NICK ROGERS
Back to Basics
Welcome to RCM Connections!
JENA R. EGGERT
CEO & Founder RCR|HUB and JER Marketing
As the summer winds down and football season kicks off, we’re excited to bring you the August edition of our magazine. In this issue, we’re thrilled to feature an exclusive interview with Nick Rogers from Amazon Medical. Discover how the Amazon’s effect is taking hold.
Less than 40% of Americans see a primary care physician regularly. Imagine the impact we could make if we could get more people back to prioritizing their health. Together, we can drive positive change and improve the lives of countless individuals.
Basics
Our RCRIHUB CommUnity continues to flourish! Last month, we welcomed over 10,000 new members and witnessed a significant increase in sponsorships. Your support is invaluable in helping us create a thriving and supportive environment for RCM professionals.
Behind the scenes, we’re hard at work on exciting new projects and initiatives. Stay tuned for more updates on our upcoming offerings.
As we gear up for the return of college football, (GO BIG BLUE), we can’t wait to see all our Florida friends at Margaritaville!
Cheers to our vibrant RCM CommUnity!
Much love and light, Jena
TABLE OF CONTENTS
01.
AMAZON RCM INTERVIEWNICK ROGERS
07.
NICK’S PICKSFAVORITE BOOKS
10.
RCM CONNECTIONSFREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
12.
HAPPY LABOR DAY
17.
CONTACT USRCR|HUB
NICK ROGERS
Head of Amazon RCM
CUSTOMER OBSESSION IN RCM
Jena Eggert: Nick, thank you for taking the time to sit down with me today via Zoom to share your RCM journey with readers. When interviewing our leaders in RCM, I’ve always found it fun to kick off an interview by asking my guests to introduce themselves.
I’ve found the answers to be far more fun than anything I can create. So with that, the stage is yours.
Nick Rogers: Thanks for having me, Jena. I appreciate the opportunity to lean a little bit into my background in healthcare and how we approach it at Amazon. At Amazon One Medical, we have a unique way of introducing ourselves that I find particularly impactful. Instead of a traditional approach, we use C-I-CARE, which is a mental model we use to interact with patients and coworkers. In a C-I-CARE way, I’ll introduce
myself; in that spirit, I’m Nick Rogers, based in Boca Raton, Florida, where I lead the revenue cycle team for Amazon One Medical. I have been with Amazon One Medical since May 2022. I joined One Medical just before the announcement of its acquisition by Amazon.
Jena: Let’s start by talking about your education. Where did you go to school? What was your educational path, and lastly, was a career in healthcare revenue cycle management always something you envisioned?
Nick: I went to Florida State for my undergraduate degree and graduated with a political science degree and a minor in economics. Initially, I thought I wanted to be an attorney- there are many in Florida! I decided I was tired of school and didn’t like writing documents, which is ironic because I ended up at Amazon where writing documents is one of our core business functions. I took time between undergraduate school, before I went back to grad school, doing financial services and sales and got my SEC Series 6, Series 63 and FINRA licenses. I thought I was going to be the next Wolf of Wall Street, but that did not pan well. I graduated and joined the workforce about a month before the recession in 2008, and it was
certainly not a “buyers” market. After a short run in finance, I decided to return to graduate school and pursue my MBA at the University of Memphis. I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, so it was a homecoming of sorts. was a graduate assistant during my time at the University of Memphis at the Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality and Resort Management. Kemmons Wilson, the founder of Holiday Inn and Intercontinental Hotels Group, was an influential philanthropist in Memphis, who made significant contributions to found the school. I was lucky enough to get one of the last available graduate assistantships which was under professors at the hospitality school. I worked under professor-chefs and learned or assisted in teaching and grading paperwork. I did all the things a graduate assistant does, but for classes like knife skills, casino games, the economics of hotels. I certainly had a very interesting run as a graduate assistant.
When I finished my MBA, I knew it was time to find a career (again). This is where my story in healthcare begins. A couple of months before I was to graduate, and a very good friend of mine, growing up, his aunt worked at Community Health Systems at the time, and they were insourcing a bunch of their Medicaid eligibility work from a vendor and
standing up a team within the PFS department to do it. She was looking for all the talent that she could get to hire. We ran into each other at Thanksgiving at his house, and she was asking me what I was planning on doing after I finished my MBA. I said I wasn’t sure. I knew I didn’t want to go back into financial product sales. I was open to opportunities. She pitched the idea of me joining her department at Community Health Systems. It was called Eligibility Screening Services. I started working a couple of weeks after I finished grad school and started working at CHS. That is how I got my start in healthcare, totally circumstantial and a bit opportunistic
Jena: Who have been the key mentors along the way?
Nick: There are a ton of them! Even outside of healthcare, I could rattle off a list of people who have just spent more time than me than necessary to see me through my career. Catherine Hampton McCullum, my mentor who brought me to CHS, played a key role in my early days at Community Health Systems. Danielle Holguinchallenged me to learn and understand professional corporate standards. Shirley Irby-Radcliffe was also instrumental in my development, providing valuable insights and support. She let me spread my wings, and gave me
more trust that I probably had earned at the time. When I moved to Conifer Health Solutions, Dawn Castro and Chris Delaney both played crucial roles in shaping my career. Dawn brought me into Conifer and took a chance on me (many times) in very challenging roles. Dawn gave me the latitude to prove myself and earn trust, intentionally putting me in very c hallenging situations to help me grow. Chris pushed me to step up and take control of situations and gain the trust I needed from the other stakeholders in the organization. Both were influential in my time at Conifer, allowed me to grow, and put the trust in me that I needed to continue to learn and expand my career.
Jena: Moving on to your current role, can you elaborate on what you’re doing at Amazon and what excites you?
Nick: I joined One Medical in May of 2022, and in July of 2022, they announced they had signed an agreement to be acquired by Amazon. The deal closed in February 2023. After the merger, we’ve been working through the cultural differences and similarities between One Medical and Amazon, blending those things that work well and growing that relationship to deliver on our mission for our customers, members and patients. The day-to-day of my role right now
is certainly operational, I would say, 70% of the time and strategic 30% of the time. I run a traditional mid-cycle to backend revenue cycle functions, everything from coding all the way through to the patient billing and customer service functions.
One Medical’s business model is unique. We partner with health systems across many geographies to bring our care model to a wide population of members and patients, collaborating with them to provide a more seamless experience between primary and specialty care. We also manage the RCM operations and the patient billing experience. It’s a sizable operation from a primary care standpoint. My colleagues at Amazon have challenged me a lot with strategy, looking for ways to generate efficiencies so that One Medical can ultimately provide better care to even more members. We constantly focus on customer obsession to deliver innovative ways to serve our members and patients, even in revenue cycle. Most of our goal-setting targets growth and efficiency. We believe the business can make it dramatically easier for people to find, choose, afford, and engage with the things they need to get and stay healthy. We’ll continue refining our process to address the needs that we have right now, but how do we develop a better business model? That’s one
of those things we are very diligent about testing. Are you doing the best you can? Why do we believe that this is the best we can do? Don’t just lean into industry metrics. My perspective, across the board, is that industry and regulatory metrics are too often the low bar for performance. When you talk about quality in chronic care management, that’s probably the low bar on where providers should be thinking. It’s not always aligned with the patient’s expectations, which is the north star. In reality, exceeding customer and patient expectations should be the low bar. Exceeding those expectations is critical to having a sustainable business model. Having the experience completely reimagined is the high bar. If you think about Revenue Cycle Management, achieving these metrics can be difficult. Too often, we’re looking at all the other providers or competitors around us and asking are we doing better than them? At Amazon, we focus on the customer, and develop our metrics based on the customer’s needs. Does the customer want to get their bill faster after their appointment? Yes, sure, they do. They would love to get the bill one day after they leave the doctor’s office instead of waiting 30, 45, 60, or 90 days. We constantly ask ourselves, “is this the best we can do?”, or “what is good enough for the patient?”. The constant challenge pushes us to improve and not just focus on arbitrary industry standards.
Jena: Can you provide more details about your team structure and how Amazon’s presence impacts your recruiting efforts?
Nick: Our team has a traditional RCM structure, where we provide coding, auditing, education, billing, AR management, and patient billing services. We have a global RCM team, which adds a valuable dynamic to our operations. Amazon’s presence has helped our recruiting efforts, due to its broad reach attracts a diverse range of talent.
Jena: Looking ahead, what are you most excited about regarding the future of Revenue Cycle Management and your role at Amazon?
Nick: I’m excited about a lot of things. One Medical’s growth presents a great opportunity to continue introducing people to the experience that so many of our members, including myself, already enjoy. We’re continually testing new approaches and refining our business to better serve our customers.
I’m also enthusiastic about offering Amazon RCM’s services to other medical groups and providers, outside of One Medical. We’ve had a lot of customer interest in providing RCM as a service, and we’ve listened to the voice of the customer and worked backwards from there, to deliver a service that meets the
needs of many different providers. By applying our unique strengths, experiences, and customer obsession, we will help other organizations solve their Revenue Cycle challenges and ultimately improve the patient experience. The future holds promise for collaboration and innovation, and I’m eager to see how we will contribute to that evolution.
Jena: Thank you, Nick. It’s been a pleasure learning about your RCM journey.
Nick: Thank you, Jena. I appreciate the opportunity to share my experiences and the exciting developments at Amazon. Want
NICK’S TOP BOOKS
PICKS BOOKS
F A Q Provider Interviews
Welcome to RCM Connections! Our provider interviews are a highlight of our monthly magazine, offering valuable insights from the passionate members of our RCM Provider CommUnity. Here’s a peek behind the curtain:
How Did Provider Interviews Become a Central Feature?
Initially, we aimed to pair providers with business partners for joint interviews. However, we quickly discovered that many of our business partners weren’t as enthusiastic about participating as we had hoped.
(If you’d told me that beforehand, I’d have bet a bottle of bourbon on it—lesson learned!). So, we pivoted and decided to spotlight our providers directly, making them the heart of each monthly edition. Alongside these personal interviews, you’ll find articles, ads, releases, and updates each month.
How Are RCM Providers Chosen?
There’s no formal process. We reach out to providers we admire and invite them to be featured. We’re looking for individuals currently working in a healthcare facility or organization who are passionate about RCM and eager to share their stories.
What Kind of Questions Are Asked?
We focus on the human side of RCM, delving into experiences, challenges, and successes rather than just stats and KPIs. It’s all about sharing real stories and connecting with our RCM CommUnity.
Are there fees for providers to be featured?
Absolutely not! Providers, nor their healthcare organization are charged for their feature.
Can Anyone Nominate a Provider?
Yes! You can nominate yourself or another provider. Providers must be in an active RCM role at a healthcare system or organization.
Do We Interview Providers from Rural
Community Hospitals?
Definitely! Providers from all healthcare facilities are welcome to participate regardless of size or location.
Want More Info?
Check out our provider interview guidelines to better understand the process and the types of questions we ask. We encourage all providers to consider participating—it’s a fantastic opportunity to share your expertise, connect with others, and contribute to the future of RCM.
Providers-We look forward to hearing from you and featuring your story!
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