Industry Insight

AGS Health Receives Honor

AGS Health, a tech-enabled revenue cycle management (RCM) solution provider for major health care organizations across the United States, has again been named a Leader and Star Performer in RCM Operations by Everest Group. The company was recognized in the top quartile for performance in market success and capability advancement as part of Everest Group’s RCM Operations PEAK Matrix Assessment 2022.

The report assesses 31 RCM service providers based on market impact and the ability to deliver services successfully—as defined by subdimensions including market adoption, portfolio mix, value delivered, and strategic vision—to identify each organization’s overall market leadership position, labeled as Aspirant, Major Contender, or Leader.

AGS Health is honored to be recognized as a Leader for the second consecutive year, and a Star Performer for the third consecutive year. Star Performers are selected based on year-over-year advances in areas including growth, innovation, and technology investments.

“As delighted as we are to receive this industry recognition, we are most proud that it represents the value we continue to deliver to our clients through ongoing investment in innovation and service,” says Patrice Wolfe, CEO of AGS Health. “It demonstrates our commitment to helping ease our customers’ administrative and financial burdens through a strategic mix of technology, analytics, and process improvement, so they can focus on their core mission of providing high-quality patient care.”

AGS Health serves as a trusted partner in accounts receivable (A/R) management, coding, and business analytics to more than 100 major health care providers across the United States. The company’s 100% graduate workforce of 10,000-plus results-focused revenue cycle experts processes more than $50 billion in A/R annually and codes an excess of 41 million charts.

— Source: AGS Health

New Jersey Health System Notifies Patients of Data Breach

Cooper University Health Care ("Cooper"), a health system that provides treatment to its patients throughout South Jersey and the Delaware Valley, has learned of a data security incident that may have impacted data belonging to current and former Cooper patients. Cooper has sent notification of this incident to potentially impacted individuals and has provided resources to assist them.

On December 13, 2021, Cooper learned of unusual activity involving an employee's email account. Upon discovering this activity, Cooper immediately launched an investigation with the assistance of independent cybersecurity experts to determine what happened and identify whether personal/protected health information had been accessed or acquired without authorization. Cooper also took steps to secure all employee email accounts.

The investigation revealed that an employee email account had been accessed without authorization sometime on or before November 24, 2021. Cooper then launched a comprehensive review of the contents of the email account. On May 10, 2022, Cooper learned that some individuals' personal and protected health information may have been contained therein. Cooper thereafter worked diligently to gather up-to-date contact information needed to notify all potentially affected individuals.

At this time, Cooper has no evidence that any of the potentially affected information was accessed, disclosed, or misused as a result of this incident. However, beginning on May 24, 2022, Cooper notified all potentially affected individuals. In doing so, Cooper provided information about the incident and about steps that potentially impacted individuals can take to protect their information.

The following personal and protected health information may have been involved in the incident: names, dates of birth, medical professional's names, diagnosis and treatment information, billing and claims information, and medical record numbers.

The privacy and protection of personal and protected health information is a top priority for Cooper, which deeply regrets any inconvenience or concern this incident may cause. Cooper is working to implement additional safeguards to help ensure the security of its email environment and to reduce the risk of a similar incident from occurring in the future. Cooper has also established a toll-free call center to answer questions about the incident. Call center representatives are available Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM Eastern Time, excluding holidays and can be reached at 1-800-405-6108. Please provide the following code when calling: l3btotw0i3yu.

— Source: Cooper University Health Care

Geisinger Selects AWS as Strategic Cloud Provider

Geisinger, one of the country’s most well-established and innovative integrated health systems, has chosen Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its strategic cloud provider. As part of the agreement, the health system plans to transition its entire digital portfolio of more than 400 applications and numerous workflows to AWS.

Geisinger will be one of the largest EHR migrations to AWS to date and is planning to transition the majority of its systems and applications to AWS. The decision comes after a detailed multiyear review and selection process that identified transitioning to AWS will assist Geisinger in saving several million annually after implementation is completed—cost savings that can be used to make investments that support Geisinger’s mission to make better health easier.

In addition to the significant cost savings, Geisinger’s cloud migration to AWS will enable the health care system to develop new, innovative technological advancements in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and more that will help improve access to and quality of care. It will also enable teams to create workflow efficiencies for employees to increase productivity while streamlining and simplifying daily work.

“This is more than migrating applications to the cloud,” says John Kravitz, Geisinger’s CIO. “We know that rapidly evolving technology, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, can help save lives. Not to mention that this will make our staff more agile and responsive so they can spend more time at the bedside, where our patients need them most.”

As part of the effort, Geisinger has also committed to comprehensive cloud skills training for the vast majority of its 24,000 employees. Training is already underway with many Geisinger employees, and the training will be ongoing over the next five years.

“At the end of the day, everything we do at Geisinger is about making better health easier,” Kravitz says. “This effort is no different. Technology is something that enables us to carry out our vision. Migrating to AWS does just that. Being more nimble with technology development and deployment lets our teams focus on doing what they do best—providing compassionate, world-class, easily accessible health care to the communities we have the pleasure of serving.”

"AWS is thrilled to collaborate with Geisinger to support their mission ‘to make better health easier’ for their communities,” says Phoebe Yang, general manager of health at AWS. “It's a privilege to enable their teams with power of the cloud to gain operational and clinical efficiencies, upskill their workforce, and ultimately enable the health and wellness of those they serve.”

— Source: Geisinger