Intermountain Healthcare has acquired a $20 million stake in a R1 RCM, a revenue cycle management company, and will transition 2,300 employees to the outsource-service provider, the companies announced last week.
The 2,300 employees will maintain their current rate of pay and be able to continue working at their current location, according to a published report.
Intermountain positioned the move as a means of cutting costs, which will hopefully flow to patients in the form of lower healthcare bills.
R1 RCM works with about 300 hospitals nationwide providing revenue cycle management functions, including bill collection and debt collection services. Intermountain and R1 have been working together since 2011.
Transitioning the employees to R1 will save Intermountain as much as $70 million during the next three years, the company said.
“Everyone recognizes the cost of healthcare in the U.S. is too high,” said Intermountain Health COO Robert Allen. “We owe it to the patients and communities we serve to explore and implement options such as this to help address this issue of affordability.”
