ROANOKE, Va. – On Wednesday, Carilion Clinic announced it is teaming up with Ohio-based company Ensemble Health Partners to take over its revenue cycle operations. Ensemble will oversee things like billing, payments and scheduling, plus 780 soon-to-be-former Carilion employees who work in that sector.
Carilion CFO Donald Halliwill reassured those employees that, if they want it, they’ll have a job waiting for them at Ensemble.
“I, again, understand and acknowledge that change like this causes concern for our employees. And I and our team are committed to being here to answer questions and help them make the transition as easy as possible,” said Halliwill. “Ensemble Health Partners will make job offers with the same rate of pay or higher rate of pay, in comparable roles with comparable benefits to all individuals that are involved and part of the transition.”
When asked about benefits, Ensemble’s founder, President & CEO Judson Ivy said those employees won’t start over.
“Their tenure does come over. And we have a really, really comprehensive benefit package,” said Ivy. “It may be different than what Carilion’s is. It usually will be. But it’s comprehensive and it’s very competitive.”
Ensemble works with hundreds of hospitals and health systems. Ivy said the company’s mission is to help health care providers focus on what they do best: patient care.
“The pressures on health systems are real,” said Ivy. “Ensemble is there to allow Carilion and all of our other health systems to focus on giving excellent clinical care and letting us handle the administrative part.”
Halliwill said the transition isn’t a cost-cutting measure for Carilion. However, he said Ensemble’s resources and advanced technology can help Carilion bring in more money.
“We do anticipate improvements in our collection yield as a result of this change,” said Halliwill. “That will happen probably slowly, over time.”
He added that patients won’t know the difference once the transition takes place in September.