CLIENT SPOTLIGHT: PIEDMONT PHYSICIANS GROUP (PPG)

Leyton Braud, Administrative Director of the Central Business Office
Brenda Shepherd, Applications Specialist
Piedmont Physicians Group
Atlanta, GA
Primary care practice, 21 locations
70 physicians, 105 support staff

Established in 1994, the Piedmont Physicians Group (PPG) was recently identified as a “better performer” for the fifth consecutive year by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) for superior operational service compared with similar medical group practices nationwide. In addition to its own operations, the PPG provides billings and collections services for several local orthopedics practices.

Began using Navicure Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) solution:
February 2003

What claims processing technology had you been using prior to Navicure?
The PPG submitted claims electronically directly to Medicare and to BlueCross/BlueShield. The remainder was submitted through a traditional clearinghouse.

We grew increasingly frustrated with the clearinghouse because we had no immediate access to edits information. If we submitted a claim with a problem, we had to wait for a paper report and sort through it before we could resubmit the claim. Nor did we have access to timely filing information. If a payer was unable to find a claim, it became a significant issue because we could not prove timely filing.

Finally, customer service was terrible. If we had to add a new physician – and this happened frequently because we were in a period of rapid growth – it might be a month or longer before he or she was added to the system.

How did you go about searching for a new partner?
We had implemented a state-of-the art practice management system from NextGen Healthcare Information Systems in 2001. They recommended that we consider Navicure, because it offered superior functionality. We had Navicure present a demo in 2002 and we were tremendously impressed. It hands-down beat everything else on the market.

It was very easy to make the change to Navicure. We worked directly with their customer service staff – which is fabulous – to get our physician names and IDs into their system. Once that was completed, we were up and running within days.

What benefits have you realized through the Navicure RCM?
The advantages of Navicure were apparent almost immediately. We were getting edits information back electronically throughout the day – which meant we could fix and resubmit claims within hours, not weeks – and could access claims status through the Internet. Every claim carried a date/time stamp so we no longer were plagued with “timely filing” issues.

We’ve also realized longer term benefits. Days in A/R have dropped dramatically – they are now down to 30. Although our PMS also played a role, we cut 10 days that were directly attributable to the Navicure system. Navicure’s automated processes also reduced the cost of collections by 50%. Prior to Navicure, cost of collections ran at 8%. It’s now half that, at 4%. Besides cutting days in A/R and the cost of collections, we were able to decrease staffing costs by $120,000 a year.

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