GBS was nominated by Stark Safety Council and selected by Bureau of Workers Compensation to receive the below awards.
On May 7, 2019, the GBS Corporation was honored as one of six recipients of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Business Excellence Award. The award is presented annually to area companies that have earned distinction through longevity, growth, innovation, and consistent involvement in the local community.
The award was received by GBS Vice President Jeff Merriman (pictured above) during a Chamber dinner at Kent State University’s Stark Campus Conference Center. “It definitely was a good surprise,” said Merriman, adding that it’s exciting for GBS to be recognized for its long-standing success since being founded in Canton in 1971. Although the company began solely as a print management provider, it has grown tremendously over the years and is now a leader in technology and information management in the healthcare, credit union, labels and general business sectors. “We wrap technology around all that GBS is,” added Merriman.
GBS currently operates in the print and marketing, promotional, warehousing, filing and labeling, brand protection, computer software and hardware, and technology solutions segments and has nearly 300 employees throughout northeast Ohio and the United States.
Patient Engagement is a collaborative, comprehensive strategy designed to improve patient care and lower total healthcare costs. It includes intimately involving patients in the management of their own healthcare, working closely in collaboration with their providers to craft the best treatment options available. This type of cooperation, unprecedented in previous generations, is now recognized as a key component of a high quality healthcare system. In fact, good Patient Engagement can do a lot to significantly improve the overall healthcare delivery process for everyone involved – including patients, providers and the industry as a whole.
Patient Benefits:
Provider Benefits:
Industry Benefits:
There are many technological components that make up a modern, effective Patient Engagement program. Means of communication can include telephone calls, emails, texts, videos, webinars, smartphone apps, patient satisfaction surveys, and automated appointment and care reminders. To learn how GBS can assist with all of these solutions and services, read more here.
One of the keys for healthcare providers in improving patient collections is better communication. As healthcare costs continue to increase and patients are paying more for their coverage, they are also paying closer attention to the quality and cost of the care they are receiving. Because of this, the ways in which the details of treatment options, suggested procedures, and billing and collection activities have become more necessary and wide-ranging. This enhanced patient/provider communication can come in many different forms, and is most commonly referred to as patient engagement. Texts, emails, videos, webinars and mobile devices are all ways this communication can take place, and typically leads to greater patient satisfaction and improved financial results for the practice.
According to a 2018 survey* of nearly 900 healthcare workers and 1,000 patients conducted by HIMSS, three major findings were discovered:
Because of factors like these, nearly 48% of providers reported that it takes patients more than three months to pay off their balances, with only 19% of patients doing so within the first thirty days of services rendered. A little more than 13% of patients took longer than six months to pay their balances, and nearly 6% never paid anything they owed.
A strategic, automated process that addresses both patient billings and collections can go a long way to alleviate these problems. Revenue Cycle Management/Medical Billing (RCM) does just that. For more information on the RCM services GBS has to offer, please click here or contact one of our product experts today and let us help you start collecting what you’ve already earned!
*Waystar/HIMSS Analytics: “Patient Payment Check-Up 2018 Survey Report.” https://public.zirmed.com/wp-content/ uploads/2018/05/ Waystar_HIMSS_Analytics_PPCU_Report_2018_05.15.18.pdf; accessed August 2018.
In the dynamically changing world of healthcare, providers are continuously challenged with maximizing their revenues in order to provide better patient care and remain solvent. As industry regulations continue to evolve and vary from year to year, providers must continue to ask themselves two very important questions:
If the answer to either question or both is “I don’t know,” then chances are that practice is not maximizing all potential revenues. A 2018 study by Dimensional Insight and HIMSS Analytics* added some interesting insights to these questions. With respect to the current process(es) being used to manage billings and collections, the findings included:
So what do all of these findings mean for healthcare providers and what can be done about them? Some general conclusions that can be drawn are that providers are struggling to stay current with technology and industry regulations, are complicating processes by using more than one solution to manage their activities, and that collecting and providing accurate patient data is a great challenge. Undoubtedly, these types of inefficiencies are leading to lost revenues and negatively impacting the bottom line of providers throughout the industry.
Don’t allow your practice and patients to get caught up in the confusion! GBS has an all-in-one RCM solution that will help to decrease insurance denials, increase patient collections, and simplify office processes. We’d be glad to discuss how our proven business model can benefit your practice, and how we’ve already helped other organizations improve their bottom lines by improving their billings and collections. Contact GBS today and get started!
*Dimensional Insight/HIMSS RCM Survey: “Understanding Health Systems’ Revenue Cycle Management and Challenges.” www.dimins.com; accessed June 2018.
IT security problems come in many shapes and sizes and have a tremendous impact every day on how effectively and efficiently a business operates. Data breaches. Network outages. Productivity losses. These are all daily occurrences in the IT world, and dramatically impact the activities of businesses and consumers around the globe.
Some of the most common technology issues faced by companies today includes the following:
• Noncompliance and Security Risks. Ask yourself: are you complying with regulations mandating data security and network integrity? Are you managing security risks and safeguarding data from fraud, theft and misuse?
• Downtime Impact. Are IT disruptions distracting your staff from their core focus, or prohibiting them from working efficiently?
• Distracted Employees. Does your staff turn to and interrupt non-IT employees to deal with recurring IT problems?
• Neglected Network. Is your network perceived by employees as just a “necessary evil” and not as an integral part of improving business performance?
• Time-Consuming Server/Backup Checks. Is it necessary for your staff to routinely check network servers and backup systems on a daily basis?
One of the major challenges in maintaining a computer network today is trying to predict what will fail and when. Because of this, it is imperative that work be done to prevent networks from failing in the first place. Through the combination of regular and comprehensive preventative maintenance and robust, real-time monitoring of critical network and desktop devices, the reliability and stability of IT assets can be sustained. Building a program that relies on 24x7x365 automated network monitoring, coupled with an aggressive preventative maintenance component, ensures optimum uptime for a business. GBS’ ProActive solution does all of these things and more!
Our ProActive solution is so effective that customers see almost immediate results. A regularly maintained network means fewer failures, yielding higher productivity and savings on support costs for businesses. At the same time, exposure to security risks is dramatically lessened and frustration from unstable IT resources almost vanishes. ProActive allows businesses the time and freedom to focus on their core business functions by taking the worry out of owning a computer network.
To learn more about ProActive and the options and benefits available, contact one of our product experts at 1.800.860.4427 or marketing@gbscorp.com or click here.
Why is it incorrect to feel that outsourcing RCM and your billings/collections will lead to a loss of control?
Healthcare organizations know they need to improve their billings and collections processes, but often lack the expertise, resources and guidance to successfully do so internally. The continually growing complexity in the revenue/billing cycle process has increased the cost of collections. Changes in charging, coding, and billing have made it more and more difficult to get timely, accurate payments and compliant billing.
Outsourcing RCM and your billings/collections services helps to provide the necessary expertise, resources, and guidance. So many organizations lack these assets, which hampers their efforts to achieve their business goals and control cash flows. The point of managing your revenue/billing cycle isn’t just to improve revenue and cash flow, but to do them effectively by consistently following the best industry practices.
Other benefits realized by providers that utilize billing services include the following:
Learn how GBS has been a trusted partner, improved cash collections, reduced staff turnover and improved the overall billing/collections process for our clients. Read more here.
With continued growth in manufacturing of products in industries such as healthcare and pharmaceuticals, experts expect the counterfeiting market to follow. According to Markets and Markets, Anti-Counterfeiting are experiencing high demand from these industries. In industries such as these, it is crucial for the manufacturers to ensure that their product is not compromised. All industries have a certain level of accountability to maintain the quality of their product and brand, however, the health concerns in the healthcare and pharmaceuticals give them a higher level of accountability. The safety risk involved in the tampering of healthcare and pharmaceutical packaging is much higher than other industries have much more severe consequences.
The risk involved in healthcare packaging leaves healthcare product manufactures to ensure that their distribution channel is without flaw. This includes knowing where your product is manufactured, where and how it is distributed, and everyone who may touch it along the way. Having a strong understanding of how your product moves along the supply chain will help prevent the product from gray market diversion.
Gray market diversion refers to “legal goods” which are sold outside normal distribution channels by companies which may have no relationship with the producer of the goods, according to Cyber Investigation Services. The reason that gray market diversion is such a high-level risk in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries is that the end user of the product could be at a major health risk if they receive a tampered product. It is the responsibility of healthcare and pharmaceutical manufacturers to ensure that their product is delivered through a safe and secure supply chain. The potential risks of negligence include loss of reputation of your brand, loss of profit to the gray market, and health concerns of the end-user.
To learn more about Brand Protection Labels and the options and benefits available, contact one of our product experts at 1.800.552.2427 or at marketing@gbscorp.com.
Electronic Health Record (EHR) adoption has not been an easy undertaking in the Healthcare industry. Over the last decade, adoption has been tumultuous and highly variable when you analyze the entire spectrum. Physicians on one end of the spectrum argue the inefficiencies while others are quick to adopt. New graduates are well equipped and complete rigorous training in Medical School to prepare for a career mandating electronic documentation. In fact, by year end 2017, 67% of all providers reported utilizing an EHR. It is important to note that effective EHR systems minimize impact on providers.
Pediatrics leads the charge with 76% utilization rates. Specialties in the shadow of Pediatrics include: Nephrology (75%), Family Practice (75%), and Urology (74%). Adoption across states has been highly variable as well. Wyoming leads the charge with utilization rates as high as 79%. States in Wyoming’s shadow include: South Dakota (77%), Utah (75%), Iowa (75%), and North Dakota (74%). It is important to note, over the past five years, EHR adoption increased from 40% (2012) to just over 67% (2017).
EHR software companies (e.g. NextGen) are working vigorously to provide end-users with tools that will minimize impact on end-users (e.g. Providers). Minimizing impact on your Providers will allow them to focus more on the overall quality of care that is being provided. With that being said, I want you to ask yourself if your organization is maximizing utilization of your EHR Solution. At the end of the day, the more responsibility you can shift to the patient, the less impact on ancillary staffers and Providers alike. Automation can help shift these burdens from your medical staff to the patients in an effort to expand access by increasing overall throughput.
Knowing underutilization is a major issue, it’s important for your practice to ask some additional questions. Are you utilizing patient check-in kiosks? Do you promote Patient Portal utilization? If so, what components of your Patient Portal are currently configured and actively being utilized? Have end-user preferences been configured by job duty? Have medication preferences been configured to allow for seamless transmission of electronic prescriptions? What percent of your staff setup favorites and defaults?
To learn more about how EHR systems minimize impact on providers and the options and benefits available, contact one of our product experts at 1.800.860.4427 or at marketing@gbscorp.com.
EHR Adoption Rates: 20 Must-See Stats. (2017, March 1). Retrieved February 24, 2018 from https://www.practicefusion.com/blog/ehr-adoption-rates/
January 16, 2019
The idea of embellished print strategies in the consumer products industry has become increasingly popular in recent years. As marketers continue to look for new and exciting ways to differentiate their products from the competition, the idea of adding special effects, coatings and finishes to product labels and printed materials has proven to be quite an effective strategy.
In contrast to traditional printing methods, embellished print strategies are done digitally and are easily adaptable to changes, variations and production preferences. Sample finishes used to embellish products include, but are not limited to, the following:
According to consumer studies and experts in the printing industry, embellished printing can benefit a product by: increasing its perceived value and prestige in the marketplace, increasing the amount of consideration and attention given to it, and playing an important part in the overall selling process to consumers.
To learn more about the Embellished Print options offered by GBS and how they can benefit your company and brands, contact one of our product experts at 1.800.552.2427 or at marketing@gbscorp.com.