CHARLOTTE, NC – August 26, 2010 – Preferred Medical Marketing Corporation (PMMC), a leading provider of Revenue Cycle Management applications and services, announced today that it has secured a contract for its Lost Revenue Recovery Services with Franciscan Hospital for Children.  PMMC was selected to identify and collect outstanding contractual underpayments with the hospital’s insurance and managed care organizations.    

PMMC’s Revenue Recovery Services is built around PMMC’s proprietary contract management software system, PMMC Contract PRO.  PMMC utilizes a unique combination of innovative discovery processes, sophisticated account management and data queue functionalities, as well as established payer relationships.  

“Franciscan Hospital’s primary goal is to insure that the hospital is receiving accurate payments.  With limited resources and the number of outpatient visits being so large, it is difficult for us to track and audit every individual claim payment,” stated Ms. Cindy Warner, Director of Revenue Systems at Franciscan Hospital for Children.   

According to Ray Wilcox, PMMC Vice President of Revenue Enhancement, “PMMC offers the perfect blend of efficiency gained through the use its software system to calculate and identify contract underpayments, and collection expertise of getting the money in quickly.  This enables PMMC to more accurately identify, appeal and recover contractual underpayments.”   

Ms. Warner emphasized: “We are a small organization, and consequently have very limited resources that can be devoted to an external audit.  We chose PMMC because they were persistent and demonstrated that they can work within the constraints of the hospital without demanding too much, and that is exactly what they have done.” 

Greg Kay, PMMC Senior Vice President noted: “PMMC is pleased to work with Franciscan Hospital for Children.  With today’s tight reimbursement, we are experiencing consistent interest and growth with this needed revenue cycle service.  This engagement is a further indication of PMMC being the vendor of choice for hospitals dealing with complex payer reimbursement terms.”

“PMMC’s recovery protocols include a thorough review of the payer contracts, claims information, coding and posted transactions.  Through our expertise with payer contracts and the use of PMMC CONTRACT PRO, our recovery team scrutinizes payments in an effort to supplement our client’s bottom line.   PMMC is committed to identifying and collecting Franciscan’s underfunded accounts and/or lost revenue,” added Mr. Wilcox.   

Dedicated to excellence, Franciscan Hospital for Children has a vision of becoming an internationally recognized model that offers the best possible care to children. Franciscan is a 100 bed hospital that serves the needs of the Brighton, MA community.  Franciscan offers a variety of children services, including inpatient, residential, educational, surgical, outpatient and home care programs, a combination of children services that is hard to find anywhere else. 

PMMC is a Microsoft-certified software development and consulting company.  Since 1986, its innovative software and consultants have assisted more than 400 hospitals and 20,000 physician clients to improve their financial operations though enhanced contract management, payment verification, cost accounting, financial decision support, and consulting services.  For more information, contact Robby Shaul, 704-543-8103 or visit http://www.pmmconline.com.

CHARLOTTE, NC – August 16, 2010 – Preferred Medical Marketing Corporation (PMMC) announces that it has been selected to aid several hospitals in Chargemaster rate adjustment modeling projects to align pricing and budget goals.  Recent clients include:   

• Tomball Regional Medical Center; Tomball, TX
• Sierra Vista Regional Health Care; Sierra Vista, AZ
• Uvalde Memorial Hospital; Uvalde, TX

PMMC’s Net Revenue Modeling is a Chargemaster rate adjustment service that takes into consideration the hospital’s payer contractual terms, comparative market pricing data, cost information, and other constraints to produce an accurate projection on gross and net revenue.  This service is performed through the use of PMMC REVENUE MASTER, a Charge Description Master (CDM) rate adjustment modeling tool.  It delivers rational pricing, defensible charges, and transparent pricing, while helping to ensure a reliable Net Revenue stream. 

PMMC customizes this modeling process to each hospital’s unique market pricing position, goals and objectives.   As an example, Tomball Regional was looking for “a strategic price adjustment for their Chargemaster.  As opposed to a generic percent increase, a strategic price adjustment would allow us to target specific departments and increase their charges in an appropriate manner based on our surrounding peers, optimizing net revenue,” stated Cindy Macik, Business Office Director for Tomball Regional Medical Center.  

“PMMC is pleased to assist Tomball Regional again this year with their strategic pricing initiatives.  Tomball has taken a proactive role in providing reasonably priced, quality services to its community.  In these tough economic times, it is important to maintain a solid balance sheet to continue providing for the community.  PMMC is proud to do its part for Tomball Regional,” stated Chad Shields, Regional Vice President of PMMC. 

Tomball Regional Medical Center, ranked among the top five percent in the nation for clinical excellence, is committed to providing quality health care in an ethical, compassionate, and cost-efficient manner. Tomball Regional, founded in 1976, is a full-service 357 bed hospital with 350 physicians, providing expertise in cardiovascular disease, cancer care, emergency services, digital diagnostic imaging, physical rehabilitation, sports medicine, and comprehensive wound and lymphedema care.  

Sierra Vista Regional Health Care, an 88 bed acute care facility, offers a variety of services to their community of more than 40,000 residents. Sierra Vista is committed to providing their customers with quality health care through excellence in practice, service, and leadership.  

With its 66 bed facility, Uvalde Memorial Hospital provides excellent health care to a community of more than 50,000 people. Uvalde is dedicated to providing its customers with the highest quality of services.  

PMMC is a Microsoft-certified software development and consulting company.  Since 1986, its innovative software and consultants have assisted more than 400 hospitals and 20,000 physician clients to improve their financial operations though enhanced contract management, payment verification, cost accounting, financial decision support, and consulting services.  For more information, contact Robby Shaul, 704-543-8103 or visit http://www.pmmconline.com.

CHARLOTTE, NC – July 2, 2010 – Lake Regional Health System has selected Preferred Medical Marketing Corporation’s (PMMC) patient estimation system, PMMC Estimator PRO, to provide its patients with an accurate patient-friendly estimate prior to a scheduled service.  Through the use of this system, Lake Regional will better inform its patients on their financial responsibility upfront to improve cash-flow, decrease collection calls and bad debt write-offs as well as increase patient satisfaction results with their scheduling and registration process.    

 “The reason for choosing PMMC Estimator PRO was the need for a patient estimation system that would allow the registration staff to accurately communicate and collect the entire patient portion of the bill upfront,” said Darla Wilkerson, Lake Regional Patient Financial Services Director.   

Lake Regional Health System first began its relationship with PMMC through the use of PMMC’s contract management system, PMMC Contract PRO, to more effectively model payer contract rates and terms, monitor contract financial performance, and manage contractual underpayments.  In using the combined products, the organization should improve its revenue cycle by more clearly communicating the patient’s out-of-pocket medical expenses based on their specific insurance coverage and the negotiated (allowable) rates between the insurance company and the hospital.   

Through the use of both PMMC Contract PRO and PMMC Estimator PRO, Lake Regional will be able to dramatically increase collections on both the front and back-end collections.  Ms. Wilkerson noted, “I anticipate yearly collections will increase through the use of PMMC Estimator PRO.”   

“In these uncertain times, we commend Lake Regional for its proactive approach to providing its patients with greater awareness of their financial responsibilities.  Using PMMC Estimator PRO’s interactive workflow processes, integrated eligibility checking and accurate patient estimates, we are confident Darla’s team will reach their cash collection goals while increasing patient satisfaction.  By collecting more of the patient’s portion prior to service, the resulting financial improvement should allow Lake Regional to continue to provide quality services to its community,” stated Chad Shields, PMMC Regional Vice President.  

PMMC Estimator PRO is a web-based system that allows healthcare providers to electronically verify patient eligibility and generate an accurate patient-friendly estimate, allowing a hospital to collect the patient liability upfront without fear of excessive refunds. The estimates are based on the patients anticipated service, as well as a statistical model of the hospital’s historical claim data, the negotiated payer rates/terms and the patient’s benefit information.  

Lake Regional Health System is a 116 bed Regional Referral Center that values customer satisfaction, constant improvement, and high quality service. Lake Regional Health System provides quality care to the residents and visitors of the Lake of the Ozarks region.   In addition to the hospital, the Health System is also comprised of seven primary care clinics, an urgent care clinic, fourteen specialty clinics as well as a number of outreach clinics.  

PMMC is a Microsoft-certified software development and consulting company.  Since 1986, its innovative software and consultants have assisted more than 400 hospitals and 20,000 physician clients to improve their financial operations though enhanced contract management, payment verification, cost accounting, financial decision support, and consulting services.  For more information, contact Robby Shaul, 704-543-8103 or visit http://www.pmmconline.com.

CHARLOTTE, NC – June 23, 2010 – Preferred Medical Marketing Corporation (PMMC) announces that Southwest General Health Center has selected PMMC for a revenue recovery management project, a service that works to collect contractual underpayments, minimize future errors, increase cash flow, and reduce bad debt.

PMMC’s Lost Revenue Assessment and Recovery project is a low risk, high return auditing service that exposes and captures unnoticed payment errors, despite a hospitals current auditing efforts. Through this project, Southwest General will be accessing a robust contract management system, an experienced team of revenue recovery specialists, as well as customizable reports that will allow Southwest General to identify consistent errors and prevent them in the future.  PMMC’s contract management system, PMMC Contract PRO, is designed to model and simulate payer contracts, calculate and ensure appropriate levels of reimbursement, monitor denials, and report on the financial performance of these engagements.    

Southwest General “chose PMMC because they did not use a cookie cutter system… They understood that hospitals have other priorities. PMMC was very lenient in the type of data they requested and were adjustable to the hospital’s needs and available data.  PMMC quickly became the top runner because of their flexibility and willingness to work within the constraints of the hospital,” said Jill Barber, Director of Managed Care Operations and Revenue Integrity for Southwest General Health Center.   

Steve Martin, PMMC Regional Vice President, expressed: “PMMC is pleased to work with Southwest General on an external review of their payer contractual collection system. We anticipate improvements to Southwest’s bottom line performance by analyzing their payer contracts and related accounts to locate underpayments, variance trends and recovery results. PMMC will be performing all necessary follow-up actions with the payers until the correct payment has been received. Through the use of our prominent contract management system, PMMC Contract PRO, experienced staff and proven processes, our approach typically delivers outstanding cash that was previously obscure.” 

Ms. Barber also noted: Southwest General is looking to use PMMC’s Lost Revenue Assessment as a way to evaluate their “internal contract management system as well as analyze the effectiveness of their collections processes.” 

With exceptional quality, innovative professionals, advanced techniques, and a commitment to excellence, Southwest General is dedicated to serving the health care needs of the communities southwest of Cleveland.  Other than its main hospital, Southwest General has three additional medical centers, multiple urgent care facilities, a neighborhood care center, hospices, as well as many other wellness clinics and programs.  

PMMC is a Microsoft-certified software development and consulting company.  Since 1986, its innovative software and consultants have assisted more than 400 hospitals and 20,000 physician clients to improve their financial operations though enhanced contract management, payment verification, cost accounting, financial decision support, and consulting services.  For more information, contact Robby Shaul, 704-543-8103 or visit http://www.pmmconline.com.

CHARLOTTE, NC – June 14, 2010 – Preferred Medical Marketing Corporation (PMMC) announces that Johnston Health selected PMMC to address efficiencies in both their upfront and back-end collections through the use of PMMC Estimator PRO and PMMC Contract PRO. 

PMMC Estimator PRO is designed to improve pricing transparency, improve consumer satisfaction, increase cash flow, reduce bad debt, and improve operational efficiencies.  It is an accurate, web-based, upfront estimator that instantly generates a patient friendly estimate at the point of service, taking into consideration the anticipated services, a statistical model of the hospital’s historical claim data, the negotiated payer contract rates/terms, as well as the patient’s eligibility and benefit information.  

While PMMC Estimator PRO improves the upfront processes, PMMC Contract PRO, a prominent contract management system, addresses the back end. PMMC Contract PRO allows for rates and terms modeling, revenue tracking, identifying and collecting underpayments, a decrease in payment errors, an increase in the success of future appeals, and an overall improvement in cash flow.   

“Johnston Health serves one of the fastest growing areas of North Carolina, but the shift of greater payment responsibility to the patient has presented them with some financial challenges.  The hospital leadership outlined their needs and requirements for a competitive process in vendor selection.  PMMC was pleased to be chosen to help Johnston Health improve key areas of their revenue cycle which will result in better financial performance,” said Palmer Hamilton, Vice President of PMMC.

Johnston Health was looking for an overall improvement in collections, both at the point-of-service and on the back-end. Specifically, Eddie Klein, Interim CFO of Johnston Health, stated that they were looking to “accurately calculate and collect payments upfront, collect all money due to them through managed care payers, and use accurate tracking data to reduce denials.”  They found it with PMMC.  Johnston has set a goal of improving point of service collections by 125% using PMMC Estimator PRO, and they anticipate a 25% reduction in payment denials by using PMMC Contract PRO to organize and track denial records. 

Johnston Health and PMMC have developed a close working relationship over the years with other revenue cycle projects such as Charge Master Adjustments and Medicare Transfer Account Reviews.  Mr. Klein added, “We chose PMMC because of the past positive relationships and results. PMMC demonstrated they have good products in this area.” 

Johnston Health has been committed to providing quality care to the residents of the surrounding county since 1951. In an effort to better serve their growing community Johnston has added 101 patient suites to their original hospital, Johnston Medical Center – Smithfield.  Johnston Health has also opened an additional hospital, Johnston Medical Center – Clayton, with the hopes of turning it into a full service hospital with 27 acute care beds.  When completed, Johnston Health will be comprised of two full-service hospitals (199 beds), two family care centers, and an urgent care center. 

PMMC is a Microsoft-certified software development and consulting company.  Since 1986, its innovative software and consultants have assisted more than 400 hospitals and 20,000 physician clients to improve their financial operations though enhanced contract management, payment verification, cost accounting, financial decision support, and consulting services.  For more information, contact Robby Shaul, 704-543-8103 or visit http://www.pmmconline.com.