Clarifire Conversations

Our office started buzzing around 11 a.m. as vendors began arriving for our 2017 Wellness Fair. Among them were UnitedHealthcare, Guardian Dental, Colonial Life, Superior Vision, North Shore Chiropractic, Hoola Monsters, The Fit Yard, Soho Juice, Orange Theory, Supergoop! and Elevate St. Pete.

The key to a successful MSR transfer is a smooth transition of the portfolio from one servicer to another. It’s a big feat, but not an impossible task. Automated workflow is an important tool to help decrease the risk, for both the customer and the servicer, of costly missed steps in the transfer process.

Automation is not a new concept. Technology has been automating manual processes in our generation for decades. The washing machine replaced the washboard, revolutionizing how we do our laundry. Online banking made it possible to access our accounts and pay bills anytime day or night.

As CEOs, we are accountable for the success or failure of our organizations. It’s a challenge that we chose to take on and don’t take lightly. Our heads are continually filled with questions about our latest margins, new technologies or cyber threat risks we need to look at, if we're running our business efficiently, and are we meeting the expectations of our customers?  Unfortunately, those questions don’t stop when our heads hit the pillow.

Efficiency is the measure of how well an action or group of actions are performed with the optimal amount of resources. How does your organization currently measure up?  Have you noticed longer cycle times, bottlenecks, or gaps within your processes across your organization? Have you discovered gaps that have exposed you to risk and loss of revenue?

We encounter obstacles each day, whether it’s the slow car driving in the fast lane or the person in front of you at the grocery checkout with 30 items in the express lane—obstacles are everywhere. How to implement automated workflow within your organization shouldn’t be one of them.

Tortilla. Chicken. Beans. Rice. Tomatoes. Cheese. Avocado. Sounds like the perfect taco, right?

For the families with children getting treatment at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital here in our community, it's so much more than a perfect taco. It's a warm, home-cooked meal after an exhausting day.

Accountants have a countdown to Tax Day. Schools have a countdown to summer. Retailers have a countdown to Christmas. The mortgage industry has an important countdown of its own that’s rapidly approaching. Will you be ready to start evaluating borrowers for the Flex Modification program on October 1st?

Let’s face it, change is inevitable. Sometimes it happens a little faster than we would like. However, organizations must change too or… let’s not think about that. It’s a challenge for development teams to keep pace with change and growing expectations from the business. 

Healthcare professionals understand how important it is that their patients have a good experience and are treated well during their stay, on top of the expectation of quality clinical care. Now more than ever, emphasis on the experience is critical as HCAHPS scores are directly linked to reimbursement initiatives through the Center of Medicaid and Medicare Services. 

Organizational nirvana: that feeling you get when you open the door to that one closet in your home. It’s okay—go ahead and laugh.  We all have one. The door opens and this time, instead of dodging falling items, you can see what’s there and actually find what you are looking for without fear of bodily harm. 

Hospital systems are focusing now more than ever on improving the experiences of patients and their families, as their “inpatient” providers are held accountable to value based service models.

Through Google searches and an increasing presence of online accounts, today’s consumer has an abundance of information available at their fingertips. Having information readily available when customers want it, empowers them to be self-sufficient. With 71% of consumers wanting the ability to solve their own customer service issues, self-service technology enables the customer interaction that shapes their experience in a way that works for them.

It’s no secret that structured rounding improves patient communications and case management outcomes. But, according to a study conducted by Stanford Health Care, purposeful rounding has also increased patient satisfaction by an average of 12% in some hospitals.

The term “workflow” isn’t new to the world of software. It’s used to describe how organizations are streamlining their business processes with automation to eliminate manual tasks and gaps. So what’s the big deal and why is implementing a workflow automation application so important?

This past May marked the 12-year anniversary of the NQF membership’s endorsement of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey as a measure of adult patient satisfaction administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

HCAHPS isn’t a term that is new to the healthcare industry.  Hospitals have been collecting and reporting HCAHPS data for almost a decade now.  They have been able to analyze the data, implement quality improvement initiatives, and see the results with increased HCAHPS scores and Medicare reimbursements. 

RegTech is a buzz word that, over the last couple of years, has found its place as a mainstay in the financial services industry.  What exactly is RegTech, and how does is differ from FinTech?  The answer is simple.  RegTech is short for regulatory technology and is a subset of FinTech that has risen out of the global complexity of regulation and its impact on financial services. 

Technology plays an integral part in the way healthcare organizations do business today. It allows hospitals to quickly address patient needs while adhering to value based service models.  There are many rounding products on the market that boast ease of use, scalability, and efficiency.  While all important, how does the product deliver on those promises? 

The outlook for the mortgage industry, including the future of loss mitigation, was the background for the Five Star’s recent Government Forum in Washington DC.  Keynote speakers and panelists enlightened attendees on what to expect from rising interest rates, declining housing inventory, the quest to attract millennials, all the while managing to a purchase-centric market.  Afternoon panel discussions focused on servicing specific scenarios to include what’s next for loss mitigation and the challenge of property preservation.

The Mortgage Bankers Association convened its 2017 National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference & Expo in Chicago on March 26 – 29, 2017.  Participants discussed the evolving role of technology in the mortgage space. The timely conversation comes as the National Association of Realtors’ 2017 Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends recently reported Millennials make up the largest share of homebuyers at 34%, with 92% of them turning to online resources to conduct their home searches.

As everyone who attended the MBA National Mortgage Servicing Conference & Expo returns to their desks, we look at the continued uncertainty of the Residential Mortgage Backed Security market (RMBS). What looks like a comeback for 2017, based on rising interest rates, may be temporarily stalled as the Federal Open Market Committee decided to keep the Fed Funds rate at 0.75 percent at the January 31-February 1 FOMC meeting.

The end of 2016 heralded in extensive regulatory guidance on loan modification alternatives to the Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP). Established by the US Department of the Treasury (DOT) in 2009 in an effort to standardize mortgage modifications, HAMP was retired on December 31, 2016 after providing nearly $10.5 million in consumer relief necessitated in response to the financial crisis. 

Late last year, at the Mortgage Bankers Association Annual Conference and Expo, attendees were asked, “What is most important in moving our industry forward?”.  There were five clear trending topics from the answers received, with each item having its unique impact on the industry and your organization.

The start of a new year symbolically represents a restart or clean slate to make this year the best year yet. We make resolutions to set our path for success and to create accountability. We join a gym to exercise more, buy fruits and vegetables to eat healthier, and create budgets to spend less.  We focus our efforts on creating a new you in the New Year.