Eight hundred forty hospitals and inpatient organizations and fifteen hundred fifteen physician practices were represented in the sweeping Q1-Q2 2021 series of financial management IT user polls, as daunting challenges are forcing providers to advance their technologies to maintain solvency.
Seventy-four percent of CFOs and senior leaders in the 2021 Black Book (@blackbookpolls) survey revealed the absolute need for digital transformations in their finance divisions for the long-term survival of their healthcare organization. Eleven percent of respondents confirmed their organizations have fully initiated comprehensive digital strategies for extensive financial IT renovations.
Hospital revenue losses and the sluggish recovery of patient volumes have been met with increased total expenses upwards of five percent in post-pandemic 2021 creating the need for advanced financial technologies to confront straggling systems and underperforming services.
While most provider systems CFOs expect to experience significant revenue declines this fiscal year due to the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, twenty-three percent anticipate needing to cut or defer spending on technologies aimed at advancing the digital revamp of business offices, up nearly fifty percent as compared to Q2 2020.
Other Black Book survey insights include:
In Q2 2021, 90% of hospitals and 79% of large physician practices said they had recently performed audits on the current states of their digital transformation. Ninety-three percent of provider respondents stated that missing IT capabilities and redundant or conflicting systems were identified in the second quarter of 2021 as immediate drivers of financial systems rationalization and prompt acquisitions.
Providers are urgently seeking digital transformation opportunities for patient engagement and access solutions (29% surveyed), predictive analytics (24%), benchmarking analytics (22%), cost accounting (21%), forecasting tools (20%) and enterprise resource planning software (13%) specifically.
Eighty percent of financial executives report their hospitals are actively monitoring the use of automation technology to increase charge accuracy and reduce operational costs.
Black Book™ collected survey responses from 4,616 hospital and health system Chief Financial Officers, Vice Presidents of Finance and RCM, Controllers, Business Office Managers, Staff, Consultants and Directors from hospitals and physician practices to determine the top-performing vendors among in-demand financial software, technology platforms and systems, and assess the gaps and urgencies of financial technology administration.
Black Book conducts polls and surveys with healthcare executives and front-line users about their current technology and services partners and awards top-performing vendors based on performance based on eighteen indicators of client experience, loyalty and customer satisfaction.
“The latest wave of post-pandemic challenges accompanying the shift to value-based care in finds most providers navigating through empowering virtual health, initiating highly patient positive experiences and sinking margins,” said Black Book’s founder Doug Brown. “The lack of advanced analytic tools, strategic dysfunction caused by failed software integrations and outdated dashboard and decision support systems has put focus on the immediate technology needs of Chief Financial Officers.”
View Black Book’s 2021 financial software solutions survey results.
Surveyors Note: The Black Book annual end-to-end Revenue Cycle Management software and outsourced services survey results are announced in Q3 annually. Client and user surveys were closed on June 15 for audits and top performing RCM vendors as noted by their respective customers will be released to media and online in August.
Solutions ranking highest by financial client experience for 2021 by survey participants are:
- Cost Accounting & Financial Decision Support
- Axiom By Syntellis Performance Solutions
- Patient Financing & Medical Loan Solutions
- Clearbalance
- Enterprise Patient Identifier Solutions
- Experian Health
- Patient Payment Technology
- Waystar
- Revenue Analytics
- RevSpring
- Provider Contract Management & Optimization Solutions
- Axion By Syntellis Performance Solutions
- Revenue Recovery & Accounts Receivable Solutions
- Change Healthcare
- Chargemaster & Price Transperancy Solutions
- Vitalware CDM
- Enterprise Document Management & Imaging
- 3M Health Record Management Software
- Enterprise Resource Planning
- Symplr API Healthcare
- Patient Access Software
- Accureg Patient Access
- Inpatient Accounting Systems: Large Hospitals & IDNS
- EPIC Resolute Hospital Billing
- Inpatient Accounting Systems: Community Hospitals
- Allscripts Sunrise Patient Financials
- Hospital Claims Management Systems
- Experian Health
- Ambulatory/Medical Billing Solutions
- OSP Labs
- Patient Financial Engagement
- Cedar
- Benchmarking & Comparative Solutions
- Axion By Syntellis Performance Solutions
- Nurse & Staff Scheduling Systems
- Shiftwizard
- Physician & Medical Scheduling Solutions
- Lightning Bolt
- Real-Time Location Systems
- Zebra Technologies
- Complex Claims Systems
- Argos Health
About Black Book
Black Book™, its founder, management and staff do not own or hold any financial interest in any of the vendors covered and encompassed in the vendor satisfaction surveys it conducts. Black Book reports the results of the collected satisfaction and client experience rankings in publication and to media prior to vendor notification of rating results and does not solicit vendor participation fees, review fees, inclusion or briefing charges, consultation requirements and/or vendor collaboration as Black Book polls vendors’ clients.
Black Book™ has polls for vendor satisfaction and industry trends across the healthcare software/technology and outsourcing sectors around the globe. Since 2010, Black Book began polling the client experience of now over 840,000 healthcare software and services users. Black Book expanded its survey prowess and reputation of independent, unbiased crowd-sourced surveying to IT, clinical, operations and financial professionals, physician practice administrators, nurses, consultants, executives and hospital information technology managers.
View methodology, auditing, resources, comprehensive research and vendor ranking data or contact us at research@blackbookmarketresearch.com. Results of the 2021 Revenue Cycle Management software and managed services user surveys will be announced in August.