Overview
California Cancer Associates for Research and Excellence (cCARE) is the largest full-service, private oncology and hematology practice in California. cCare offers extensive services and care for every step of cancer treatment, including oncology, chemotherapy, radiation oncology, infusion and imaging.
cCare believes that cancer treatment is more than just medicine. It is also about compassion, prevention, research, and wellness. It is this compassionate approach, combined with cCare’s state-of-the-art facilities, comfortable environment, and commitment to implementing the most advanced treatment techniques available make cCare California’s premier cancer center.
The Need for an Accounts Payable Solution
Until recently, cCare relied on a manual approach to manage its entire accounts payable process. According to Ruby Linkins, cCare’s Accounts Payable Specialist, the organization’s past AP process was not as efficient as it could have been, leading to wasted time and effort, lack of real-time visibility into invoice status, and even errors.
“It used to be a tedious process,” Linkins explained. “We receive invoices by mail and email, so we had to open letters or print emails and then manually enter data into QuickBooks. As a healthcare organization, we often receive invoices with lines upon lines of medical supplies, and all of this information had to be manually copied over to QuickBooks. Then every week, we had to export spreadsheets from QuickBooks, format them, and deliver them to our department heads for approval.”
This process was extremely time consuming: with more than 1,000 invoices a month, Linkins estimated it took her and one other colleague between five and six hours each day to enter data, format spreadsheets, and email invoice reports. On top of that, team members in cCare’s eight clinics lacked real-time visibility into invoice status, which made it difficult to manage approvals and could result in a manager overlooking an important invoice.
Finally, when it came time to making payments, cCare would make two check runs per week, which involved printing and correlating checks, and then delivering them to the accounting manager for review and approval. As Linkins said, “It was quite a process,” and one that cCare was determined to improve.
“The approval process with MineralTree has been a lifesaver. The system gives me the flexibility to easily create rules at the vendor, manager, and class level, to make sure the right person gets the right invoice for approval. MineralTree has given us a significant advantage over our past approach.”
Ruby Linkins, Accounts Payable Specialist, cCare
Improving the Process with MineralTree
To overcome these challenges—and position its AP department to be as successful as possible—cCare realized it needed an AP automation solution. After evaluating several providers, the cCare team quickly determined that MineralTree was exactly what it was looking for.
cCare’s AP department saw the benefits immediately. The organization requests that suppliers submit invoices by email, so now all of the invoices go directly into MineralTree and automatically sync with QuickBooks. MineralTree’s line-level invoice capture feature uses optical character recognition (OCR) combined with a human review process to capture invoice data with a high degree of accuracy.
The MineralTree solution also improved cCare’s invoice-approval process. “The approval process with MineralTree has been a real lifesaver,” said Linkins. “The system gives me the flexibility to easily create rules at the vendor, manager, and class level, to make sure the right person gets the right invoice for approval. MineralTree has given us a significant advantage over our past approach.”
Best of all, MineralTree became a win-win: a solution that delivered benefits to Linkins personally as well as the entire cCare organization. “MineralTree helped both AP staff members save 80% of the time we used to spend on our manual process,” said Linkins. “This time savings has allowed us to spend more time focused on other high-value initiatives we simply couldn’t do before, such as reconciliations, expense analysis, and even helping to define a new purchasing process.”
End-to-End Automation and Audit Support
Derek Wilson, cCare’s Controller, agreed that MineralTree has made the entire department better. “I believe that our entire department is much more efficient,” he said. “With MineralTree, we’ve been able to automate the entire AP process, which has been instrumental in helping us make the on-time payments we need to keep goods and services flowing uninterrupted and improve relationships with suppliers.”
MineralTree has also given cCare a better way to find and provide information needed for routine audits. “Auditors always need copies of invoices, checks, reports, and other information, which could be difficult with our past approach,” explained Wilson. “Now, with MineralTree, we can go to a single solution and easily find whatever the auditors need. It has saved us time and effort and improved our ability to give auditors exactly what they need.”
“I believe that our entire department is much more efficient. With MineralTree, we’ve been able to automate the entire AP process, which has been instrumental in helping us make the on-time payments we need to keep goods and services flowing uninterrupted and improve relationships with suppliers.”
Derek Wilson, Controller, cCare
New Processes and New Revenues with SilverPay
cCare also took advantage of SilverPay, MineralTree’s virtual card payment option. With SilverPay, cCare earns cash-back rebates for making virtual card payments, a valuable new revenue stream that is reapplied to the business and shows leadership that the MineralTree solution can pay for itself.
Linkins also appreciated that SilverPay gave her team a digital approach to supporting vital processes during unprecedented times. For example, during the work-from-home restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, SilverPay let her continue to pay vendors without the need to visit the office to print paper checks. The MineralTree team is continually working to identify additional suppliers willing to accept SilverPay, so cCare will see even bigger rebates in the future.
A Vital Platform for Continued Business Success
As cCare’s AP department looks for new ways to add even more value to the organization, one thing is clear: they can’t do it without MineralTree. “Our team couldn’t operate without MineralTree today,” summarized Linkins. “The MineralTree solution has become an integral part of cCare’s AP process and has made every step faster and easier, so we can all do our jobs better and find new ways to contribute to the company’s success.”
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