fbpx

How Health Business Solutions Cuts Through the Fog of Health Insurance

Though he is by all accounts gregarious and warm, not everyone is happy to see Ray Berry when he arrives at a hospital system’s business offices. The Fort Lauderdale-based company he founded, Health Business Solutions, is called in to fix things, after all—specifically, to address billing practices that lead to high denial rates from insurance companies. And that data-driven process often reveals weak links in staff and processes. But Berry does more than point fingers: the real innovation from HBS has been the development of educational materials, training that leaves the facilities better off after the contract is over.

“We can teach them how to do the job,” he says. “More than a million people in this country do this type of work in the business office, but there’s no secondary education for it. In every other part of the hospital, you have to go to medical school forever. All the other people are highly credentialed. But in this area, they’re really just go-getters. Everybody learns by going and working at a facility.”

Since its founding in 2002, HBS has recovered more than $4 billion in denied claims for hospitals, in the process adding hundreds of jobs to the Florida workforce. The growth continues. In many ways, the pandemic did not slow the activities of HBS; much of its work was already being done remotely because Berry has been hiring talent from around the country for a number of years. But since insurance regulations often require, for instance, in-state printing of documents, his operation in South Florida has expanded. Before the pandemic, HBS employed around 160 people. That number is 450 today.

Berry has been involved in health care in one way or another for quite some time. Early in his career, he worked for the state agency then known as Health and Rehabilitative Services, where he helped make positive policy changes to impact youth. He then became CEO of the Brown Schools, a group of 17 psychiatric hospitals for juveniles, an experience that led directly to the idea for HRS. Brown had plenty of patients, venture capital ownership satisfied with the margins, and what Berry describes as “a great payer mix,” but revenue was not where he thought it ought to be. “This was 1998. I went to my CFO and I said, ‘Why aren’t we getting all the money that we’re supposed to get?’ And he said, ‘Because the insurance companies deny us.’ I said, ‘What do we do about it?’ And he said, ‘We put them in a drawer.’ ”

At least two actions resulted from the conversation. First, Berry tasked a handful of employees with following up on insurance company denials—and he saw EBITDA move from 14 percent to 35 percent. (“No money from people,” he says. “Only from the insurance companies.”) Second, Berry began asking around and found that the issue, and the placement of denials into a proverbial drawer, was widespread. He took “all my life savings,” and started HBS.

Denial rates in health care range widely. Berry places the national average around 16 percent, which was the rate his first client was experiencing. He reduced the number to 3 percent. Berry knew he had a strong business—he was, he says, building a backyard pool in his mind—and figured he had three years before the government fixed the payer system and eliminated the need for his services.

Nearly two decades later, HBS operates in a well-populated space, with much bigger players—“My competitors are all billion-dollar-market caps,” he says—and the health care business remains a complex tangle. Somehow, Berry remains optimistic, in large part because he wants communities, especially his own, to thrive. Gov. Ron DeSantis recently reappointed him to the board of the North Broward Hospital District (Gov. Rick Scott appointed him first in 2018), one of the nation’s largest, and his tenure as chairman has been credited with stabilizing the system on a variety of fronts.

Berry gives back in numerous other ways—and it’s personal. “I have four children, so that’s my real job,” he says. “I want Broward County to be the kind of place they want to come back to, to live in. Because I’m going to retire here. So, what do you need? The beach doesn’t hurt. But you need education, you need jobs, you need health care.”

By David Zivan | Photos by Eduardo Schneider

You May Also Like

Now Optics Opens New Corporate Headquarters in Delray Beach

The move is expected to bring 45 jobs across seven departments in the Delray Beach area.

Transformative Healthcare Solutions and Florida Mental Health Coalition Host Inaugural “Back2Basics” Festival 

The event will help honor Mental Health Awareness Month in May.

Caron Florida Launches Mental Health Program to Address Mental, Spiritual and Physical Health

The nonprofit organization in behavioral health aims to increase exposure to the issue during Mental Health Awareness Month in May.

United Way of Broward County Partners With Local Nonprofits to Host Annual Behavioral Health Conference

With May being Mental Health Awareness Month, many nonprofit organizations are working to support those living with mental or behavioral health issues. To help reduce the stigma and raise awareness about the support services available to South Florida residents, the United Way of Broward County, in collaboration with the Broward Behavioral Health Coalition and the Florida Department of Children

Other Posts

Stephanie Green Appointed South Florida President of Fifth Third Bank

Fifth Third South Florida has 76 full-service banking centers and over 550 employees.

Proficio Capital Partners Opens Miami Office

Proficio takes a strategic approach to diversification by creating a well-diversified portfolio comprising various asset classes and securities.

Atlantic Group of Companies Begins Sales of Ultra-Luxury, Boutique Project in Palm Beach Shores

The Atlantic Group of Companies is a comprehensive, multi-division real estate brand focused on all aspects of real estate development with successful properties throughout Florida and North Carolina. 

Breakwater Hospitality Group Unveils Sneak Peek of New Miami Headquarters

Interior architecture designers have crafted a space that exudes the lively and hospitable coastal vibe of Miami.