VIE Healthcare Consulting patents spend management tool

VIE Healthcare Consulting, a Wall Township, NJ-based healthcare consulting firm, has received a patent for its invoice analytics system.

The consulting firm’s “Invoice ROI” solution offers invoice reconciliation, contract optimization, business intelligence, and an analytics platform.

The now-patented solution has the unique feature of providing healthcare organizations with the line-item details of their purchased services spend. According to VIE Healthcare Consulting, competitor offerings require manual effort and do not deliver line-item level visibility.

VIE’s offering starts with line-item reconciliation for the past 12 to 18 months to uncover pricing errors and non-contract spending. The system then enables real-time corrective action, with invoice accuracy matched to the contract prior to the payment of invoices.

“In some cases, up to 30% of healthcare organization purchased spending is either not detailed on the contract or does not match the contract pricing,” said Lisa Miller, founder and CEO of VIE.

“From there, VIE Healthcare Consulting experts identify trends in utilization that can increase costs and provide preventative advice to save money. By moving straight to benchmarking before carrying out a line-item analysis, significant cost-saving opportunities are often overlooked and missed.”

A solution that utilizes only benchmarking and dashboards is still missing an essential element for cost saving, according to Miller.

“Categorization via a dashboard can be used as a tool, but shouldn't be relied on as a strategy,” she said. “It's important to understand where the market is. However, with benchmarking alone – you still miss cost savings opportunities. If your hospital is not doing reconciliation and isn't reviewing 12-18 months' worth of historical invoices, you’re leaving money on the table.”

Founded in 1999, VIE focuses on helping healthcare organizations reduce non-labor expenses – including IT services and products, materials, and third-party supplier costs. The consulting firm has more than 20 experts specializing in cost reduction, data, technology, and healthcare business analysis.