Fuse Oncology Case Study

Fuse Oncology was founded in August 2021 by BJ Sintay, PhD, David Wiant, PhD, and James Bauler, MA, from the development of business and clinical intelligence technology called S!GNAL in use at Cone Health in Greensboro, N.C. Cone Health realized the benefits of its home-grown technology focused on radiation oncology workflow and sought to make the solution commercially available in the industry.

At Cone Health, radiation oncology providers sought to begin treatment of cancer patients within 24 hours; the average time of time to treat spanned three to four weeks. Administrative and financial revenue cycle complexities combined with radiation oncology complexities make the billing and coding process extremely challenging.

With a solution that eliminates traditional inefficiencies associated with care provision relating to documentation, multi-provider communication, and disparate systems, Cone would cut time to treat—working both smarter and faster—and streamline billing for a more profitable and effective radiation oncology delivery system.

Cone Health Moses Cone Hospital was the site of the development and piloting of S!GNAL technology with the support and expertise of Prinnovo. The clinic—as well as other radiation oncology clinics nationwide—had millions of dollars at risk annually, and failed to respond with an effective solution that improved the complicated processes of patient treatment and its associated billing components.

A solution leveraging automation to catch problems before they occur as opposed to later in the revenue cycle was the optimal remedy. This software technology automatically identifies and tracks critical information in radiation oncology including missing documentation, incomplete tasks/orders, or wrong charges entered.

Prinnovo supported the development, implementation, and piloting of Fuse Oncology’s S!GNAL technology home-grown at Cone Health Cancer Center. The organization realized:

• $8M direct savings
• 34% patient growth
• 80% workflow on Fuse-licensed technology

Further, proven success is demonstrated by:

• 43% fewer physicians
• 41% fewer physicists
• 20% fewer therapists
• 96% improved audit efficiency
• 95% employee engagement

Prinnovo adapted to the unique needs and vision of Cone Health, understanding the value of the technology and supporting the value creation for expansion outside Cone. While home-grown development was a non-traditional model for Prinnovo, their ability to adapt and guide expansion was invaluable.

Implementation of S!GNAL has been successful outside Cone, with 250 contracted LINAC installations in progress, on a path to break even at 150 installations. Fuse technology is enabling 90-95% efficiency gains in the charge capture review process, and has been able to achieve the following:

• Identify >$2 million a year in revenue at risk because of documentation and coding errors
• Eliminate the need for continuous back-office audits
• Reduce denials by over $7 million a year
• 96% increase in efficiency in charge review and correction

Additional metrics include:

• $5.2M CARR
• $1.25M EARR
• $26M pipeline
• $104K LTV/LINAC via $4,160 CAC

SaaS healthtech companies, similar to Fuse,  are trading at 15-25x annual revenue values indicating significant value creation for Cone since the launch of Fuse. One indication of the product-market fit is the approximate 25x CAC/LTV that Fuse has created, to date, on the S!GNAL product. SaaS companies are typically happy to see 3-5X CAC/LTV ratios. Further, Fuse has not had a single paying customer cancel their subscription or fail to renew their subscription.

Since Prinnovo partnered with Cone Health to develop and market Fuse Oncology’s S!GNAL technology, the solution has experienced widespread implementation and growth. Technology from Fuse is in place at healthcare organizations across 13 U.S. states, with contracts in 10 more, rapidly expanding its footprint.

As demand continues to grow for radiation oncology services, the technology is scaling to meet provider needs by delivering a huge return on investment with new opportunities for clinical efficiency, improved compliance, and uncaptured reimbursement on an ongoing basis.

As S!GNAL continues to demonstrate its impact on billing and coding practices in radiation oncology clinics—reducing errors, uncovering revenue, and freeing up staff time—Fuse Oncology is commercializing additional solutions—already proven at Cone Health—including FuseDocs, that have generated significant improvements, quantified by Cone’s average time to treatment.

Prinnovo has continued to adapt to the unique needs of Cone Health to realize value and enable clinics to transform their practices with unparalleled standardization and innovation.

Now, with S!GNAL widely adopted, radiation oncology clinicians are sharing a seamless experience that eliminates duplicative and inefficient efforts to enable a future where oncology care moves at the speed of patients.