Crescent Healthcare uses outsourcing to increase cash flow on its year-old aging receivables by 50 percent, and in record time.

by FAOT Staff

In May 2007, Crescent Healthcare, a premier infusion company that provides home infusion services to patients with chronic disorders, wanted to clean up its old receivables in an effort to increase cash flow—a key operational goal, especially given a looming economic downturn.

Crescent Healthcare (www.crescenthealthcare.com) was founded in 1992 and operates nine clinical centers across the country. The company’s pharmacists and infusion nurses provide a full spectrum of infusion therapies to patients in California (Anaheim, Palm Desert, Riverside, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Hayward, Modesto, Santa Rosa) and Florida (Panama City). Crescent’s expertise in chronic therapies such as IVIG and Remicade is widely recognized. The company also cares for patients requiring acute therapies: antibiotics, enteral nutrition, and parenteral nutrition.

Crescent’s team of clinicians and intake specialists work with the physician, patient, and payer to select the most appropriate treatment setting, whether it is in the home, a physician office, clinic, or hospital outpatient clinic. The company’s relationships with physicians and hospitals help it offer flexibility and quality care to patients.

But the company’s medical expertise wasn’t going to be much help in tackling the problems inherent in aging receivables. And given a soft economic market, Crescent could use every spare dollar it could find. The team weighed its options before determining a third-party provider was the answer.

Selecting a Provider
The operational expense associated with hiring an in-house team and the ramp-up time required were not appealing to the company, so Crescent decided that
outsourcing to a third-party provider well-versed in accounts receivable would be a more cost-effective and prudent choice. So the company turned to Vengroff, Williams and Associates (www.vwainc.com ) to assist with the collection of aging receivables.

Crescent attributes its choice of VWA to that company’s reputation for quality and years of experience in accounts receivable, according to Jonathan Dockery, director of billing and collections at Crescent Healthcare. VWA has been handling receivable management solutions for 40 years, developing and applying proprietary systems to help its clients realize costreductions, operate more efficiently, and improve processes.

Within 60 days, Dockery said, the VWA team was fully implemented and collecting on the portfolio. Cash flow of aging receivables has increased by 50 percent of the projected goal, and this was all done without increasing overhead.

The key to the success achieved by VWA was its open technology platform, which enabled the team to quickly tap into Crescent’s receivables data residing in the organization’s existing technology to expedite the collections process. Access to VWA’s platform and reporting ensures that Crescent stays up-to-date on the latest activity, without having to devote extensive resources to the project.

“We are extremely pleased with the results that Vengroff, Williams and Associates continues to deliver,” said Dockery. “Without their help, we would have just written off those old receivables. They truly are a partner in our collections efforts and have helped us increase cash flow above and beyond our original
expectations, which, especially in today’s economy, is critical to keeping our competitive edge.”