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Effective cybersecurity starts with readiness. Wipfli can help your organization reduce the costs of a data breach and improve your HIPAA compliance by focusing on proactive risk management.
From cybersecurity testing to HIPPA security risk assessments, our emergency preparedness services give you a fuller picture of your organization’s security position. We also help you comply with the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule, as well as provide training and exercises tailored to your organization.
Wipfli is ready to help your organization with any level of cybersecurity need, from developing policies and procedures to fully managed services.
After assessing your cybersecurity needs, we can help your organization implement a comprehensive solution, including firewalls, internal controls, vendor management and training. We also stay connected throughout the process, helping your healthcare organization manage the change and providing any troubleshooting support you need.
In the event of a cybersecurity incident, Wipfli provides response and handling support to help ensure continuity and access to your data and technology.
You’ll receive a dedicated phone number and email so that you can reach your incident response team 24/7. They’ll help you isolate, contain and eradicate incidents and minimize the impact on your organization.
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ARTICLE
Digital behavioral health therapy and Medicare opportunity
Behavioral health leaders are facing a familiar, but increasingly difficult equation: Demand is growing faster than the workforce, waitlists are lengthening and adding more appointments is not always financially or operationally realistic. The question is no longer whether organizations need more capacity. It is how to create that capacity without simply asking an already-constrained clinical team to do more. Digital mental health treatment may offer one part of the answer. Used appropriately, these tools can reinforce a clinician-led treatment plan between appointments, give patients another way to engage with care and support a more scalable operating model. Medicare reimbursement makes the opportunity more tangible, but reimbursement alone does not make the model sustainable. Why the traditional outpatient model is under pressure Outpatient behavioral health is labor-intensive. Revenue is closely tied to clinician time, yet organizations are competing for a limited supply of licensed professionals while managing payer rates that may not fully support the cost of recruiting and retaining them. More demand, by itself, does not solve that problem. That is why the strategic question should be broader than “How do we add appointments?” Leaders should ask: Which parts of care require a clinician in real time, which activities can be reinforced digitally and where could technology improve access without weakening clinical accountability? Where digital therapy can fit Digital therapy is most useful when it supports a defined clinical purpose. A clinician still evaluates the patient, establishes the treatment plan and determines whether a particular tool is appropriate. The technology can then support structured exercises, education, symptom tracking or skill reinforcement between visits. This is not about replacing therapists. It is about reserving clinician time for the work that requires judgment, relationship and intervention, while allowing patients to engage with structured elements of care on their own schedule. For the right patient population, this can improve continuity and help a clinician support more patients without simply adding hours to the calendar. Potential applications include structured support for conditions such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, post-traumatic stress and substance use disorders. The specific use must follow the product’s authorized indication and the organization’s clinical protocols. Not every app is a medical device, not every device is appropriate for every patient and not every digital interaction is reimbursable. Medicare creates an opening, not a guarantee Medicare now recognizes services associated with qualifying digital mental health treatment devices, including the supply of the device and related treatment-management work. That is an important change because it gives providers a defined pathway to evaluate. It should not be interpreted to mean that any behavioral health app can be prescribed and billed. Coverage and payment depend on the device, the patient, the professional furnishing the service, documentation, time requirements and other billing conditions. Organizations also need to confirm how their Medicare Administrative Contractor prices the service and whether Medicaid and commercial payers follow the same pathway. Medicare can be a starting point, but it is not a universal reimbursement strategy. Five questions leaders should answer before investing 1. What capacity problem are we trying to solve? Start with a defined patient population, service line or access constraint. A focused use case is easier to evaluate than a broad “digital transformation” initiative. 2. Which patients and treatments fit the model? Establish eligibility criteria, exclusions, escalation protocols and expectations for clinician involvement. Safety and clinical appropriateness have to lead the design. 3. Do the unit economics hold? Model device cost, expected payment by payer, staff time, patient activation, documentation, denials, integration and cybersecurity. The objective is not to claim volume. It is a sustainable care model that improves access and uses clinician capacity wisely. 4. Can the workflow support defensible billing? Ordering, onboarding, time capture, patient communication, device use and continued eligibility must be documented consistently. If those steps sit outside normal clinical and revenue-cycle workflows, the program may add work without producing corresponding value. 5. How will we govern and measure the program? Define accountability for clinical escalation, informed consent, privacy, cybersecurity, vendor oversight, outcomes and adverse-event response. Decide in advance what success means and when the organization will expand, redesign or stop the program. A practical path forward For most providers, the right next step is not an enterprise-wide rollout. It is a disciplined pilot. Select one clinically appropriate population, confirm the device and payer requirements, map the workflow, train the team and monitor access, patient engagement, clinician time, denials and net financial contribution. Digital therapy has real potential to extend care and improve the economics of outpatient behavioral health. But the opportunity will not come from the app alone. It will come from combining the right clinical use case with a defensible reimbursement strategy and an operating model that clinicians and patients can actually use. Read more Revenue leakage in healthcare: How to find and prevent it AI in healthcare finance: Practicality over hype, strategy over speculation 5 reimbursement strategies for rural health clinics
CASE STUDY
How Petaluma improved purchasing accuracy and efficiency with eProcurement
See how Petaluma Health Center simplified complex healthcare purchasing with eProcurement for Sage Intacct, improving accuracy, control and efficiency.
ARTICLE
AI in senior living: How organizations can use AI to scale smarter
AI is changing how businesses and organizations operate across sectors — and healthcare is no different. But while senior living leaders are curious about AI’s potential, many are unsure of how to convert that promise into meaningful results in areas like medication management, EHR analytics, personalized care and an all-around better experience for residents. However, the biggest roadblock here is often not technology, but mindset. Keep reading to learn more about how to solve that, plus more effectively implement AI within your senior living organization. What’s stopping senior living organizations from embracing AI? Faced with challenges like rising costs and Medicaid cuts that are already taking effect, many senior living organizations could benefit from finding efficiencies through AI. But this has proven easier said than done, in part because embracing AI demands a mindset shift. AI is a change management problem While integrating AI into your senior living organization does require implementing new tools and upskilling your team, it’s also largely an exercise in change management. Your team is used to operating one way, which can make building and sustaining the momentum you need to rebuild your systems or processes to take advantage of AI or automation tools feel a little bit like pushing a boulder up a hill. According to a survey of Wipfli clients, 91% of businesses or organizations report that non-technical obstacles are the biggest blockers to better leveraging new technologies like AI. Meanwhile, only 19% of executives actually feel comfortable leading an AI-transformation effort. In other words, because AI is still such a new and rapidly developing technology, organizations and leaders don’t feel comfortable with it. And that discomfort can make it harder to create results. Haphazard AI use can actually slow adoption and create chaos Is your senior living organization currently using AI? If your first instinct is to answer no, there’s a very good chance you’re wrong, because some of your individual team members are almost certainly using AI tools, regardless of whether they have buy-in from leadership. However, this risks creating a wild west scenario, where AI gets implemented piecemeal or haphazardly and without any overarching AI strategy. In this situation, you won’t have any governance standards, policies or processes to help ensure consistency, and can even risk HIPAA violations by exposing PHI to AI tools that don’t meet compliance requirements. Plus, such haphazard efforts will often flounder, blunting momentum for a more organized AI implementation plan. How should senior living organizations more effectively leverage AI? For senior living leaders looking to develop an effective, organization-wide approach to AI, the process matters. Specifically, you want to determine where you want to go, how you’re going to get there and what tools you’ll need to succeed. 1. Establish direction by identifying specific problems you want to solve A good AI strategy doesn’t mean buying your team a ChatGPT Pro subscription. Instead, identify specific problems within your organization where AI could make a difference. For example, if your organization is struggling to find skilled healthcare workers to fill key roles, consider whether AI could allow you to deploy your existing team more effectively by automating certain lower-level tasks so your staff can focus on more patient-centric work. Or can AI analyze data from your EHR to identify patient health trends you can use to improve care? Here, it can be good to lean on an advisory firm to help assess your current systems and processes and find gaps that AI could fill. You can also do this entirely in-house, so long as you keep the focus on looking for problems to solve. 2. Design your AI implementation strategy Once you’ve found problems that AI could help solve, you need to build a framework for implementation. This means designing an organization-wide AI strategy to help put new solutions into place. This includes laying out specific steps in the implementation process, identifying leaders or change champions to actually spearhead the rollout and establishing KPIs. It’s also essential to evaluate your existing data sources and prepare them for use by AI tools, a process that can include establishing a centralized data repository or warehouse. During this effort, you’ll need to consistently communicate with your whole team about why change is happening here and how they can help, as well as consider what training or upskilling opportunities you’ll need to provide. 3. Deliver by implementing specific tools that fit your strategy At this point, you can start implementing AI tools to solve the specific organizational problems you’ve chosen to target. However, this isn’t just a one-and-done event, but an ongoing process that involves both choosing the right tools and embracing the human, change management side of the equation. Your advisor can help you decide which AI solutions make sense for your needs, as the market has brought forth a dizzying array of options. Within your organization, communication remains essential, as you need to not just establish momentum, but maintain it. How can leaders prepare to oversee an organizational AI strategy? An effective AI strategy typically starts at the top, with commitment from leadership. So how should leaders prepare to oversee this effort with an eye towards more effective change management? Here are key leadership pillars to consider: Self-awareness: Before you ask your team to change by implementing AI, are you prepared to do the same? AI literacy: Your leadership team and organization need a shared understanding of what AI actually is and how you’ll be using it. Change leadership: Don’t just throw change at your team, but implement thoughtfully through planning, clear communication and celebrating wins or milestones. Effective use of resources: Throughout your AI implementation process, consider what work is being done, who will perform it, when it should happen and why it matters. Coaching and upskilling: Create training or coaching opportunities for your whole team to adapt to the changes within your organization. Read more Maximize new tax strategies for senior living providers 5 strategic planning imperatives for senior living organizations Embracing change in senior living: The path to innovation and growth
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