About the organization
This healthcare organization provides outpatient medication-assisted treatment to help patients access effective treatment and support services without uprooting their entire life or livelihood. Above all else, the organization believes that anyone can achieve long-term positive outcomes with the right treatment and support.
A manual AP process threatens business growth
The healthcare organization has experienced significant growth, expanding from four treatment centers to more than 30 in just two years. This impressive growth is perfectly aligned with the organization’s corporate goal, which is to help as many patients as possible. Yet, as is usually the case, they experienced a few growing pains along the way, including with its finance and accounts payable processes.
When the organization’s Controller joined two years ago, he redesigned the accounting structure from the ground up to support the company’s rapid growth. His first priority was to move the company’s ERP system to the cloud by implementing Sage Intacct. With that solid financial backbone in place, he next set his sights on improving the AP process.
“When I joined [the organization], our AP process was completely manual,” the Controller explained. “We relied on a batch process where one employee manually entered invoice data, compiled 10-30 invoices into a single PDF, and then updated a spreadsheet to help find a specific invoice in those huge files.”
At that time, approximately 65-80% of the organization’s invoices were still being delivered by mail. This meant someone had to scan them and manually enter line-level detail into the accounting system, an effort that the Controller estimated took between five and seven minutes per invoice. The approval process was challenging, too. Invoices were emailed to managers at various centers, which was time consuming and could lead to delays or missed payments.
While the organization was equipped to handle approximately 3,000 invoices annually using its manual AP process, the company’s growth had increased this number to more than 10,000, an unsustainable volume going forward. “In order to scale the business, I knew we needed an automated AP solution,” said the Controller.
“Thanks to the efficiency gained by using MineralTree, I can process approximately 150 invoices per day. MineralTree is also very good at catching duplicate information, which saves me time and eliminates headaches.”
– Accounts Payable Accountant, healthcare organization
The decision to go with MineralTree pays off
The organization selected MineralTree, in part because of their Controller’s past experience with it. What really impressed him was MineralTree’s overall ease of use and how simple it would be for field-based doctors, nurses, operations directors, and other employees to approve invoices. MineralTree’s proven integration with Sage Intacct was the final benefit that sealed the deal.
Now with MineralTree, the team has embraced a more automated approach to invoice management and approvals. MineralTree’s invoice capture capability uses optical character recognition (OCR) in conjunction with human review to accurately capture important data from each invoice, even those with many different line items. The organization’s Accounts Payable Accountant has been impressed with this feature and the benefits it has delivered. “It has been astonishing to see just how accurate MineralTree is at capturing the right data,” he said.
Together, MineralTree’s invoice capture and AP automation functionality helped the Accounts Payable Accountant significantly reduce the time he used to spend on quality assurance and more time on the invoices themselves. “Thanks to the efficiency gained by using MineralTree, I can process approximately 150 invoices per day,” he said. “MineralTree is also very good at catching duplicate information, which saves me time and eliminates headaches from dealing with issues.”
A payables process measured in minutes
With MineralTree, the organization’s entire AP process is much faster, “mere minutes,” according to their Controller. “All of the invoice data is in one place, so we don’t have to look for it anymore,” he said. “We have a standing meeting with the CFO to review each week’s payables. It’s so easy to review and this new approach has improved our ability to do long-term planning.”
Not only does this help the speed of each week’s AP run and improve employees’ productivity, but it has also streamlined the effort related to the organization’s audits. “We used MineralTree to prepare for our most recent audit and it probably only took 20-30 minutes,” said their Controller. “This would have taken us several hours in the past.”
“We used MineralTree to prepare for our most recent audit and it probably only took 20-30 minutes. This would have taken us several hours in the past.”
– Controller, healthcare organization
Virtual Card by MineralTree becomes more than a silver lining
A key component of the organization’s payment mix is Virtual Card by MineralTree. Using Virtual Card, the organization earns cash-back rebates for making virtual card payments. “We were making these payments anyway, so the fact that MineralTree helps us generate a new revenue stream from them is a huge win. It’s been great for the accounting team to show that we’re not just a cost center. Now we’re able to contribute to the company’s financial success, too.”
Another benefit of Virtual Card is that it provides much better control over outgoing cash. The Controller is able to precisely time payments to hold onto cash as long as possible while still paying suppliers within their terms. In fact, he noted that many suppliers have been willing to accept the virtual card option in order to get paid faster.
A stable solution for company growth
While MineralTree has helped save time, increase efficiency, and even generate new revenues, perhaps its biggest benefit is how it has supported the organization’s growth. “We’ve grown from four centers to more than 30 and from 3,000 invoices a year to more than 10,000, all in just two short years and without growing our team,” said the Controller. “There is no chance that we could do all of this without MineralTree.”
