← Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Sarah E. Ginnetti, Chief Revenue Cycle Officer and VP of Clinical Revenue at UConn Health
00:13:01
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- [00:02]
A
@ Athenahealth, we know your ambulatory practice wants healthier a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier patients. But the complexities of modern healthcare tech make it hard for you and your care teams to focus on what matters most. That's where athenahealth can help our AI native all in one solutions reduce administrative burdens, streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights when clinicians need it most. That means fewer clicks, more time for patients, and stronger bottom Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice can be that much simpler. With Athenahealth, see how simpler is healthier@athenahealth.com.
- [00:44]
B
This is Andrew Katz with the Beckers Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled to be joined today by Sarah Jannetti, Chief Revenue Cycle Officer and Vice President of Clinical revenue cycle at UConn Health. Sarah, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast.
- [00:56]
C
Thanks, Andrew. Likewise. I'm really happy to be here today.
- [01:00]
B
And before we begin, why don't you tell us a little bit about your background?
- [01:04]
C
Sure, I'd be happy to. So I've spent, dare I say, the better part of the last 30 years working in healthcare. I have really covered the gamut in terms of types of facilities and environments. Started out in physician practice operations, have worked for several standalone, not for profit community hospitals. Also spent some time in the for profit health system sector. And most recently after joining UConn Health, I'm proud to say that I'm part of the state of Connecticut's only public academic medical center, so really touched upon a variety of facilities and medical operations over the course of really that past 30 years.
- [01:52]
B
And congratulations on your recent promotion to Chief Revenue Cycle Officer. And I'm wondering what your top priorities are now that you're in that position.
- [02:02]
C
Yeah, sure, absolutely. So really, first and foremost, making sure that I'm collaborating closely with our clinical leadership as well as our strategic planning arm, and additionally with our finance folks. Sometimes we tend to work a little bit in silos, and I think it's really important that we, as we evolve the business and the services that we provide, we're ensuring that we're all in alignment so that we have the proper contracting, that we have the proper infrastructure to support, and that we really have strong visibility into what the potential profitability or financial proposition of that work is going to lead to. You know, sometimes it's we find the bright and shiny things that are clinically exciting, but we also have to make sure that we are being financially prudent and that there's a clear understanding of what that financial model would look like. So really working with all of those folks to make sure that we're tightly aligned is really important.
- [03:09]
B
Revenue cycle being siloed is something that I've heard a few leaders talk about. And so how do you try to break down those silos?
- [03:18]
C
Yeah, so we really, really just try to be proactive in rounding with clinical leadership often and just trying to really trying to help them build the muscle memory to keep us involved as they early on in the process. So they're not, I would say, you know, getting all the way to the fifth, you know, the five yard line and ready to execute on some type of new initiative. And we're just being brought into the discussion because we find that that lends itself to a lot of problems. So really just being proactive and developing those relationships I think is critical and we've been really successful where we've done that.
- [04:02]
B
Next, I wanted to ask what three of the top trends you're following in healthcare right now.
- [04:08]
C
Certainly, like many others, we're closely looking at AI, particularly in the revenue cycle. Space for denials and for coding that those two areas seem to be ones that lend the most opportunity for us in terms of economies of scale and helping us really keeping pace with what's going on in the market. So I would say that's certainly one of the top three. Also figuring out how to leverage analytics better. We have always traditionally had a lot of reporting in revenue cycle, but I wouldn't say we've had tremendous ability to have strong analytics. And so we're starting to evaluate different tools, power, bi and things of that nature that we can start leveraging again to give us better insights into where we should be focusing our energies. And then I would say the last one really is what's going on legislatively at the federal government level. Certainly with the implementation of the one big beautiful bill, there's a lot of implications for health care that are going to be rippling out over the next couple of years. So staying really closely aligned with those changes and getting a better understanding of how that's going to impact us has been very important. Yeah.
- [05:31]
B
And how does that process work? Are you working a lot with the regulatory leaders at your health system or how does the process look of like examining the impacts of this bill?
- [05:42]
C
So we certainly are collaborating with our regulators in the state, but also leaning on some of the professional associations that we're closely aligned with. So hfma, for example, is one that we are very plugged into and working with them on trying to model some of these impacts and then also leaning on even EPIC and some of our other business partners to help us with some of the modeling and some of the understanding of the implications. So certainly reaching out through various arms, also through our, you know, our cost reporting arm and what our reimbursement folks are doing so that we can align with some of the research that they're doing. So definitely lots of different tentacles when it comes to getting our arms around the impacts there.
- [06:32]
B
Yeah, it takes a village, I'm sure. Now I wanted to ask what the biggest headwind you're facing right now is as a revenue cycle leader and how you're addressing that challenge.
- [06:44]
C
So I would say, you know, certainly preparing for some of these legislative changes is one of the biggest. I would say that the other biggest is payer behavior. You know, we really continue to struggle with not having claims pay timely, having delays in authorization, all sorts of administrative roadblocks that really are eroding our financial efficiencies. And so trying to get ahead of that through our contracting process with all of our managed care payers to have some protections afforded to us so that we can push back a little bit and have some standards that they're held accountable to. I think that's going to be very important for us. And that's a strategy that we're really focused on over the next 12 to 18 months.
- [07:36]
B
And now I wanted to take a little bit of a longer view in terms of leadership. How are you developing the next generation of revenue cycle leaders and has AI and automation and that kind of layer of things, has that changed how you approach developing leaders?
- [07:55]
C
So it definitely has. We are certainly focused on trying to upskill our workforce and broaden the skill sets of the existing staff that we have. As we know that much of the AI that's either in place today or that we're going to be looking towards in the future will essentially, I don't want to say eliminate, but it will to some extent negate the need of some of the, some of the baseline and the ground level work that our teams do today. So we're trying to develop ways within our employment structure because we're heavily unionized, but trying to develop ways that we can expose staff to different facets of the revenue cycle. You know, I have found personally for me that that's, that was one of the most important things that really facilitated my career growth was having exposure to different parts of the revenue cycle. As we spoke about earlier, the revenue cycle, even in and of itself can be very siloed and so having more exposure to different pieces helps you really gain a better understanding of the broader picture. And through understanding the broader picture, you can become a more valuable employee just by seeing that bigger picture. So we're really trying to figure out creative ways to expose people to different parts of the revenue cycle while maybe not having them change jobs entirely. But really just getting that exposure, we feel, is very important. Yeah.
- [09:28]
B
Do you think there's been a lot of that? You think that your employees have been receptive to these, you know, kind of conversations and educational experiences?
- [09:38]
C
I would say for the most part, yes, sometimes there's a little bit of resistance. But as we really start explaining the why and that it's important for us to make sure that they're equipped with the future skills that they're going to need as sort of the ground shifts underneath them with respect to AI and automation, that we want to make sure that we're giving them the opportunities and the tools to do that. So I do think there's a little bit of a cultural shift in that, but I think, by and large, I think the majority of folks really don't want to do the same exact thing day after day after day. And so there is an appetite for having a little bit of exposure to some of these other areas.
- [10:25]
B
And now, last question, just going back a little bit to more near term. How are you thinking about growth either as an organization or personally over the next 12 to 24 months?
- [10:37]
C
So certainly continuing to understand the AI marketplace and how that fits into the work that we do as we look to grow our enterprise. I am a big fan of leaning on my peers. That's one thing that I'm very grateful for. And I think that revenue cycle does a very good job in terms of building a peer community so that we're not all trying to reinvent the wheel, because quite honestly, none of us have the luxury of the time to be recreating the wheel. So I think continuing to learn from my peers, really getting my arms around the AI marketplace and where that can fit into the context of what we're doing, and then also building a very thoughtful and strategic roadmap for where we want to be implementing AI and how that fits into the context of our staffing. There is somewhat of a pressure to try to implement anything and everything as quickly as possible. But I think learning to try to balance that with making sure that you're being thoughtful and strategic and not always rushing to the finish line, but understanding that slow and steady also can win the race, and you know being thoughtful so so I think it's a balance of of learning as much as we can about where the marketplaces act about is at but also understanding how we balance that with a measured approach.
- [12:06]
B
Thank you for joining us today Sarah. It was a pleasure speaking with you and I hope we can talk talk again soon.
- [12:12]
C
Oh my pleasure Andrew. Thank you for having me.
- [12:16]
A
At Athena Health, we know your ambulatory practice wants healthier a healthier business, healthier care teams and healthier patients. But the complexities of modern healthcare tech make it hard for you and your care teams to focus on what matters most. That's where athenahealth can help our AI native all in one solutions reduce administrative burdens, streamline billing and payments and deliver critical insights when clinicians need it most. That means fewer clicks, more time for patients and stronger bottom lines. Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice can be that much simpler with Athenahealth. See how simpler is healthier@athenahealth.com.