Kareo Live: Ushering in a new era of healthcare, and more updates from the Billing Company Success Summit

More than 200 members of the medical billing community came together in Huntington Beach for the 7th annual event

Building connections, collaborating face-to-face, and partnering together to build the future of healthcare — that’s what people were talking about at Kareo Live’s 7th annual Billing Company Success Summit. The 3-day event kicked off on September 21 in sunny Huntington Beach, California.

The event brought leaders from the billing company community together to learn from industry experts, network with peers, and receive expert, hands-on training by Kareo team members.

More than 200 people gathered representing over 100 medical billing companies to discuss the future of healthcare and how to optimize and grow their billing companies.

This year’s theme is “Tomorrow’s solutions for today’s independent practice,” and the day’s sessions highlighted the change we see in the healthcare industry —and how medical billing companies fit into this new paradigm.

A new era of healthcare

This year’s Success Summit is the first since Kareo and PatientPop joined forces to form Tebra with the combined mission to unlock better healthcare.

Dan Rodrigues, CEO of Tebra, set the event's tone with an opening keynote speech about the unique challenges and opportunities billing company partners face.

“Healthcare is in a state of transformation,” Rodrigues said. “We need to understand this change to navigate the future together.”

So what are the changes? Rodrigues pointed out three significant shifts:

1) Consumerization of healthcare

Patients are demanding a better healthcare experience. They are paying more for healthcare than ever before and expect a consumer experience to match. Most people would switch providers for a greater patient experience. They want digital channels to provide a convenient way to schedule, check in, message, and speak with their doctor.

The business of healthcare is now customer service, and companies need to evolve to keep up with other consumer industries.

2) Burnout

Physicians and their staff are facing burnout at record-breaking numbers. One in four providers considers burnout the most significant barrier to success. Providers are struggling to attract and retain staff. And while the Great Resignation may have exacerbated this problem, technology is also a big part of the problem.

For healthcare providers, multiple disjointed systems and “death by 1,000 clicks” stand in the way of efficiency.

During the pandemic, independent practices focused on surviving, not thriving. 2021 was a rebound year, and practices must continue on this momentum — or risk being left behind.

3) Competition

New players are rushing in to challenge and rethink the traditional healthcare experience. More companies are going directly to consumers. Employers are promoting telehealth as a benefit. Big tech is entering the market.

“Innovation and disruption have arrived in healthcare,” Rodrigues said. “Practices must modernize or risk falling behind. They need a better support system to navigate the future.”

The biggest takeaway: Delivering a world-class patient experience is integral to the success of medical practices, which directly feeds into the success of billing companies.

Supporting medical billing companies on their path to success

This allows medical billing companies to become strategic consultants for their customers and independent practices.

“Medical billers deepen the connection between patients and providers and support patients becoming more engaged in their healthcare journey,” said Andrea Kowalski, Senior Vice President of Product at Tebra, during her keynote presentation.

They are an integral part of the patient-provider relationship and the key driver to keep the revenue process cycle moving efficiently. Without medical billers, practices wouldn’t have enough time to focus on care delivery or supporting their staff.

To support medical billers in their role, Kowalski outlined the Kareo product roadmap that focuses on enhancements and tools to improve efficiency, productivity, and saving time.

Kowalski walked through the product innovations coming out of Kareo, including:

• Smart Connector, which takes raw data from other electronic health records and other sources (such as spreadsheets and HL7 transactions) and feeds into the Kare billing system to speed up processing and time to revenue
• The Biller WorkBench, which provides information about claims processed, identifying potential items it could not post or other items you want to flag
• Self-service and competitive insight enhancements for practitioners to attract new patients and grow their practices using advanced SEO, which funnels up to medical billers (your customers’ success is your success)
• The Unified Messaging Center supports patient engagement to make it easy for providers and practitioners to engage with patients from a single location
• Expanding API capabilities to improve productivity and operations

“As we go into 2023, our continued focus is creating streamlined workflows through intuitive design, smart shortcuts, flexible experience,” Kowalski said.

In addition to the keynote sessions, the Success Summit hosted more than 20 intimate breakout sessions about optimizing business operations, growing revenue, and delivering world-class service to customers. Topics focused on automation, pipeline management, attracting and retaining talent, tips to improve A/R, cybersecurity, and MACRA/MIPS.

If you are a billing company interested in streamlining your workflow, increasing revenue, and impressing your healthcare clients, see how Kareo can help.