Overview: Mt. Rainier Emergency Physicians and Western Washington Emergency Physicians
With a staff of 65 physicians and 55 mid-level providers, Mt. Rainier Emergency Physicians (MREP) and Western Washington Emergency Physicians (WWEP) deliver Emergency Medicine Professional Services for four facilities in the MultiCare Health System. Managed together as one democratic, independent practice, the two groups see a combined 170,000 patient encounters annually and have been serving the Washington State community for over 35 years. A deliberate focus on minimizing administrative costs has kept the management team lean, but focused. MREP and WWEP engaged Ventra Health in November 2024 in search of a highly collaborative partner who could deliver data transparency and improve collections.
Customized Support
Expert, individualized analysis of MREP’s and WWEP’s revenue cycle revealed several opportunities to improve processes and increase revenue. Key areas of focus included diligent AR follow-up and better coding accuracy to drive higher Relative Value Units (RVUs).
The workers’ compensation workflow was a prior pain point for MREP and WWEP, as the Washington State Labor & Industries (L&I) program has strict timelines for form submissions that directly impact reimbursement rates. Workers’ compensation claims are a heavy lift for RCM teams, but the reimbursement is high when state processes are followed to the letter. The Ventra team built a custom system to track cases in its Partner Portal, ensuring timely submission and follow-up for all claim documentation and mandatory forms.
The team also leveraged vSight™, Ventra’s powerful data & analytics platform, to target actionable process improvements that generated positive cash flow. A previous lack of reliable reporting had been resulting in declining collection rates and poor AR follow-up.
“The real-time reports I get from Ventra Health contain extremely useful, actionable insights, which I look at every day,” says Michael Brook, MD, Managing Partner of MREP and WWEP. “Prior to Ventra, I received a few decent reports that were not real-time, and a huge number of real-time reports that were useless.”
“The real-time reports I get from Ventra Health contain extremely useful, actionable insights, which I look at every day.”
— Michael Brook, MD, Managing Partner, Mt. Rainier Emergency Physicians and Western Washington Emergency Physicians.
Dr. Brook relies heavily on the vSight Collections Report to monitor RCM performance and track improvements, and the vSight Provider Documentation Report to learn where insufficient physician documentation is resulting in lower E/M (Evaluation & Management) coding levels and reduced reimbursement. The documentation insights, in particular, allow him to work directly with individual physicians to quickly correct issues—explaining, for example, where documenting conversations with outside providers or interpretation of a rhythm strip or x-ray could have boosted a level 4 claim to a level 5.
Data-Driven Results
In just eight months, higher RVU billing and enhanced AR follow-up delivered a 15% increase for MREP and WWEP in Collections Per Visit (CPV). Ventra also shaved 36.5 days off the revenue cycle, with Days in AR improving 40% from an average 91.5 days down to 55 days.
“That really speaks to how quickly we were able to get cash in the door,” notes Kelli Frederickson, Client Success Director for Ventra Health. “The longer you let a claim sit out there, the less likely you’re going to be able to collect it. Meticulously combing through claims and leaving no stone unturned was crucial in being able to improve key metrics.”
“Ventra definitely overperformed with respect to collections ramp-up, meaning we had no cash-flow issues, and no need for bridge financing,” Dr. Brook adds. “Within six months of starting with Ventra, we were already at cash flows beyond anything we had seen previously at the best of times.”
“Within six months of starting with Ventra, we were already at cash flows beyond anything we had seen previously at the best of times.”
— Michael Brook, MD, Managing Partner, Mt. Rainier Emergency Physicians and Western Washington Emergency Physicians.
White-Glove Experience
In addition to data transparency, the MREP and WWEP team credit Ventra’s high-touch approach and expert implementation for delivering results that surpassed expectations. During the sales process, Ventra’s CEO, Steven Huddleston, and Emergency Medicine and Hospital Medicine President, Darshan Patel, both personally committed that the entire Ventra team would provide Dr. Brook and his team with a personalized high-touch approach. A year into the partnership, Ventra has delivered on that promise.
“It was clear from the onboarding process, with all of Ventra’s top executive leaders meeting with us weekly, that this was definitely a team effort. In my opinion, Ventra has certainly delivered the white glove service that they promised” Dr. Brook says.
Ventra’s strategic collaboration, including extraordinary access to senior leadership, continues to ensure that Ventra functions as an extension of the MREP and WWEP practice. Questions, concerns, and requests are addressed promptly and reliably, which Dr. Brook states is not always common in vendor relationships. Regular meetings are on the calendar, but Dr. Brook says hardly a day goes by without at least a call or an email exchange with Kelli and the Client Success team.
What’s Next
With AR processes going strong, the focus now for MREP and WWEP is continued optimization of physician documentation, which Dr. Brook believes is the number one reason why emergency groups underbill. Dr. Brook also believes that Ventra is the right partner to help them get to the next level.
“After a comprehensive, year-long search, choosing Ventra as our RCM vendor has clearly been the right decision—the differentiators they demonstrated during the sales process are evident in their strong performance.”
