Aged claims are one of those things that fall through the cracks when undergoing a hospital merger. Why? Because there are many other factors involved, ranging from coordinating billing centers to ensuring that all of the employees follow the same policies. However, many of the hospitals involved in a merger have a debt bucket that should be emptied before the merger is finalized, lest they get forgotten about. Things will go much more smoothly, financially anyway, when the hospital’s financial systems are all on the same page.
A Recent Merger Example
Within the last week, a major merger was announced in Louisiana. According to sources, “The board of trustees of Lafayette (La.) General Health and New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System signed a letter of intent to merge, the health systems announced Sept. 25.” This merger would create a 33-hospital network in the area. “Under the agreement, Lafayette General will be the combined system’s regional healthcare hub in Southwest Louisiana, and Ochsner will invest $365 million in capital and resources in the region over the next 10 years. The agreement builds on the clinical affiliation between the two health systems.” As you can imagine, this healthcare hub is going to be important to the region.
One of the leaders of the new proposed healthcare group stated, “As two of the leading health systems in our state, we have the responsibility to improve quality and safety, increase access and make healthcare more affordable,” Ochsner Health System President and CEO Warner Thomas said in a news release. “It’s no secret that we face a number of critical health issues in Louisiana — rising incidences of hypertension, obesity, chronic disease and growing demand for key services such as oncology care, stroke care, women’s and pediatric services and more. Joining together, we can tackle these issues to improve healthcare much faster than we can by working alone.” Their rate of success goes up once the hospitals are on solid financial footing, and this is helped greatly by taking care of those aged claims.
What Can Be Done About Those Aged Claims?
While many hospitals, particularly those that are undergoing a merger, have their aged in the backs, not the forefronts, of their minds, they do need to be taken care of. In many cases, aged claims will help create a better cashflow before the merger completely takes place, even if every hospital involved is in good financial shape. It never hurts to have more money in your coffers.
If your hospital or clinic has aged claims that have gone past the three state-level appeals, whether or not you’re in the middle of a merger, and want to get them cleared up, then the Federal ERISA appeals process can help. You’ll need to contact the experts, such as ERISA Recovery, in order to do so, because your billing department does not know how – nor do they have the time – to handle these appeals. We have the knowledge and the time, so contact us today.