October 14, 2025 • 11 mins
This episode features Jodie Hilliker, Senior Director at Healthrise, who discusses the concept of the Revenue Ripple and how empowering providers through EHR optimization can drive better patient outcomes, greater efficiency, and stronger financial performance. She shares strategies for overcoming common barriers and real-world results from organizations that have embraced provider optimization.
This episiode is sponsored by Healthrise.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hi, everyone. This is Brian Zimmerman with Becker's
Healthcare. Thank you so much for tuning in
to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
Today, we're going to talk about the revenue
ripple, how optimizing providers transform care and finance.
Joining me for this discussion is Jody Hillacre,
senior director at HealthRise. Jody, thank you so
much for being on the podcast.
Thank you. It's my pleasure.
(00:21):
And to get going here, can you just
share some some details about yourself,
the work you're doing now, the work you've
done in health care, just just your experience
so folks can,
appreciate your perspective as we move through the
conversation today? Sure. I have been with health
care almost all my life since I graduated
from high school. I think I started there.
But,
over the last, three years, I have been
(00:43):
focused at HealthRise.
Prior to that, though, I have worked in
the health care field
doing a lot of EHR work. I started
that probably about thirteen or fourteen years ago.
So,
worked for several organizations, but found my home
at HealthRise.
Really happy to be with such a great
group of people.
(01:04):
Wonderful. Appreciate you sharing that. And and the
the title of our podcast episode today and
and and a a term you sort of
coined here is is revenue ripple. Can you
talk about that idea and walk us through
what you mean by that and and and
why you would wanna put that at the
at the center of this discussion today? Sure.
No problem at all.
(01:25):
So as we started to work with,
EHRs
and with organizations
and they're, you know, getting involved with their
new EHR,
you know, we found that many of
the
the team, many of the providers in particular
struggle after they have gone live and after
they're using the different,
(01:47):
tools.
And we also found that a lot of
hospitals suffer from, you know, revenue problems. They
they say that now that we've started with
the new EHR, we have revenue leakage or
we, you know, we're not making the money
that we used to and things like that.
So we started to put the two things
together.
And we found that if you take providers
and you give them every tool that you
(02:09):
could possibly give them, sit down next to
them, help them, work with them,
that we find
that different things change. Provider
and patient you know, providers are happier. Patients
the outcomes are happier.
Patients want to
come to that particular practice because their doctor
has time for them.
(02:29):
Efficiency rises. You know, not only are the
providers more efficient, but the whole team is
more efficient.
And as a result of all of those
things, your bottom line will grow. So, you
know, it's really important to take a look
at the whole picture, not just a small
piece of the picture.
Yeah. Yeah. To your to your point, if
it's good for for the patients, it's good
(02:50):
for the providers, it's gonna be good for
that organization. Right? Absolutely.
And then so that's sort of what it
looks like at at at at a high
level. Let's zoom in a bit and and
what it looks like in day to day
operations.
What does that look like, provider optimization? And
then also if you could, Jody, call out
the the barriers. Like, what's keeping health systems
from making this a reality?
Well and there are a few, so that's
(03:12):
for sure. So,
the the one thing that that provider optimization
is not is that we're not adding more
administrative tools to the dock. You know, we're
not telling them, oh, you have to do
this and this and this on top of
everything else that you're already doing. So it's
not that. But what it is is it's
aligning the providers with streamlined workflows. So in
(03:32):
order to do that, we bring in a
team of professionals
that and and, you know, there are multiple
organizations
that that do this out there,
for EHR services.
But we bring in our group of people
that are very well trained in that EHR,
and we sit down next to the pro
provider and just basically say to them, you
(03:53):
know, what are your pain points? What takes
you the longest? Why are you having,
you know, such a hard time getting your
charts done? Why are you here every night
and you miss dinner with your family?
And we start to look at the number
of clicks. We start to look at their
notes. We look at their,
order sets that they call what they call
an order set where, you know, you can
(04:14):
click one button and all the orders go
in for you. A lot of providers don't
utilize some of those tools because they haven't
had the training, nor do they really have
the time to sit down down and optimize
the CEHR themselves.
So what we do is sit down next
to them and basically help them through that.
And we find that at the end of
all this, as I said, you know, they're
(04:34):
much happier. They have much more time, and
they can spend more time with their patients.
And that's what the bottom line is, is
how can we make sure that patients feel
like they're really being taken care of and
that doctors are not administrative
assistants
that are putting things in an EHR.
So barriers, though, that can occur is finding
(04:55):
the right team.
You have to find a unique group of
individuals,
and you have to work on developing that
team
because
providers get frustrated.
And when they're frustrated, it's very hard to
teach them sometimes.
And it's, you know, it's also hard
to make them understand why this is is
important when their main concern is their patient.
(05:17):
They don't really care about, you know, all
of these other administrative duties that they've been
assigned.
So what you know, basically, what happens is
that the if you don't have that rep
that group, they just frustrate them more. If
they really don't understand the EHR and really
don't understand how they can help the provider,
then, you know, it's a it's a moot
(05:39):
point.
The other thing,
is is expense.
If you don't find
the right approach,
which is to identify providers that need help,
not just come in and blindly
say, oh, we're gonna help everybody,
you have to base you have to have
the organization work with your organization to find
(05:59):
out who you let's start from the very
bottom, from the the the team that
that really, really is struggling and work our
way up to those superstars that may not
need our help. And when we do things
like that, you get the best, as I
call it, bang for your buck because you're
working with the providers that truly need you.
A lot of organizations
(06:19):
will come in
and they'll bring in they'll start from the
very top. They'll start with their superstars and
they'll start to work with them. And
and they really don't need help. They're already
set and ready to mold. You really have
to identify
who needs you and then and then work
with them. So those are the two barriers
that I see. Not having the right team
(06:40):
and then making it such an expensive endeavor
by not, you know, not going after
the the endgame,
the right way. So those are the things
that I find are the toughest.
Yeah. Yeah. The not having the right team,
the the not going about it the right
way, so it becomes
more expensive. And then it's also easy
to to think even if there's a a
(07:01):
provider out there that, you know, knows this
is important to do to to optimize the
EHR. It's also one of those things that
it's easy to to see that being the
thing on the list that gets pushed down
the road. Oh, absolutely. You know, it's like
they've got an they've got a ton on
their plate, and they might wanna do this.
But it's like, how do how do you
justify doing this when you've got to do
x y z for the patient? Right?
(07:22):
Right. And we found that the more that
we can provide,
times that
that fit the provider's schedule,
like, in our organization, we use a scheduling
tool so that the provider can actually name
the day and the time that they feel
like they have an opportunity to sit down
with us and work.
And then that way, you know, you're not
(07:44):
you're not trying to budge into their their
schedule that's already too hectic or you're not
right, you know, overriding their son's baseball game
that they want to make sure that they
make this week because they didn't make it
last week. So,
making it convenient for them. Some providers look
to optimize
on a Sunday afternoon after, you know, family
(08:04):
time, and they'll take two two hours in
in optimized den. We make ourselves available for
that. And I think that that's important too.
It's making convenient for the provider.
That's a that's a great call out. Maybe
maybe, Jody, what we can do now is
perhaps anchor the conversation in in in a
specific example of what this looks like when
when when this gets done right. You know?
(08:26):
What
how can you share a a standout example
where optimization made a measurable difference for for
an organization or or a physician?
We, we worked with a really large health
care system,
and we supported in
their doctors. We started from, you know, the
bottom, as I said, that, you know, the
guys that were really, really struggling, guys and
gals that were really struggling
(08:47):
and and worked with them. And these were
the ones that their patients were extremely frustrated
and were finding
other doctors and and going elsewhere because they
felt like the doctor was an administrative person
rather than than someone that was really taking
care of them. So,
we found that after we identified our team,
identified those
(09:09):
we
spent six months with them,
and their documentation
accuracy
improved by 15%,
meaning that
they did not have to get notes back
from the coding team that said, hey. You
didn't document this the right way, and and
so now we need you to document it
again in order to get paid by insurance.
(09:30):
And,
you know, so they got they had a
lot of denials. And we based we eliminated
their denials, a lot of their denials by
by going through and working with the docs
on
on documentation.
And they found,
a 7%
increase in their captured revenue in the first
six months that we worked with them. And
we didn't increase their the provider work hours.
(09:52):
It
was much better for them. They were able
to get home. They each
the majority of them were able to see
one or two more patients a week,
because they had that extra time, and,
it it was a ripple effect. So, eventually,
it rolled right down to that revenue ripple.
And
as I lovingly call it, it worked. And
(10:14):
I think that all organizations, if they do
it the right way, can see this kind
of an effect.
Yeah. Added added revenue, no added hours. I
mean, in six months, that's pretty that's a
pretty good deal. Right.
Jody, I appreciate you you coming on the
podcast. Is there anything we didn't touch on
or or perhaps final thoughts you maybe wanna
reemphasize for folks out there that just some
(10:36):
closing thoughts for our listeners.
Sure. So the way that I look at
it is that provider optimization is no longer
a nice to have. You know, we used
to hear that a lot in the very
beginning, like, oh, it'd be nice if we
could optimize our providers.
It it's not that. It's not a nice
thing to have. If you really want your,
you know, your patient care to be excellent
and you want
(11:03):
optimize your provider. It's a piece of health
care's financial survival. So I, you know, So
I, you know, I really feel that organizations
should find the dollars and cents to make
this work and and find that right team
so that you can help your providers. So
I am,
I'm a big fan of the ripple, the
revenue ripple.
Well, Jody, it was excellent to have you
(11:23):
on the podcast. Thank you so much. You
bet. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Have
a great day. You too. We also wanna
thank our podcast sponsor, HealthRise.
You can tune to more podcasts from Becker's
Healthcare by visiting our podcast page at beckers
hospital review dot com.
Hi, everyone. This is Brian Zimmerman with Becker's
Healthcare. Thank you so much for tuning in
to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
Today, we're going to talk about the revenue
ripple, how optimizing providers transform care and finance.
Joining me for this discussion is Jody Hillacre,
senior director at HealthRise. Jody, thank you so
much for being on the podcast.
Thank you. It's my pleasure.
(00:21):
And to get going here, can you just
share some some details about yourself,
the work you're doing now, the work you've
done in health care, just just your experience
so folks can,
appreciate your perspective as we move through the
conversation today? Sure. I have been with health
care almost all my life since I graduated
from high school. I think I started there.
But,
over the last, three years, I have been
(00:43):
focused at HealthRise.
Prior to that, though, I have worked in
the health care field
doing a lot of EHR work. I started
that probably about thirteen or fourteen years ago.
So,
worked for several organizations, but found my home
at HealthRise.
Really happy to be with such a great
group of people.
(01:04):
Wonderful. Appreciate you sharing that. And and the
the title of our podcast episode today and
and and a a term you sort of
coined here is is revenue ripple. Can you
talk about that idea and walk us through
what you mean by that and and and
why you would wanna put that at the
at the center of this discussion today? Sure.
No problem at all.
(01:25):
So as we started to work with,
EHRs
and with organizations
and they're, you know, getting involved with their
new EHR,
you know, we found that many of
the
the team, many of the providers in particular
struggle after they have gone live and after
they're using the different,
(01:47):
tools.
And we also found that a lot of
hospitals suffer from, you know, revenue problems. They
they say that now that we've started with
the new EHR, we have revenue leakage or
we, you know, we're not making the money
that we used to and things like that.
So we started to put the two things
together.
And we found that if you take providers
and you give them every tool that you
(02:09):
could possibly give them, sit down next to
them, help them, work with them,
that we find
that different things change. Provider
and patient you know, providers are happier. Patients
the outcomes are happier.
Patients want to
come to that particular practice because their doctor
has time for them.
(02:29):
Efficiency rises. You know, not only are the
providers more efficient, but the whole team is
more efficient.
And as a result of all of those
things, your bottom line will grow. So, you
know, it's really important to take a look
at the whole picture, not just a small
piece of the picture.
Yeah. Yeah. To your to your point, if
it's good for for the patients, it's good
(02:50):
for the providers, it's gonna be good for
that organization. Right? Absolutely.
And then so that's sort of what it
looks like at at at at a high
level. Let's zoom in a bit and and
what it looks like in day to day
operations.
What does that look like, provider optimization? And
then also if you could, Jody, call out
the the barriers. Like, what's keeping health systems
from making this a reality?
Well and there are a few, so that's
(03:12):
for sure. So,
the the one thing that that provider optimization
is not is that we're not adding more
administrative tools to the dock. You know, we're
not telling them, oh, you have to do
this and this and this on top of
everything else that you're already doing. So it's
not that. But what it is is it's
aligning the providers with streamlined workflows. So in
(03:32):
order to do that, we bring in a
team of professionals
that and and, you know, there are multiple
organizations
that that do this out there,
for EHR services.
But we bring in our group of people
that are very well trained in that EHR,
and we sit down next to the pro
provider and just basically say to them, you
(03:53):
know, what are your pain points? What takes
you the longest? Why are you having,
you know, such a hard time getting your
charts done? Why are you here every night
and you miss dinner with your family?
And we start to look at the number
of clicks. We start to look at their
notes. We look at their,
order sets that they call what they call
an order set where, you know, you can
(04:14):
click one button and all the orders go
in for you. A lot of providers don't
utilize some of those tools because they haven't
had the training, nor do they really have
the time to sit down down and optimize
the CEHR themselves.
So what we do is sit down next
to them and basically help them through that.
And we find that at the end of
all this, as I said, you know, they're
(04:34):
much happier. They have much more time, and
they can spend more time with their patients.
And that's what the bottom line is, is
how can we make sure that patients feel
like they're really being taken care of and
that doctors are not administrative
assistants
that are putting things in an EHR.
So barriers, though, that can occur is finding
(04:55):
the right team.
You have to find a unique group of
individuals,
and you have to work on developing that
team
because
providers get frustrated.
And when they're frustrated, it's very hard to
teach them sometimes.
And it's, you know, it's also hard
to make them understand why this is is
important when their main concern is their patient.
(05:17):
They don't really care about, you know, all
of these other administrative duties that they've been
assigned.
So what you know, basically, what happens is
that the if you don't have that rep
that group, they just frustrate them more. If
they really don't understand the EHR and really
don't understand how they can help the provider,
then, you know, it's a it's a moot
(05:39):
point.
The other thing,
is is expense.
If you don't find
the right approach,
which is to identify providers that need help,
not just come in and blindly
say, oh, we're gonna help everybody,
you have to base you have to have
the organization work with your organization to find
(05:59):
out who you let's start from the very
bottom, from the the the team that
that really, really is struggling and work our
way up to those superstars that may not
need our help. And when we do things
like that, you get the best, as I
call it, bang for your buck because you're
working with the providers that truly need you.
A lot of organizations
(06:19):
will come in
and they'll bring in they'll start from the
very top. They'll start with their superstars and
they'll start to work with them. And
and they really don't need help. They're already
set and ready to mold. You really have
to identify
who needs you and then and then work
with them. So those are the two barriers
that I see. Not having the right team
(06:40):
and then making it such an expensive endeavor
by not, you know, not going after
the the endgame,
the right way. So those are the things
that I find are the toughest.
Yeah. Yeah. The not having the right team,
the the not going about it the right
way, so it becomes
more expensive. And then it's also easy
to to think even if there's a a
(07:01):
provider out there that, you know, knows this
is important to do to to optimize the
EHR. It's also one of those things that
it's easy to to see that being the
thing on the list that gets pushed down
the road. Oh, absolutely. You know, it's like
they've got an they've got a ton on
their plate, and they might wanna do this.
But it's like, how do how do you
justify doing this when you've got to do
x y z for the patient? Right?
(07:22):
Right. And we found that the more that
we can provide,
times that
that fit the provider's schedule,
like, in our organization, we use a scheduling
tool so that the provider can actually name
the day and the time that they feel
like they have an opportunity to sit down
with us and work.
And then that way, you know, you're not
(07:44):
you're not trying to budge into their their
schedule that's already too hectic or you're not
right, you know, overriding their son's baseball game
that they want to make sure that they
make this week because they didn't make it
last week. So,
making it convenient for them. Some providers look
to optimize
on a Sunday afternoon after, you know, family
(08:04):
time, and they'll take two two hours in
in optimized den. We make ourselves available for
that. And I think that that's important too.
It's making convenient for the provider.
That's a that's a great call out. Maybe
maybe, Jody, what we can do now is
perhaps anchor the conversation in in in a
specific example of what this looks like when
when when this gets done right. You know?
(08:26):
What
how can you share a a standout example
where optimization made a measurable difference for for
an organization or or a physician?
We, we worked with a really large health
care system,
and we supported in
their doctors. We started from, you know, the
bottom, as I said, that, you know, the
guys that were really, really struggling, guys and
gals that were really struggling
(08:47):
and and worked with them. And these were
the ones that their patients were extremely frustrated
and were finding
other doctors and and going elsewhere because they
felt like the doctor was an administrative person
rather than than someone that was really taking
care of them. So,
we found that after we identified our team,
identified those
(09:09):
we
spent six months with them,
and their documentation
accuracy
improved by 15%,
meaning that
they did not have to get notes back
from the coding team that said, hey. You
didn't document this the right way, and and
so now we need you to document it
again in order to get paid by insurance.
(09:30):
And,
you know, so they got they had a
lot of denials. And we based we eliminated
their denials, a lot of their denials by
by going through and working with the docs
on
on documentation.
And they found,
a 7%
increase in their captured revenue in the first
six months that we worked with them. And
we didn't increase their the provider work hours.
(09:52):
It
was much better for them. They were able
to get home. They each
the majority of them were able to see
one or two more patients a week,
because they had that extra time, and,
it it was a ripple effect. So, eventually,
it rolled right down to that revenue ripple.
And
as I lovingly call it, it worked. And
(10:14):
I think that all organizations, if they do
it the right way, can see this kind
of an effect.
Yeah. Added added revenue, no added hours. I
mean, in six months, that's pretty that's a
pretty good deal. Right.
Jody, I appreciate you you coming on the
podcast. Is there anything we didn't touch on
or or perhaps final thoughts you maybe wanna
reemphasize for folks out there that just some
(10:36):
closing thoughts for our listeners.
Sure. So the way that I look at
it is that provider optimization is no longer
a nice to have. You know, we used
to hear that a lot in the very
beginning, like, oh, it'd be nice if we
could optimize our providers.
It it's not that. It's not a nice
thing to have. If you really want your,
you know, your patient care to be excellent
and you want
(11:03):
optimize your provider. It's a piece of health
care's financial survival. So I, you know, So
I, you know, I really feel that organizations
should find the dollars and cents to make
this work and and find that right team
so that you can help your providers. So
I am,
I'm a big fan of the ripple, the
revenue ripple.
Well, Jody, it was excellent to have you
(11:23):
on the podcast. Thank you so much. You
bet. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Have
a great day. You too. We also wanna
thank our podcast sponsor, HealthRise.
You can tune to more podcasts from Becker's
Healthcare by visiting our podcast page at beckers
hospital review dot com.
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