Jon Scala, a University of Mississippi graduate, is president and principal of Health Check Audit, a tenant of the university’s Insight Park that has grown into a major health care auditing firm. Photo by Kevin Bain/Ole Miss Communications
OXFORD, Miss. – Health Check Audit, with offices at the University of Mississippi’s Insight Park, has become one of the nation’s leading health care revenue recovery firms since adding office space on campus in 2014. The company recently went through mergers to position itself for even more growth.
Health Check, founded in 1995, provides revenue cycle services to hospitals throughout the country. Its main job is to conduct audit and recovery services for commercial insurance payments to hospitals. In 2014, Health Check invested in new equipment, leased office space and hired new staff at Insight Park.
The company represents more than 1,400 hospitals in some of the nation’s largest health care systems.
Health Check merged with Revint Solutions Oct. 31, then New Mountain Capital bought Revint and IMA Consulting and rolled them into one large company, which will continue to be called Revint Solutions. Ole Miss graduate Jon Scala, Health Check’s president and principal, and business partner Mark Koppel, the firm’s CEO, will keep shares in the much larger company.
The deal means that Health Check has gone from 40 employees to nearly 300 employees in the last three years. The changes position the company for a bright future with more resources for its clients and room to hire more employees, Scala said.
“Health Check is in a bigger, stronger position,” Scala said. “With the additional service offerings, subject matter experts and thought leadership, we are now able to provide additional value and critical lost revenue for our clients.
“Revint Solutions is the visionary firm the industry has been demanding for years. I am humbled to have the opportunity to continue to be a part of such a dynamic revenue integrity team.”
Health Check found a niche for itself in the complex world of health care reimbursement, tapping into a great need for cash-strapped hospitals. The company audits payments from insurance companies against the hospital’s bill in conjunction with the contractual obligations the payer has made with the hospital.
After an auditor finds an underpayment, other team members begin working on the lost revenue recovery process on behalf of the hospital. Health Check has identified nearly $100 million this year for hospitals across the country, including in the state of Mississippi.
“We put the money back into the hospital system that they never knew about, didn’t plan on and didn’t collect,” Scala said. “Every dollar is a blessing for them.”
William Nicholas, Insight Park’s assistant director, has watched the company grow since moving to campus and is impressed.
“I am delighted for Jon and the entire Health Check family,” Nicholas said. “I watched as Jon and Mark boldly purchased the company and immediately went to work hiring some of the university’s best and brightest graduates to help him achieve his vision for Health Check. I am so pleased that his courage and hard work has been rewarded.”
Scala, 34, who earned a Bachelor of Accountancy in 2005 and a Master of Accountancy in 2006, began working with Health Check in 2013. As part of his hiring agreement, he had the option to purchase the company and became its CFO. He decided Oxford would be an ideal spot for new company team members.
When it moved to Insight Park, Health Check quickly hired 10 graudates of the Patterson School of Accountancy to start. The company also has had interns from Ole Miss and has maintained a close relationship with the university to place students in jobs post-graduation in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment.
“Insight Park is the ideal location for Health Check,” Scala said. “The amenities available to tenants, combined with the proximity to top university talent, allowed us to take advantage of the intersection of talent, place and innovation.”
The company has become more tech-focused of late, and Scala wants to find more ways to partner with the UM Department of Computer Science.
Revint Solutions has about 300 employees nationwide and 15 times the revenue it had when it moved to Oxford. Health Check has hired nearly 20 Ole Miss graduates. Three of them, who are all 25 years old, hold key positions in the company, and two manage national health systems ranked among the top 10, Scala said.
One of the company’s young stars, Blake Pruett, may be familiar to Ole Miss fans. While a UM student, Pruett was a member of the rap group King Kobraz, which scored a major hit in 2013 with Ole Miss fans dubbed “Feed Moncrief,” a tribute to then-Ole Miss wide receiver Donte Moncrief.
Pruett, who began working as an auditor with Health Check during the final semester of his MBA classes, is the client services manager for Optum360, which provides end-to-end revenue cycle services for some of the largest health systems in California.
He manages the company’s product lines, client expectations and communication. His work experience has been very different and much more dynamic than others in his age group, he said, crediting Ole Miss for having connections to companies like Health Check.
“I have been extremely fortunate with the merit-based performance growth and additional responsibility at my age to never have to look outside to find work that suits me better,” Pruett said. “I believe this to be super-unique and really speaks to the power of the networking our school provides.”
IMA Consulting is a full service health care consulting firm that provides revenue management, operations management and interim management services to hospitals and health systems nationwide. Tony Scarcelli, co-managing partner of IMA Consulting, said the company works with more than 1,100 hospitals to solve complex problems, but he’s most proud the company is consistently being named one of the “Best Places to Work” by Modern Healthcare.
The merger creates a new market-leading company offering a full suite of technology-enabled revenue integrity and recovery solutions in addition to consulting and interim management solutions for health care providers, Scarcelli said.
Company officials look forward to the future of its relationship with the university, he said.
“We are extremely excited to be able to drive more value for our clients, drive innovation and provide new opportunities for our current and future team members,” Scarcelli said. “Revint Solutions will continue to add top talent to our organization to further enhance our market leader position.
“Accordingly, we are very excited to have access to a pipeline of highly qualified and talented students from Ole Miss.”