Catholic Health Partners will transition 670 of its employees who currently support billing and insurance functions for its acute care facilities to work for Parallon Business Solutions, a provider of health care business and operational services, beginning Oct. 7.
Another 1,150 revenue cycle employees will maintain their current employment with CHP.
No layoffs are expected, and CHP employees who join Parallon's staff will retain their wages and benefits at their current CHP levels, said CHP spokesperson Liz Vogel. Deborah Youngblood, vice president of revenue cycle at CHP, said in a statement, "As CHP evaluated various options to enhance its revenue cycle services and efficiency, partial outsourcing was clearly a preferred option."
Vogel said Parallon currently provides revenue cycle-related functions for 8 percent of U.S. hospitals, and so the new, multi-year service agreement will give CHP greater access to technology systems and infrastructure that the system wouldn't have on its own related to financial counseling, Medicaid eligibility, prequalification for services, some business office functions and patient financial services. Cincinnati-based CHP did not release specifically how long the agreement is for, or the terms of the agreement.
In April 2014, Parallon, which is headquartered in Franklin, Tenn., will open a new center in the greater Cincinnati area to serve the needs of the region's CHP facilities.
Vogel said initially the 670 employees transitioning to Parallon will stay in their current locations. When the new center opens, those employees will work from home, work from the center in Cincinnati or remain working in their current markets, but for other Parallon clients.