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McLean County health committee approves nursing home contracts to boost billing and managed-care reimbursement
Summary
The McLean County Board Health Committee on Feb. 3 approved a series of nursing home contracts — hospice services, a master services agreement for contract renegotiation, and billing/RCM engagements — and heard that staff turnover fell to 39% for the year.
The McLean County Board Health Committee approved multiple agreements on Feb. 3 intended to shore up revenue and billing at the county nursing facility, and heard that staff turnover hit 39% for the year.
Tim Wiley, nursing home administrator, asked the committee to approve a renewal hospice services agreement with Carl Hospice, a master services agreement with Symbiotic Partners, LLC to pursue contract renegotiations with managed-care organizations, and an engagement letter with Templin Healthcare Accounting Services LLP to assist with Medicare and Medicaid cost reports and institutional billing tied to the facility’s MatrixCare electronic health record. The committee also approved a MatrixCare revenue-cycle-management (RCM) services order form to outsource institutional billing. Each item was approved by voice vote.
Why it matters: county officials said the contracts are intended to increase reimbursement and strengthen collections so the facility does not “leave money on the table,” a concern Wiley cited for smaller skilled-nursing operations. The agreements — a mix of direct service renewal and vendor engagements focused on billing and contract negotiation — affect the facility’s near-term revenue strategy and its administrative approach to Medicare/Medicaid reporting.
Wiley described the Symbiotic Partners engagement as a new initiative for the facility and said the vendor had already presented a projected return on investment. "In this age of managed care organizations and Medicare replacements, it's imperative that an organization stay up on contract renegotiations and properly negotiating contracts," Wiley said. He said the vendor’s specialty is renegotiating contracts to increase reimbursement.
On MatrixCare and the Templin engagement, Wiley said the services bring additional institutional-billing expertise to improve collections. "It will increase our the strength of our collections," he said, adding that stronger collections help prevent leaving money uncollected, which can be common for smaller or stand-alone skilled nursing facilities.
The committee approved the hospice renewal with Carl Hospice on a voice vote after Wiley described it as a renewal with slightly different terms. The master services agreement with Symbiotic Partners and the MatrixCare RCM services order form likewise passed by voice vote. Motions were made and seconded at the meeting; formal recorded tallies were not specified in the transcript.
Wiley also highlighted staffing progress: reaching a four-year goal to reduce turnover to 40% or below, reporting a 39% staff turnover rate for the year. The statistic was presented as part of the administrator’s annual summary; no independent verification was offered during the meeting.
What’s next: the agreements approved at the committee meeting authorize county staff to execute the vendor engagements and contract renewals described; the transcript does not specify implementation timelines or budget amendments required to operationalize the services.
(Reporting note: direct quotes and statements are attributed to Tim Wiley, nursing home administrator, as recorded in the committee transcript.)
