Ramping up cash flow quickly through a digital transformation

Mountain Laurel Medical Center, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) serving Maryland and West Virginia, provides essential and comprehensive healthcare services to diverse populations within rural communities. On its previous EHR, the center faced operational challenges that hindered its ability to grow and scale while providing high-quality care.

With multiple locations spread across a large area, and serving an aging population, Mountain Laurel Medical Center needed a solution that delivered robust insights and streamlined patient engagement, without a heavy burden on staff. They found that their solution required more manual upkeep than the center could sustainably support as they grew, and a lack of visibility into revenue cycle data and other key business insights made that challenge even more difficult to address.

Jessie Storey, the Director of IT, recognized the need to move to a solution that better supported their business needs. Despite an understandable wariness of the potential disruption digital transformation could bring, he knew that the right solution and the right partner could transform their operational efficiency.

After careful consideration, he chose athenaOne, and the supportive and speedy implementation quickly alleviated any hesitations he may have had. "The time to implement something as simple as an interface with a state registry on prior platforms could take, you know, six, 12, 18 months to do it right,” said Storey. “Day one on athena, it was a flip of a switch kind of a thing."

Storey attributes this transition largely to athenaOne’s network that already builds and maintains connections to state registries, which allows for robust interoperability without a cumbersome transition. Beyond the technology, Storey credits the athenahealth support teams with a true partnership in implementation that allowed the center to migrate to a new cloud-based network with minimal disruption. He said the mentality shift was instant, from “Is it on? This is slow,” to “Let’s optimize every click that you make.”

The rapid deployment of athenaOne meant that Mountain Laurel Medical Center hit the ground running, meeting their initial revenue goals after only 5 months on the platform. They’ve continued to drive improvements in the 18 months on athenaOne – according to Storey, “We've been on athena for about 18 months, and so far since the transition, we've had two of our best months ever, on record in our 17-year history."

Both the financial performance and patient engagement improvements in Mountain Laurel Medical Center’s practices reflect this success. Their first full year on the platform, their time to bill steadily decreased 19.02% from 4.2 to 3.4 days. In addition, from December 2023, five months after implementation, to December 2024, they saw:

• Collections increase 20%
• Claims billed increase 27.3%
• Charges by first billed date increased 23.3%

Storey attributes these achievements to athenaOne’s ability to provide actionable insights and both access to and control over their own data. He highlights the importance of having control over clinical information, stating, "We want to have more control over our own destiny, but we still want to have that information clinically for decision making." Features like ChartSync have streamlined access to critical patient data, allowing providers to maintain comprehensive records with ease.

Additionally, Storey has utilized athenaOne® Data View to closely monitor operations. "I'm an IT guy at heart, and so being able to dig in and find things and automate reports really helps us monitor everything down to a very granular detail," noted Storey. This solution has proven invaluable for tracking value-based contracts and optimizing operational workflows. With Data View, Storey can spend less time finding and analyzing data, and more time digesting and acting on it.

Storey also recommends having dedicated personnel on point for key workflows to ensure there are internal subject matter experts who both engage directly with the athenahealth team and can support the learning and optimization of others in their organization. He speaks to the importance of patience with the learning curve associated with any new technology. According to Storey, while the first patient visit may be challenging, the second time that patient comes in the door, the degree of insight and background the clinical teams have into that patient makes the value of interoperability really “click.”

Learn how athenaOne can support your business transformation

Mountain Laurel Medical Center's transition to athenaOne dramatically enhanced its operational efficiency, empowering the center to continue expanding its presence to serve their communities. By embracing innovative technology and fostering a collaborative partnership with athenahealth, Storey and his team are well-equipped to navigate the complexities of healthcare delivery while prioritizing the well-being of the populations they serve.

Get in touch to learn more about how athenaOne can set your organization up for success.