Methodist Family Health

Challenge

Over the years as the organization expanded and opened programs across the state of Arkansas, the accounts payable (AP) department experienced significant growing pains. While the AP department was based out of the Methodist Family Health offices in Little Rock, vendor invoices for services were being mailed directly to the various program locations across the state, and then forwarded on to the Little Rock offices. AP personnel would then review the invoices to determine what the charges were for and who should be the approver before mailing it, many times, back to the original location, or possibly to another, for approval. Once approved, the invoice would be returned to AP for posting into the organization’s accounting software for payment.

Obviously, the back and forth nature of this process, which was required to obtain required approvals, was very inefficient and untimely. Invoices were constantly lost in the process or left unattended on people’s desks for extended periods. This resulted in payables aging well beyond vendor deadlines and resulting in significant late fees. Utilities for the various program locations were regularly shut off for lack of payment which would require additional reactivation fees for the utilities to be turned back on.

Storage of processed invoices was also a significant issue as well. As a healthcare entity, accounting document retention standards were high, and the company kept one year of paid invoice files in the office while storing six-years’ worth offsite.

Blake Morgan, Controller for Methodist Family Health noted that, “Storage for all of our AP documents was costing us $6,000 a year, but this was a relatively minor issue. The primary issue we were dealing with was the timely payment of our vendors to ensure the lights stayed on at all of our locations. This problem had reached a level that we knew we had to find a solution in order to enable growth moving forward.”

Morgan was familiar with another document management system he had used at a previous company, but knew Methodist Family Health needed a right-sized, more affordable solution. He contacted their Sage ERP vendor who suggested DocLink as a perfect fit. “My contact told me DocLink was exactly what we were looking for, that it could be programmed to automatically route our invoices for approval, track them, send notifications, serve as a repository, and capture images of both checks and direct deposits issued for payment. And the seamless integration with Sage was important. Once we reviewed it and saw the cost savings, we felt like it was a no brainer to go with DocLink,” states Morgan.

Solution

Methodist Family Health implemented DocLink with minimal issues, after its implementation team, with the assistance of Doclink personnel, spent time defining the information needed both for the program and for their business purposes. Once implemented, the company eliminated their paper records in AP, and immediately experienced speedier and more accurate invoice processing.

With DocLink, the company was able to age-out document storage and now nothing is kept past a week. All program locations now use the home office address so that its vendor invoices are mailed directly there rather than going to the local program locations (only about 15% of vendors are billing via digital invoices). AP then scans each invoice into DocLink and indexes them with the required information. The digital invoice then moves into workflow, and the system automatically routes it to the appropriate approver(s) depending on what level of approvals are required. Once all approvals are complete, the invoice automatically uploads into their Sage accounting software for payment. Invoices no longer sit on desks or get misplaced because DocLink is set up to send daily reminders to approvers, as well as their supervisors, of the invoice in their queue. If invoices aren’t approved within three days, DocLink automatically routes the invoice on to the next approver.

Morgan revealed that, “If invoices sit stagnant, then we can’t meet our own deadlines, and DocLink has done an excellent job in making sure we no longer have late payments and that the lights stay on.”

DocLink has also automated indexing payments using ERM capture. Now when a check prints or an EFT payment is sent, an image of that payment is directly connected to the invoice and all other related documents.

“The indexing capabilities DocLink provides has been an essential part of our success. We believe that our team members who directly work with specific vendors should have access to payment data at their fingertips. When one of their vendors contact them for payment information, they can answer their questions instantaneously. DocLink allows them to pull up the vendor’s invoices and see what we’ve paid, the check number, the direct deposit number, etc. That’s made our AP team’s lives so much easier since it shifted the workload off of them to the actual team member doing the business,” states Morgan.

Methodist Family Health eventually also added DocLink Mobile to help them automate their credit card and expense report processing. Historically, expense reporting was a very manual process which required significant amounts of documentation (credit card slips, etc.) for verification. Now with DocLink Mobile, card holders capture receipt images using their phone camera and add them to their expense report automatically using the DocLink app. DocLink then automatically matches indexed receipts to the monthly credit card statement.

Morgan comments, “DocLink Mobile has been a huge timesaver for every one of our 80 credit card holders as well as our AP department. We moved all of our credit card processing to DocLink and since that time it has significantly streamlined the entire process for us.”

Seamless Transition to Remote Workforce with COVID-19

With the onset of COVID-19, the organization, as a healthcare provider, was deemed to be an essential business and its patient care programs remained open. The organization’s administrative departments, including the accounting department were able to work remotely during this time due to DocLink’s inherent remote capabilities. The company’s receptionist, who was one of a handful of employees that worked in the office daily, would scan the invoices as they were received. AP would take it from there and process them from their homes.

Morgan emphasizes, “If we hadn’t had DocLink, there’s no way we could have worked remotely during the pandemic. But since our documents are all online, we can access everything we need and keep things moving along the process. DocLink played a crucial role in allowing us to maintain our efficiency while working remotely. I personally was able take care of my kids during the shutdown. I could work and manage my children’s distance learning, since they were unable to attend school.”

Additionally, as a Medicaid provider as well as a large contractor for the state, the organization is required to have an annual audit each year, and the cost information supported by payables is a key area of the audit. DocLink enabled Morgan and his team to efficiently complete the audit process by enabling them to access, communicate and walk the auditors through the information remotely.

“Nothing had to be changed or postponed in the area of AP because of DocLink’s ability to let us work remotely. Business requirements didn’t change – we still had the audit and our vendors who relied on us to pay them on-time. We do a lot of business with small local companies that have been hit hard with the shutdown, and we’re proud that we’ve been able to continue paying them in a timely manner. Every penny counts to them and a customer who can pay you timely right now is crucial. DocLink was essential in allowing us to do everything remote – our team didn’t skip a beat and continued working efficiently,” comments Morgan.

Benefits for Methodist Family Health

Methodist Family Health has experienced substantial time savings since implementing DocLink.

• Invoice processing times have been reduced by about 70%, going from 45 days for receipt to payment to 14 days total.
• Expense report processing takes 50% less time than it did prior to DocLink, now 10 days instead of 20.
• Audit preparation (compiling documents) used to take 36 hours but now only takes 5-6 hours to complete.

Additionally, the cost savings have been significant.

• The company was completely able to eliminate off-site storage, saving an estimated $6,000 annually.
• And the organization has been able to grow significantly without having to add any additional AP staff.

Morgan says, “Our AP person used to only do AP, but now with DocLink, they can process so many more invoices because of our growth, and they’re able to do it in about half the time as before. Now they have time to take on other jobs and projects in accounting and other departments.”

He concludes, “If I had to summarize what DocLink has done for us I’d say it’s really allowed us to run a more streamlined and more efficient department, providing 100x more efficiency than we had manually. But the greatest thing about DocLink is that it’s positively impacted our relationship with our vendors. I strongly encourage that every company looking for an automated system should check out DocLink.”