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July 27, 2021
There is no shortage of data to track and measure, but tracking the right data is what matters – especially when measuring departmental and individual performance. Use these Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track, monitor, and measure a Health System’s AP department on efficiency, productivity, and cost savings. Top AP KPIs Invoice Cycle Time Invoice Cycle Time must be monitored and closely managed to avoid late payment penalties and allow the health system to take full advantage of all prompt pay discounts. Depending on your health system’s cash flow strategy, AP should aim to lower their invoice cycle time to […]
May 22, 2020
Bulletproofing Hospital Finances amidst COVID-19 Since the COVID-19 outbreak, hospital revenues have dropped an estimated $1.4 billion per day, causing over 200,000 healthcare employees to be furloughed or laid off. Though revenue stability is reportedly increasing, it is unlikely that hospitals will see normalcy anytime in the near future. Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, hospitals routinely lost millions each year from unnecessary and unmitigated financial risks. Hospitals rely largely on Internal Audit to help shore up these risks, but one department alone often cannot handle the overwhelming number of system-wide procedural repairs that need to be made. Generally, gaps that […]
September 10, 2019
On average, health systems work with over 27,500 vendors at a given time with seven percent of those vendors changing their name, affiliation, or standing on an annual basis. With such a large number and variability of vendors, managing vendor data can quickly become cumbersome for an organization’s Accounts Payable (AP) department creating exposure to payment errors, fraudulent charges, and risk of noncompliance. To minimize these risks, AP departments or the parties responsible for the vendor master must keep their master file current and free of errors by performing a vendor master cleanse and maintain the file on a quarterly […]
June 4, 2019
Duplicate payments have been among one of the leading sources of leaking resources in healthcare systems for decades. Health systems in the United States lose over $500 million to duplicate payments annually. That’s right, duplicate payments are a half-billion-dollar per year mistake. Imagine what your healthcare organization could do if they saved those funds each year – update facilities, offer new services, treat more patients, upgrade to the latest technologies, or hire more resources. It’s time for your organization to take a more proactive approach to mitigate the risks associated with “dupes” and save resources that directly affect your patient’s […]
October 10, 2018
Your AP software system likely contains a host of features to prevent duplicate payments or overpayments–but we never recommend relying on software alone to catch every error. As we like to say: your AP software is only as smart as your staff. The Audit Group’s Natalie Berkley explains a recent example in which our client had been paying the same vendor twice because of a mistake in the vendor master. Cleansing and maintaining your vendor list is the best way to prevent duplicate payments like this, but taking the time to do so is not always easy for an AP […]
June 14, 2018
Your Accounts Payable department probably uses a nice software system that is packed full of features to prevent duplicate payments and other payment errors. However, the effectiveness of AP software systems is reduced when the software allows an invoice to be paid under two different vendor numbers — even if they have the same invoice header information. AP Software Systems Can’t Distinguish Human Error We’ve seen it time and again. Issues with your ERP system arise, only to find out that human error or improper data entry lead to lost funds. Your AP software systems are only as smart as your […]
October 3, 2017
Duplicate payments are a common area of concern at most major health systems. When copies of original invoices exist, payments may be processed twice if the ink is smudged or blurry. These copies can be hard to read and cause confusion for the Accounts Payable department. The effectiveness of AP control features is reduced when invoices are not entered into the ERP system correctly and consistently. Non-Original Invoices Caused Duplicate Payments at a Major Health System In a recent Discovery Review, The Audit Group found that a major hospital system had paid its vendor, Mail Room Service Center, twice for […]
