Attired in their special T-shirts, arranged to form the letters J-H-U, the employees of Core Services, the White Marsh-based group that is part of the Physicians Billing Service, certainly have something to celebrate.

The 80 employees in Core Services represent 20 percent of the total billing staff. They support the production units and handle customer service for the Clinical Practice Association’s billing operation. Since 1998, Core Services, together with the production units, have worked to make sure our physicians get paid. They helped cut the average time an invoice spends in accounts receivable from102 to 49 days.

Overall, the Physicians Billing Service has improved its accuracy rate from 88 to 99 percent. “With our days in accounts receivable and our performance, we’re right at the top tier of academic organizations in quality-driven programs,” says Joyce Slater, senior director of revenue operations for the CPA.

What does all this good news mean for Core Services? Concrete rewards. Employees who roll up a perfect record processing invoices at the end of the quarter receive a payout equal to 3 percent of their salaries for that quarter. This quality-driven incentive, added to an array of HR programs designed to build the Core Services organization and support employees, has cut turnover from a high of 10 percent six years ago to the current low of 3.6 percent.

—Anne Bennett Swingle