Deep understanding of needs and mission provides value to children’s hospital

Like the patients they serve, children’s hospitals have distinct needs beyond those of regular health care systems. Often these pediatric care organizations require specialized attention related to medical documentation, drug discount management, revenue cycle strategy and coding assessment due to vast patient care needs, extended stays, surgeries, treatments and more. RSM US LLP client Gillette Children’s, a nonprofit hospital located in St. Paul, Minnesota, certainly knows this firsthand. And so does RSM.

‘They listened …’

Gillette Chief Financial Officer Patrick Nolan began working with RSM after joining the hospital five years ago. As CFOs do, he wanted to optimize financial and operations efforts for Gillette, including by registering the organization in the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program. The program would allow Gillette to provide outpatient drugs to their patients at significantly reduced prices, something key to the families the hospital serves. The program allows covered entities, like children’s hospitals, to stretch scarce federal resources as far as possible, reaching more eligible patients and providing more comprehensive services to the nation’s most vulnerable patient populations.

“I wanted to do an assessment but didn’t have that expertise,” says Nolan, who reached out to RSM for guidance. “RSM shared what they had done for other organizations like ours and drafted a preliminary 340B plan specific to Gillette. They listened to how we wanted to approach it so we could test it and evaluate results.”

The successful outcome gave the organization the confidence it needed to move forward with an actual 340B program.

“RSM helped us make sure we had the right internal team pulled together, confirmed our software needs, helped us establish governance and set us up so we were compliant,” says Nolan.

Impact on the bottom line, and the mission

Since the launch of their 340B program, Gillette has undergone a successful audit by the Health Resources & Services Association and has generated savings, not only improving the organization’s bottom line, says Nolan, but advancing their mission.

With RSM’s extensive experience in the health care industry, as well as in the children’s hospital sector, Nolan noted that the team was quite familiar with Gillette’s challenges and able to make a difference for an organization that has served its communities for over 125 years, providing care for brain, bone and movement conditions in children.

“RSM understands the situations our organization faces in terms of patient care, growth, revenue cycle, operations and more. The team brings us great ideas and thought leadership. It’s part of the reason we continue to work with them,” he says.

Since the launch of the 340B program, Gillette has engaged RSM in other work as well, including improvements related to management of the revenue cycle and denials of care, says Nolan. In addition, the RSM team maintains periodic check-ins with Gillette to share trends and new ideas.

“The insights provide a great value to us,” he says. “RSM has a genuine desire and care to help us be successful in our goals. The team always looks for ways to provide a perspective, not necessarily in terms of delivering RSM services, but to be collaborative in helping us meet our needs and goals.”

A shared passion

While RSM’s advisory services and commitment to operations and systems improvement are essential, equally important is the firm’s active support of Gillette’s mission, Nolan says. As the nation’s first hospital for children who have disabilities, Gillette remains committed to the well-being of their patients and families, serving more than 25,000 patients every year. Nolan says it’s important to work with professional services firms who share their passion.

To that end, RSM literally walks alongside patients, families and Gillette employees each year in the organization’s Walk & Roll event, an annual fundraiser that includes a fun walk, games and other activities, all to benefit the hospital. RSM is an event sponsor, and the firm’s employees actively participate in the event throughout the day. According to an RSM team member, the sponsorship is an extension of RSM’s own value of stewardship and provides the firm’s employee network groups with a great opportunity for community involvement.

“It’s important to us that RSM is engaged in our mission,” Nolan says. “It means their work with us isn’t just a transaction. It’s bigger than that. It’s truly about helping the children we treat.”