Our Advantages

The SMG advantage can be summed up in one word: experience. We didn’t learn how to provide the services we offer today in a seminar, or by watching other people do it. We learned it by running hospitals and clinics, by managing revenue cycles, by adding service lines, by preparing cost reports, by learning firsthand what works well, and what works better.

We’ve also learned for ourselves what makes rural healthcare institutions unique, and the special financial, operational and regulatory challenges they face. Low patient volumes, complex payer combinations, difficulties in recruiting and training business office staff – these are issues that SMG has faced before, and successfully managed. That’s why we think we’re ready to be your strategic healthcare partner.

Contact

Jim Blackwood
Chief Executive Officer

(662) 756-2626

jim@smg-health.com

Staff Experience

SMG’s leadership and staff come from every major aspect of rural healthcare administration. Our executive team is made up of people who have served as CEO, CFO and COO of rural hospitals and nursing homes. Our revenue cycle staff is made up of people who have successfully managed revenue cycles in rural healthcare facilities. Our Intensive Outpatient Therapy staff is made up of people who have established and run successful IOP programs at rural healthcare facilities. The list goes on and on.

SMG’s staff has a combined total of over 100 years of experience in every major aspect of rural healthcare administration. In that time we’ve successfully done everything from tune-ups to turnarounds in a variety of settings and under a wide range of circumstances. Whatever your needs are, SMG’s team has the experience to help.

Technology

Since the advent of electronic medical records programs, technology has taken an increasingly critical role in effective healthcare administration. In our experience, some clients responded to the requirement of an EMR program by purchasing it, installing it, and then only using a fraction of its capability. The reasons for this have ranged from provider resistance to insufficient staff training; EMR also tends to bring other weaknesses to light, such as outdated chargemasters or work patterns geared toward “working around” the EMR program instead of utilizing it fully.

SMG can help you better integrate your EMR program, ensuring that charts are documented properly, procedures are coded correctly, and your facility’s bills go out accurately and on time.

Community Advantages

SMG’s earliest projects involved wall-to-wall management of Critical Access Hospitals in rural communities. So we learned, from our very beginning, the importance of strong ties between rural healthcare institutions and the communities they serve. SMG knows how to work with the interest groups typically found in these communities – political, social and economic – to strengthen the ties between the community and its healthcare system.