Solving Financial Pressure and Reimbursement Complexity in Long-Term Care
Long-Term Care (LTC) providers are navigating one of the most challenging environments in healthcare today. With razor-thin margins, rising labor costs, and the complexity of ever-changing reimbursement models, financial resilience has never been more critical.
The stakes have never been higher. As America's population ages rapidly—with over 10,000 people turning 65 every day—demand for long-term care services continues to surge. Yet providers find themselves caught in a perfect storm of escalating costs, workforce shortages, and increasingly complex regulatory requirements that threaten their ability to deliver quality care while maintaining financial sustainability.
The Financial Reality Confronting LTC Providers
Consider that:
Labor accounts for 60–70% of LTC operating expenses, making workforce spend the single largest pressure point for providers (CMS Cost Reports, AHA). With healthcare worker wages rising at double-digit rates in many markets and severe staffing shortages driving up overtime costs, controlling labor expenses has become mission-critical for organizational survival.
Medicare and Medicaid account for over 70% of LTC revenues, yet reimbursement rates often cover less than true care delivery costs. In 2023, Medicare covered only $0.83 for every dollar spent resulting in over $100 billion in underpayments across U.S. hospitals and post-acute providers (AHA Cost of Caring). This structural deficit creates an unsustainable operating environment where providers must subsidize government programs while struggling to maintain quality standards.
Compounding this challenge, One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) changes to Medicaid have intensified financial pressures on providers. With shorter retroactive coverage periods and stricter eligibility requirements, many LTC organizations now face increased risk of unpaid or partially reimbursed services. These policy adjustments, while aimed at managing federal and state budgets, effectively shift greater financial liability onto providers reducing predictable revenue streams and increasing administrative complexity. The result is a growing tension between sustaining financial viability and ensuring continuous, high-quality resident care.
Administrative inefficiencies cost U.S. healthcare up to $265 billion annually, much of it tied to billing, claims management, and reimbursement delays (Health Affairs, PubMed). LTC providers bear a disproportionate share of this burden as they navigate complex relationships with multiple payers, each requiring different documentation standards, prior authorization processes, and compliance protocols.
Outdated, fragmented systems and manual processes only amplify these challenges—creating hidden costs, revenue leakage, compliance risks, and staff burnout. Many facilities still rely on disparate systems that don't communicate with each other, forcing staff to enter data multiple times and creating opportunities for costly errors that can trigger audits and penalties.
The Compounding Crisis: Beyond the Numbers
These financial pressures create a cascade of operational challenges that are compounded over time. Manual payroll processes consume valuable administrative time and increase the risk of compliance violations that can result in significant penalties. Disconnected financial systems make it nearly impossible to track profitability in real-time, leaving administrators to discover budget overruns only after financial damage has occurred.
The workforce crisis adds another layer of complexity. High turnover rates—averaging 53.3% in post-acute and long-term care settings—mean constant recruitment and training costs. Meanwhile, the remaining staff face increased workloads that can lead to burnout, creating a vicious cycle that perpetuates staffing challenges and drives up operational costs.
The Solution: A Unified Partnership for Transformation
No single system or vendor can fully address the enterprise issues LTC providers face. The solution? A unified partnership between Workday, OneSource Virtual (OSV), and The Groove—designed to give you the tools needed to address today’s financial and operational challenges.
This isn't simply another technology implementation; it's a comprehensive approach to financial and operational transformation that addresses the root causes of financial stress on LTC organizations while building sustainable competitive advantages for the future.
Workday: Real-Time Financial Visibility and Control
Workday delivers a modern, cloud-based platform that integrates Human Capital Management, Payroll, and Financial Management. With real-time visibility into labor costs and revenue streams, LTC providers gain actionable insights to strengthen decision-making, improve forecasting, and optimize resource allocation.
The platform's advanced analytics capabilities enable providers to identify trends before they become budget-breaking problems. Predictive modeling can analyze historical overtime costs and prepare organizations for future spikes, allowing proactive scheduling adjustments that maintain quality care while controlling expenses. Real-time dashboards give executives the visibility they need to make informed decisions quickly, rather than waiting weeks for month-end reports.
For example, Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific consolidated 25 financial systems into Workday and reduced financial close times by 40%. Similarly, Dayton Children's Hospital went live with Workday HCM, Payroll, and Financials in just 6 months, moving from 45-day reporting delays to real-time monthly statements. These results demonstrate how Workday enables rapid ROI and scalable efficiency, even in resource-constrained environments.
OneSource Virtual: Mastery of Post-Payroll Complexity
Reimbursement complexity isn't just about billing—it's about the entire financial ecosystem. OSV brings deep expertise in post-payroll operations, including garnishments or withholdings, payroll tax filings, treasury management, and employee payments.
Their specialized knowledge becomes particularly valuable in healthcare environments where payroll complexity extends far beyond basic wage calculations. From managing union-specific requirements and shift differentials to navigating multi-state compliance challenges, OSV's expertise—coupled with employee pay solutions that provide instant access to earned wages and financial well-being tools that address modern workforce expectations—ensures that LTC providers can focus on care delivery rather than administrative minutiae while meeting employee demands for pay that's more than just on time and accurate.
This support helps avoid costly payroll errors—where IRS penalties can average $845 per violation—and relieves finance teams from repetitive tasks. At RHA Health Services, OSV's Benefits Service Center dramatically reduced administrative burden, with one specialist noting, "If it wasn't for the OSV Service Center … I would not be able to do this job." By managing compliance-heavy processes, OSV empowers internal teams to focus on higher-value strategic financial planning and revenue cycle optimization.
The Groove: Healthcare-Native Deployment and Partnership
Technology only creates measurable value when it's implemented effectively. That's where The Groove comes in. With deep healthcare and LTC expertise, The Groove ensures Workday is deployed seamlessly, tailored to LTC workflows, and embraced by staff through human-centered change management.
Their understanding of LTC operational realities—from complex resident acuity adjustments to intricate payer contract requirements—ensures system configurations align with actual business processes rather than forcing LTC operations to conform to generic system designs.
The Groove’s healthcare-native deployment model has helped organizations achieve 40% faster implementation timelines than traditional ERP projects. By leveraging best practices and LTC-specific insights, The Groove reduces implementation risk and accelerates ROI. In post-acute and long-term care settings where nursing turnover averages 53.3%, The Groove's emphasis on intuitive workflows and user adoption helps reduce staff burden and improve engagement, with less disruption to frontline care.
The Unified Impact: Transforming Challenges into Competitive Advantages
Together, Workday, OSV, and The Groove transform financial and reimbursement challenges into areas of strategic strength. Providers gain:
Granular labor cost control with real-time analytics that enable proactive management of the largest expense category, preventing budget overruns before they impact financial performance and care quality.
Stronger cash flow with systematized reimbursement tracking and reporting that reduces days in accounts receivable and improves collection rates across all payer types, providing the financial stability needed for strategic investments.
Reduced compliance risk via expert-managed payroll and payroll tax operations that protect against costly penalties by ensuring that state, local, and federal payroll taxes are filed in compliance with regulatory requirements across multiple jurisdictions.
Operational efficiency, redirecting time and resources to patient care as administrative burdens decrease and staff productivity increases, allowing organizations to focus on their core mission of delivering exceptional care.
The results are tangible: Dialysis Clinic Inc. cut $100,000 in operational costs and reduced reporting times from 45 minutes to 1 second using Workday.
Building a Stronger Foundation and Higher Standard for Long-Term Care
By uniting advanced technology, specialized expertise, and healthcare-native change management, Workday, OneSource Virtual, and The Groove deliver more than financial relief—they establish a higher standard for Long-Term Care. This collaboration empowers providers to strengthen financial resilience, enhance operational efficiency, improve regulatory compliance, and reinvest in their workforce and patient care.
In a sector defined by mounting pressures, this partnership offers clarity, resilience, and sustainability—allowing LTC organizations to thrive financially while focusing on their true mission: delivering exceptional, compassionate care.
Co-Editors: Workday and OneSource Virtual
