Ballad Health announced on Thursday that it is expanding its partnership with Ensemble Health and will be building a new revenue cycle and information technology operations center in the Appalachian Highlands.
Ballad will transfer the 1,100 employees it currently has working on revenue cycle management to Ensemble. The new operations center will also create up to 500 more jobs once it is up and running. The employees who are being transferred will continue to work out of Ballad offices until the new operations center is up and running.
Ensemble, which has more than 5,000 employees, has worked with Ballad for the past five years.
“This is a time of hope and opportunity for our region,” said Alan Levine Ballad Health’s chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement. “We are certainly faced with unprecedented challenges, but at the same time, we believe now, more than ever, it is time to look to our region as a good place to invest, a safe place for families, and a place where business can be successful. This partnership resulted from innovation and showing the best of what our region has to offer. Once Ensemble saw it for themselves, they were excited about growing here.”
Ballad will continue to implement a new strategy it rolled out last year that sought to prioritize patient satisfaction, enhanced engagement with sophisticated insurance companies, and expanded engagement in value-based arrangements with payors and government programs.
Ballad recently announced a net loss of $11 million, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic. It has implemented furloughs and salary reductions among executive leaders, but still expects to post another loss next quarter.
“In today’s healthcare environment, the complexity of the insurance companies and their payment systems make it challenging for hospitals and providers to navigate, creating dissatisfaction among patients and the hospitals,” said Ensemble founder and chief executive officer, Judson Ivy, in a statement. “This inefficiency costs hospitals millions of dollars per year, a liability which often ends up either being shifted to patients or written off as uncollectible. This is not fair to anyone. Bringing the best technology and processes to bear creates a more seamless system which ultimately benefits patients who rely on an effective system for the coverage of their health care services.”
