inferior contract. Possessing and understanding the data has been key. The reports available track where payments have or have not been made and where there have been denials have been of measurable value.
Contract modeling allows revenue analysis and reimbursement by payer, provider, service type, or charge. In real-time, Faith Community can go in and assess the dashboard data. Frank Beaman shares, “We can see who’s performing and who’s not performing. We can see where our revenue is coming from and which provider is or is not meeting contractural agreements. It’s a great deep dive into data to help us make intelligent decisions about our operations from a revenue cycle perspective.”
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Price Transparency non-compliance penalties rose from a mean of $110,000 per year in 2021 to a mean of $511,000 in 2022, and more than $ 1 million with just two violations alone in 2023. (JAMA Network, November 2023). With changing rules and multiple priorities competing for staff time, Faith Community, like other rural and community hospitals, does not have the resources to devote specific time to Price Transparency. SlicedHealth stays on top of changing rules and with their Price Transparency tool keeps Faith Community in compliance.
Recovery from 1 denied claim covered SlicedHealth cost for two years
100% product cost ROI in only one month
$38,000 underpayment collected from one account
Frank Beaman
CEO
In a small rural hospital you don’t have budget to hire a large team. If not for SlicedHealth, we could not do this work. SlicedHealth absolutely fills the gap for rural providers.
SlicedHealth’s best asset is the people on the team…and they happen to have really great products to go with that. The integrity and character they bring is just beyond expectations.
Summary:
Faith Community Health System was in a situation where fast time to value for contract management, real-time business intelligence, and price transparency compliance were highly prioritized. A common thread through the Faith Community story is the need not to increase staffing costs and not require additional training or implementation resources. In fact, SlicedHealth was able to help streamline workflows to mitigate expenses while increasing outputs.
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Frank Beaman credits the understanding of the Faith Community Board and leadership team for recognizing the unique needs of a rural health system, allowing Faith Community to deliver services akin to larger institutions. In the same vein, Frank has iterated that the trusted relationship and partnership with SlicedHealth has been integral to realizing the goal of being a regional hospital system that is a world-class facility in a rural community.
Over the past 38 years, Frank Beaman has received national attention for his hospital turnaround success and is a former recipient of the Texas Rural Health Association Person of the Year award.
Frank currently serves as a member of the Health and Human Services Commission Hospital Payment Advisory Committees and is a former 3-term board member of the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals. In 2023 Frank was appointed to the Texas Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association.
Frank and Faith Community Hospital was also recognized as both Business and Businessperson of the Year in 2014 by the Jacksboro Chamber of Commerce. Frank was selected by Corporate America Magazine as the 2016 Healthcare CEO of the Year and featured in the January 2017 issue. And in 2022, Frank was honored by IE Magazine as one of the country's top 10 inspiring leaders.
In 2023, under Franks's leadership, Faith Community Health System was named Top 100 nationally for patient experience.
Frank Beaman
Chief Executive Office
Faith Community Health System