Cost reduction
Sheri McPhee
Quality assurance and compliance manager, revenue cycle support services, University of Utah Health
Turning to automation, better use of analytics and artificial intelligence, McPhee has led an effort to overhaul revenue cycle management at the health system. She spearheaded a new revenue integrity process that included more accurate review of claims, which helped identify problem areas and was used to train staff on how to ensure claims were submitted correctly the first time. The system went live just before COVID-19 hit, but it ended up helping to improve claims processing during the pandemic through a streamlined auditing process, the improved ability to track denials and making it so staff could regularly monitor coding and billing to identify anomalies and catch errors. The new process helped recapture nearly $60 million in at-risk charges and revenue, including services related to COVID-19.