But first, some background

Located in the heart of Nebraska, CCH delivers top-level care to the nearly 24,000 people that call Columbus, Nebraska, their home. As a not for-profit hospital, it offers more than its Level-3 trauma care unit and 50-bed acute facility. With a wide variety of specialties including orthopedics, general surgery, cardiology and more, CCH has been providing quality care for Columbus and the surrounding area for more than 150 years. The community of Platte County has deeply appreciated the option for extensive healthcare that is close to home, so they don't have to travel far into neighboring cities to receive the care they need.

"It was a 26-week process and Ventus support kept us right on target. We were committed to staying on task because saving these dollars was so important to us. I can't speak highly enough of the great support and training that we had."

Chad Van Cleave
VP of Finance, Columbus Community Hospital

Inefficient manual coding can lead to insufficient care

As a top-rated hospital in their area, CCH leadership noticed the organization's financials differing with other competing hospitals in their surrounding area. While patient traffic maintained a steady rate, CCH saw its margins begin to decrease. To keep up with its peers, something needed to change. People rely on this hospital to provide excellent care for their families, and CCH needed to stay financially buoyant to continue giving the best care possible. CCH implemented a cost-containment plan, cutting back on extra amenities to save money, but it didn't justify what the hospital needed. CCH leaders knew that increasing prices affected their community, which went against the organization's overall ethos. So, leadership sought a different route. Reevaluating an inefficient ER coding system.

Coding in the ER: The ins and outs

Upon entering any ER, patients are assessed for the level of care they receive. Whether they received labs, X-rays, surgery and any other extensive care, patients are sorted into a "level" to determine how they are coded, which then determines what is billed to insurance. CCH coders did everything by the book. With a paper point system, hospital leaders relied on their coders to find errors and were conservative and careful to ensure that everything was coded
correctly. The leaders quickly realized how inefficient this process truly was. Using this point-based coding system, CCH fell more 1,000 ER visits behind in its billing backlog. CCH is currently averaging about 13,000 ER visits per year, which equals roughly 35 visits per day. If 1,000 records needed to be coded, the hospital was about 29 days behind. CCH was going to hire another coder to stay above water, but ultimately these inefficiencies could have led to loss of money, which eventually would mean that patient care will suffer. With a more efficient system, CCH was able to protect staff, lean on technology for more automated coding and earn the money it was owed-all to better ensure its clinical staff could focus on delivering next-level healthcare to its community members.

Ventus Intelligent Coding enters the conversation

Columbus Community Hospital ultimately opted to partner with Ventus Intelligent Coding to help protect its financial outcomes. With this solution, CCH leaders were presented with a grid-based system instead of a point-based system. At its core, Ventus Intelligent Coding relies on a structured coding hierarchy that includes the entire patient record for the whole coding picture. It eliminates the need for manual charge sheets and pulls necessary documentation into the charge rules engine to help assign the proper codes. Ventus Intelligent Coding automatically extracts information from medical records, and with a grid-based coding system, it defends the coding and charges-making it an easy and reliable science to coding. When CCH implemented Ventus Intelligent Coding,  leadership didn't change the organization's pricing at all: Ventus Intelligent Coding found everything they were missing.

"Compared to prior years, we have an increase of about $8.1 million. Nearly half of this comes from the ER. When we look further down, we see an operating margin of 5.9%, bringing us closer to the levels we were at several years ago. Ultimately, the decision to use Ventus Intelligent Coding brought our coding back in line with where it should be."

Chad Van Cleave
CCH's VP of Finance, said.

Columbus Community Hospital didn't want to change its prices and upcharge patients for the services they needed. Because of its commitment to the community, Van Cleave and his team found a solution that would not only help the hospital stay afloat and save its staff, but find money that was there all along. In doing so, the CCH can stay true to its mission of ensuring the best care possible for its patients.

The CCH partnership with Altera Digital Health

Implementing a new system this extensive often comes with challenges. Altera recognizes the disruption that a new system can be for healthcare staff, which is why having proper support during that time is crucial. "It was a 26-week process and Ventus support kept us right on target. We were committed to staying on task because saving these dollars was so important to
us. I can't speak highly enough of the great support and training that we had," Van Cleave said.

Vision for the future

As Columbus Community Hospital continues supporting its community, leadership is thrilled to embark on building a $28 million cancer center set to open in 2026. We are honored to be even a small part of this story and will continue helping CCH drive efficient coding so its providers can  focus on patient care. Underlying problems can create huge ripple effects across any organization, but there are greater solutions available to help overcome these challenges. We truly measure our success by our clients' outcomes, and we're proud to stand by a hospital that found a solution to bring next-level healthcare within reach. The journey to the summit of healthcare can be long, and we are proud to climb with CCH all the way up.