Big Horn Hospital Association

Founded in 1959 and located in Hardin, Montana, Big Horn Hospital Association operates an 18-bed critical access hospital and outpatient rehab facility. The healthcare organization serves a population of approximately 13,000 across a 5,000-square-mile region of southeastern Montana.

It’s highly concerning when a large percentage of accounts receivable (AR) inventory exceeds 90 days—especially for smaller hospitals that often operate on tighter margins and less cash reserve. Big Horn Hospital Association found itself in such a predicament, having about 50% of its AR exceeding 90 days without follow-up. It happened during the transition to Cerner, as staff struggled to work aging receivables in both the old and new systems. Consequently, AR rose to an average of 107 days, accounting for approximately $5 million in gross AR. As AR days continued to climb, quick action was needed to clean up the excessive inventory of aging accounts and capture vital locked-up revenue.

Based on a recommendation from an affiliated regional health system, Big Horn Hospital Association got in touch with TruBridge. As it turned out, TruBridge offered an ideal solution for the situation: a team of experienced AR specialists who could rapidly deploy on behalf of the client. Under an Extended Business Office (EBO) contract, TruBridge would address aged receivables residing in the new Cerner EHR system, and hospital staff would tackle inventory in the legacy system while handling initial billing in the Cerner system.

The one-year EBO contract with TruBridge focused on reducing 1,416 aging accounts, representing just over $1 million, in the Cerner system. By the end of the contract, the TruBridge team had reduced the Cerner system’s 90-plus-day AR by 79%, even with new placements of over 1,500 accounts totaling $2.8 million in additional AR. The initiative yielded $2 million in overall cash collections. While these were notable financial achievements, another win from the initiative was getting Big Horn Hospital Association’s AR situation to a place where internal staff could be empowered to effectively manage moving forward.

A flexible option to meet specific RCM needs.

TruBridge Extended Business Office (EBO) is designed for healthcare organizations that need to augment or fill specific gaps in their revenue cycle management (RCM) capabilities. TruBridge EBO solutions span a wide range of RCM functions, including AR recovery, insurance follow-up, early-out billing, and intake management.