HMA Regional Service Center Unveiled In Fort Smith [Times Record, Fort Smith, Ark.]

Nov. 06--CORRECTION: Health Management Associates has not combined all five of its regional centers into the one at Phoenix Expo Trade & Event Center as reported in an article on page 2A in Wednesday's edition. It has three other regional service centers across the country. Health Management has been centralizing some of its service centers and other shared-business services consistent with industry-best practice, a company official states. At present, the center serves 23 hospitals and 150 providers in eight states. Until September the local center handled 14 hospitals in five states.

Since it opened in September, the new Health Management Associates regional billing center has been a sort of mystery to the public.

The Phoenix Expo Trade & Event Center parking lot is now daily loaded with the vehicles of some 350 full-time employees. On Tuesday, after the formal ribbon-cutting by Gov. Mike Beebe, hospital executives and elected officials were given a tour of the clean-lined, modern facility that essentially combined the five regional Health Management service centers into one.

Managing up to 200,000 health insurance claims a month, and $1.9 billion in annual revenue across the country, the 96,000-square-foot facility is a virtual nerve center for more than a dozen hospitals in eight states. The associates handle every step of the medical attention process, other than the physical treatments.

The associates make between 350 and 500 appointments per day for the 14 hospitals served, and receive on average 700 calls per day. They work on between 1,200 and 1,500 benefit claims a day. Eventually, the center will serve 23 Health Management hospitals and 150 health providers in eight states. There is room for 600 employees.

There are certified individuals who can deal with the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act. All work in teams to handle each stage of the process, from appointments to insurance claims, billing, and follow-ups.

The staff is predominantly women, about 90 percent, and the starting pay is about $26,000 with no experience. The facility has received more than 2,800 applications since April.

In addition to Sparks Health System in Fort Smith and Summit Medical Center in Van Buren, Health Management owns and operates 71 hospitals in 15 states. The center will also provide for rural health visits, ambulance service and home health centers with services in scheduling, case management and other services.

Some of the highlights of the new space include a state-of-the-art training center, a private quiet space for nursing moms, five conference rooms, and a 20-foot-long buffet table with a big flat screen in the lunch room for presentations.

Representatives with Community Health Systems, which still has a pending agreement to buy Health Management, visited the facility last week, according to Shannon White, director of the center. White said she was confident the center could accommodate Community Health's needs as well if the $3.6 billion goes through.

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