dbaDIRECT's Outsourcing Hit

Tell us about your organization. We're the largest medical receivables back-office management company in the United States. We're a regionally based company that operates in the southeastern U.S., and are primarily an accounts receivable management firm. If a hospital has an account that's going into a delinquent state, but that isn't late enough to go to a collection agency, we attempt to recoup the cost for the hospital. In addition, we also provide secondary collection and medical billing services.

What problems were you facing? We faced the same issues most midsize businesses face: We needed to scale the IT department to meet the needs of our growing company, while maintaining database integrity. We didn't have the resources to do that in house. Specifically, we needed to keep up with database modifications to keep pace with our clients' growing needs.

Why did you select dbaDIRECT? We concluded that hiring in house and expanding the IT department wasn't going to cut it in terms of cost-effectiveness and providing 24/7 service for our customers, so we decided to outsource our database maintenance. I had a number of colleagues who recommended dbaDIRECT, as it was considered one of the premier database management vendors in the market and offered 24/7 support--an important consideration for us. Still, we did our due diligence and looked at other companies, but we kept coming back to dbaDIRECT, so we selected them.

How did the outsourcing go? time you outsource customer information, you have concerns because you want to make sure the outsourcing company is going to treat your systems and issues with the same priority as you would. During the initial stages I micromanaged the process until we reached a comfort level where we could allow dbaDIRECT to work as an independent entity, so to speak. In short, there was a grace period while we established a level of trust with them, but overall, the entire process was smooth and uneventful.

What have been the main rewards? Now we have an enterprise IT department that would rival any Fortune 500 company. It's a big competitive differentiator to have a strong technology backbone while still offering the personal approach as a midsize company. One recent database enhancement has allowed Medical Data Systems clients to track the effectiveness of mass mailings better because they are able to determine when a letter has been returned or otherwise acted upon. Our IT staff can now focus on compliance and billing issues while working on projects that will help grow the business, rather than focusing on database maintenance. 5 Fast Facts >> AGE OF THE INITIATIVE? 4 years old >> WHO WAS INVOLVED? Myself and the owners of the company >> BEST IDEA? Doing a cost analysis of performing this function in house >> BIGGEST SURPRISE? The implementation was so professional and timely. >> BIGGEST CAREER CRM MISTAKE to make? Not doing the due diligence to review the outsourcing company

Free

for qualified subscribers

Subscribe Now Current Issue Past Issues