ZirMed Announces Partnership With HEALTHCAREfirst to Offer Complete Revenue Cycle Management Solution at 30th Annual National Association for Homecare and Hospice Exposition

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ZirMed, a leading provider of revenue cycle management solutions for healthcare providers, today announced their recent partnership with HEALTHCAREfirst, the industry's leading provider of web-based management software, outsource services and consultation exclusively for Home Health Care and Hospice Care agencies.  HEALTHCAREfirst works with more than 1,200 Home Health and Hospice agencies to deliver leading-edge solutions built around the day-to-day needs at the point-of-care and beyond.  Both ZirMed and HEALTHCAREfirst offer intuitive web-based solutions that fit into the workflow of the healthcare providers and that are fast and easy to implement - enabling providers to focus on patient care.  

Under the partnership, HEALTHCAREfirst clients can take advantage of ZirMed's solutions to collect more earned revenue more quickly with less time and effort.  The ZirMed application allows HEALTHCAREfirst clients to exert control over their commercial insurance revenue cycle, and not just survive but thrive during this time of unprecedented industry change.

"ZirMed has been wonderful for our commercial insurance billing. Our commercial claims are now getting paid in days to weeks instead of months. I love how we can edit and resubmit rejected claims in real-time right from the website. This feature alone has helped to decrease our A/R days, as well as saved my team countless hours.  The ZirMed staff has been helpful, professional, and very responsive throughout our entire implementation," said Stephen Stearns II, Billing Services Coordinator at HEALTHCAREfirst.

"According to the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, about 7.6 million people are receiving in home care from 83,000 providers in the US.  These numbers are growing by the day.  Through key partnerships, like ours with HEALTHCAREfirst, we can offer a total business and revenue cycle management solution to more Home Health Care and Hospice providers allowing them to concentrate on delivery patient care," said Robert Kushner, Vice President Sales,  ZirMed.

Commercial claims generated from HEALTHCAREfirst are easily loaded into the ZirMed system via batch upload or FTP.  Once in the ZirMed system, claims are automatically scrubbed and passed to the payer for reimbursement.  Electronic remittance advices will post back into HEALTHCAREfirst's solution.

HEALTHCAREfirst is also making available ZirMed's patient payment solutions, so that patients will receive an easy to read statement which they can then pay either via check, via phone or online with credit card anytime.  As with payer reimbursements, these transactions are posted back into the HEALTHCAREfirst system after they are processed by ZirMed.

The partnership was announced at the Homecare industry tradeshow NAHC 2011 in Las Vegas  - where both companies exhibited.

About ZirMed:

ZirMed is a nationally recognized leader in delivering revenue cycle management solutions to healthcare providers, serving more than 100,000 healthcare providers.  ZirMed leverages the power of technology to cure administrative burdens and increase cash flow, enabling providers to not just survive but thrive.  ZirMed solutions include eligibility verification, credit/debit card processing, check processing, claims management, coding compliancy and reimbursement management, electronic remittance advice, patient statements, patient e-commerce solutions, and lock box services.  ZirMed is a member of Inc. magazine's 500/5000 fastest growing companies and Healthcare Informatics magazine's Top 100 companies.  For more information about ZirMed and our partnership with HEALTHCAREfirst, visit http://info.zirmed.com/healthcarefirst.

About HEALTHCAREfirst

HEALTHCAREfirst provides leading-edge technologies that improve business and clinical functions to over 1,200 home health care and hospice agencies across the United States. HEALTHCAREfirst was one of the first home health care software vendors to recognize the industry's need for high quality software applications that are accessible over the internet. Based in Ozark, Mo and one of the fastest growing providers of its kind, the company provides clients with web-available agency management software, electronic medical record software, revenue cycle management software, business intelligence reporting, billing services and coding services that ensure technology is not a barrier to patient care, but a powerful tool. HEALTHCAREfirst allows caregivers to focus on patients instead of paperwork. For more information call 800.841.6095 or visit the company's website at www.healthcarefirst.com.

SOURCE ZirMed