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September 12, 2018
We’ve said it time and time again–it pays to review your invoices even when you’re under a contract. Human error and software error often create higher invoices that are passed along to hospitals and paid before any catches the issue. The Audit Group’s Mike Dean recently encountered an error in which our client’s item pricing was tripled halfway through a two-year contract. Take a look at how we caught the error and saved them more than $200,000. Contract pricing almost always benefits the hospitals, but only if they’re receiving the agreed-upon price. Trust The Audit Group’s trained healthcare auditors to […]
July 11, 2018
Over the last few months, we’ve looked at cash flow issues found at a number of our client health systems. It’s time to take a serious look at the common thread among them: human error. Although it’s difficult at best to quantify exactly how often human error occurs within a health system, our experience tells us not only that human error is real, but many times it’s been systematized; institutionalized within an organization’s processes; incorporated within its culture to the point it becomes invisible. Here are some of the most common ways we see human error impacts cash flow at […]
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 […]
February 22, 2018
Accounts Payable software systems are packed full of control features to prevent duplicate payments on a single invoice. However, this AP software only works as intended when your Accounts Payable department enters invoices into the system correctly and consistently. Human error happens, but these mistakes can cost major health systems quite a bit. Sometimes AP personnel or data entry staff might enter the incorrect invoice number, company number, or vendor number into the AP system. In these instances, the AP software is unable to detect if a duplicate payment happens because the data is inconsistent or incorrect. Always Double Check […]
December 4, 2017
In any Accounts Payable department, you may run into open-ended purchase orders. Especially in a major healthcare system, open-ended purchase orders are problematic because they prevent ERP systems from identifying overpayments or flagging duplicate invoices for review. Avoid these issues with open-ended purchase orders by putting effective purchasing controls in place and carefully processing each invoice by your system’s standard. Open-Ended Purchase Orders Cause Overpayment for a Health System During a recent audit, TAG worked with a large healthcare system to find overpayments and lost funds. We uncovered that the system had an open-ended purchase order with Johnson & Johnson, and […]
October 19, 2017
One of the largest areas of claims recovered from an audit of a major healthcare system is Returned Goods. Effective returned goods processes are necessary to properly account for all return credits owed to a hospital. A successful returned goods process starts with knowing what to document when making a return and knowing when to follow up with vendors. If no returned goods process is in place or you are not accurately documenting your returns, you could be leaving money on the table. TAG Develops Returned Goods Process for Major Health System In a recent process review, The Audit Group […]
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 […]
