Kaitlin Howard is a researcher and writer producing insightful content across the healthcare revenue cycle. She has written and produced content for Zelis, Waystar, and Recondo Technology, as well as agencies. With a B.A. in English and Writing from University of Denver, Kaitlin stays current on market updates on claims management and healthcare payments, publishing a regular educational blog series on industry trends and Zelis offerings.
In the eye of the COVID-19 storm, Zelis’ executive adviser and board member Eric Schaefer and president of payments Yusuf Qasim virtually sat down with McGuireWoods hosts Amber Walsh and Holly Buckley to discuss the healthcare industry’s increasing dependence on technology. We’ll discuss the highlights below, but you can find the full Across the Table podcast here.
A Bit of Background
With podcasts ranging through the healthcare private equity and finance industries, Across the Table provides timely and relevant discussions with specialists and professionals to share the latest developments, industry insights, and best practices.
In this episode, Eric Schaefer, who has been in the healthcare industry for 25 years and co-founded Red Card Systems, and Yusuf Qasim, co-founder of the legacy payments business previously known as Pay Plus Solutions, bring their insights to the table on differing payment models, the virtualization of healthcare, and Zelis as a whole.
Payment Models
After becoming partners with shared clients in 2012, Red Card Systems and Zelis began working together to develop a series of new payment models and modalities in healthcare. But it was only after a huge push from Parthenon Capital that the two companies decided to leverage Zelis’ integrated and contracted provider network and Red Card’s aggregated gateway to 300+ payers.
Both companies invested a substantial amount of time and resources surveying the market and its friction points, specifically the paper-based processes within the healthcare ecosystem. Once the pandemic hit, the industry’s need to move away from manual friction points accelerated, giving Zelis the opportunity to find more efficiencies, partnerships, and relationships, while breaking down barriers and building value into electronic payments.
As the industry continues to increase their dependence on technology, Zelis’ digital strategy, which focuses on simplifying processes and increasing efficiency for payers, providers, and health plan members, seems perfectly poised to help both clients and partners.
The Virtualization of Healthcare
Just like it did in many other industries, COVID-19 forced a lot of healthcare organizations to take a serious look at optimizing their processes to see where they could maximize efficiency. And as consumers become more aware of and educated in the importance of having a better end-user experience, there has never been another time where there has been such interest, desire, and excitement about building a better way.
The virtualization trend focuses heavily on moving away from redundant people-oriented manual processes in both the clinical and processing sides of healthcare. Specific to how healthcare payments are requested and distributed between payer and provider, Zelis leverages years of expertise to serve as a conduit for companies that are highly manual but still looking to scale without a disruption in service.
In the podcast, Eric and Yusuf further expound on the healthcare industry’s move away from manual processes, as well as Zelis payments division and its progress toward helping payers and providers receive 100 percent electronic payments.
The Ins and Outs of Zelis Assembly
Zelis is a healthcare payment technology company that prides itself on focusing on the payer, provider, and member of the health plan. As such, Zelis truly attempts to understand the eccentricities and niches within the healthcare industry to impact processes, inefficiencies, and the customer journey.
Due to the pandemic, Zelis had to find a more creative way to deliver information about the company and why the move towards 100% electronic payments is the only way forward. Enter: Zelis Assembly, an exciting platform that delivers bite-sized information and thought leadership to both clients and partners on demand.
The Wrap Up
Helping control the rising cost of healthcare has always been the fundamental goal driving Zelis. That’s why it was so vital to sit down on the Across the Table podcast and allow both Yusuf and Eric to explain the importance of the shift to paperless payments.
If you’re interested in finding out more about how Zelis is using its market-leading claims cost management and payments optimization solutions, here are some resources [link to payments optimization solutions page].
And, once again, if you’re interested in hearing the whole podcast, here’s the link.
