A Revenue Cycle Without a Clear Line of Sight
Springhill Medical Center had a revenue cycle committee, regular meetings, and monthly reports, but leadership lacked clarity on what the numbers actually meant.
“We were reporting numbers, but they weren’t meaningful,” said Kristin Cole, Springhill’s Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Operating Officer. “We didn’t know if a number was good or bad, what it should be compared to, or what had influenced it.”
While the finance team may have understood the data in isolation, the broader leadership team lacked benchmarks, trend visibility, or a shared understanding of which metrics truly mattered. Without that foundation, discussions remained reactive, and action items were difficult to define.
The Catalyst for Change
Springhill’s leadership first encountered Stroudwater Associates through a cost report training, where grant-supported opportunities to strengthen revenue cycle performance were discussed. Shortly thereafter, Springhill was invited to participate in a grant-funded engagement focused on improving financial stability.
Having previously partnered with Stroudwater on strategic master facility planning, leadership was confident in the firm’s healthcare-specific expertise.
“Stroudwater had been very supportive in past projects and could always answer our questions,” Kristin said. “They understand healthcare, and that made a big difference—especially since my background is clinical, not financial.”
Recognizing the need for a clear starting point, Springhill engaged Stroudwater to help define the right revenue-cycle KPIs, establish benchmarks, and translate data into actionable insights.
Building the Right Dashboard Together
Stroudwater consultants Amy Graham and Ryan Breneman began by requesting six months (and, where possible, up to a year) of historical revenue cycle data. While some metrics were easy to retrieve, others required new reporting workflows.
Once the data was assembled, Stroudwater transformed it into a comprehensive KPI dashboard that included measures across the full revenue cycle, such as:
- Accounts Receivable Days
- Denial Rate
- Cash Collections
- Insurance Aging over 90 Days
- Medicare Aging over 60 Days
- Discharged not Final Billed
- Clean Claim Percentage
- Percent of AR in Credit Balances
- Front-End and Pre-Registration Metrics
- Patient Revenue Indicators
The dashboard did more than display numbers. It incorporated benchmarks, visual indicators, and trend analysis, allowing leadership to quickly identify when performance was stable and when it was slipping.
“Stroudwater built logic into the dashboard so it would flag issues visually,” Kristin explained. “If something turned yellow or red, we knew immediately that we needed to dig in.”
Turning Data Into Action
With the dashboard in place, Springhill’s revenue cycle conversations shifted dramatically. Leadership could now see month-over-month performance and understand how changes in one area affected others, particularly cash collections.
The dashboard quickly revealed opportunities tied to denial rates, which were higher than benchmark targets. With Stroudwater’s guidance, the team broke denials down by category and payer, identifying trends related to medical necessity, emergency department downcoding, and timely filing.
As a result, Springhill implemented a new weekly denials management meeting focused on proactive intervention, including:
- Concurrent review of current inpatients
- Ensuring patients are in the appropriate level of care
- Filing for observation extensions when appropriate
- Addressing denial drivers before claims are submitted
“Before, we were reporting numbers without action,” Kristin said. “Now we can say, ‘This KPI is off—here’s why, and here’s what we’re going to do about it.’”
Proactive Insight, Sustainable Results
While the engagement recently concluded, the impact is already clear. Springhill now has a high-level, organization-wide view of revenue cycle health and a shared understanding of how to respond when performance changes.
The KPI dashboard has become a standing tool in monthly revenue cycle meetings, enabling leadership to identify issues early—before they lead to diminished cash collections—and take corrective action in real time.
“Without the dashboard, we wouldn’t have known where to start,” Kristin said. “Now we can track trends, understand what influences them, and actually take action.”
A Trusted Partner in Financial Stability
For Springhill, the value of the engagement extended beyond the dashboard itself.
“Working with Stroudwater has been great,” Kristin said. “They helped us understand our current state, identify opportunities, and—most importantly—define the action items needed to make progress toward financial stability.”
By pairing deep revenue cycle expertise with a collaborative, educational approach, Stroudwater helped Springhill move from static reporting to proactive, data-driven leadership—positioning the organization for stronger financial performance in an increasingly challenging rural healthcare environment.
Learn more about Stroudwater’s approach to revenue cycle optimization.
