Acentra Health: From Merger to Modernization with Costpoint

Making a Difference Across the Country

Acentra Health, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, combines public sector knowledge, clinical expertise, and technological ingenuity to modernize the healthcare experience for state and federal partners and their priority populations. The company develops advanced claims and provider solutions that improve efficiency and reduce costs, and delivers clinically focused service models for care management, eligibility and assessments, and quality oversight, all aimed at improving health outcomes.

Serving more than 140 million beneficiaries nationwide, Acentra Health supports 45 states and 25 federal agencies in their efforts to improve the health and well-being of the priority populations they serve.

With deep roots in government, technology, and healthcare since 1985, Acentra Health was founded in 2023 following the merger of industry leaders CNSI and Kepro. It is backed by Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG), a global investment firm. The company operates 27 offices across the U.S. and has a location in Chennai, India. With a workforce of 3,300 employees, plus over 4,500 credentialed clinicians and 450 physicians on its Advisory and Review panel Acentra Health has a well-documented track record of accelerating better outcomes for health agencies across the U.S.

“Acentra Health’s solutions and services are improving health outcomes and well-being for people across the U.S. in many ways,” explained David Adams, Chief Financial Officer. “When tragedy strikes, like the Uvalde school shooting in Texas, our support teams are there providing Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and counseling services. Our clinical teams help individuals and people with disabilities receive the care they need through Medicaid and Medicare, resolving conflicts between hospitals and insurance providers. And our technologists connect people with social and healthcare services faster than before with innovative solutions that leverage the cloud, as well as AI and machine learning.”

To provide these essential services effectively, Acentra Health depends on a foundation of reliable systems and tools that support their teams, no matter where they are. David added, “A robust support system is essential, especially when our teams are in the field. Even simple tools, like a mobile timesheet app, can make a difference. The app helps our teams easily manage their timecards on the go, so they can focus on the important work of improving health outcomes.”

A Strategic Plan for Success

Acentra Health’s clients rely on its technology-enabled solutions and services 365 days a year. That’s why the company had to act quickly to integrate financial systems following the merger. “While both companies used Costpoint before the merger, we were each using it in different ways, and neither was using it to its full potential. We knew we would have to combine into one system fully on the cloud.” shared David.

The first step involved assessing the current solutions to understand existing processes' functionality and limitations and identifying overall needs. To achieve this, Acentra Health partnered with Infotek Consulting LLC, a Deltek Marketplace partner with a proven track record of successful collaboration. As David explained, “Infotek helped us create a detailed plan that evaluated our current systems and included strategic planning for system integration. This ensured seamless communication between CNSI, Kepro, and Acentra Health’s systems, as well as third-party integration strategies and migration planning to Deltek’s GovCon Cloud Moderate (GCCM), which addressed data security, privacy, and compliance.”

In addition to assessing functionality, Acentra Health prioritized several key goals for transitioning to a unified system. One primary objective was to streamline operations. By consolidating processes, they aimed to create a more efficient workflow and minimize the time spent managing multiple systems. This approach would enhance agility and enable quicker adaptation to changes—essential qualities for their organization. They also sought to reduce overhead costs, minimize unnecessary or duplicate expenses, and optimize resource allocation. This would allow them to redirect funds to more critical areas that drive growth and innovation.

Turning Planning into Performance

With functionality assessments and goals clearly defined, the project launched in April 2023, concluding with a successful on-time go live on January 31, 2024. “With Costpoint, the familiar functionality remains where you expect it to be and the architecture is easy to learn and user-friendly. Those design elements enabled a seamless transition, both for our finance team and our employees.” The Acentra Health team utilized various Deltek training resources to explore the new capabilities, including Deltek University and knowledge base articles.

With the organization operating on a single system, the benefits and overall impacts immediately became evident. “The system's design greatly enhances our ability to understand project performance, both financially and in workforce management. It ensures that team members are appropriately charged to the right projects, allowing us to maintain effective controls,” said David.

Another clear advantage of Costpoint, according to Beth Lutz, Vice President of Transformation, Finance, is the mobile app's rollout. “With Costpoint’s Time and Expense mobile app, employees can submit timecards directly from their smartphones, which improves accessibility and compliance. This mobile-friendly solution has led to a 30% increase in timecard compliance, ensuring that employees can enter and update their timecards promptly, even in the field. The app has significantly reduced late submissions and discrepancies, making our payroll processes more accurate and efficient.”

The Impact of Costpoint

Acentra Health has seen plenty of other significant benefits. “Implementing Deltek’s Costpoint resulted in a 20% reduction in our close timeline,” said David. “This improvement has freed up valuable time for our finance team and enabled us to accelerate financial reporting, which has enhanced decision-making at the executive level.” David further explained, “By reducing manual data entry and automating reconciliation tasks, Costpoint has minimized errors, improved data accuracy, and allowed our team to focus on more strategic initiatives, such as financial forecasting and performance analysis. The shortened close timeline has enhanced our ability to respond swiftly to business changes and opportunities, driving overall operational efficiency.”

David also highlighted additional benefits, including a 10% reduction in labor posting and payroll processing time and a 50% decrease in FP&A costs. “We are pleased with the advantages we've gained, including moving to GCCM. This transition supports greater precision in our strategic planning process,” he noted. “You can't always predict what's ahead, but when pursuing large contracts, having our operations on GCCM is significantly advantageous. I wanted to ensure we were prepared from a data security and compliance standpoint, and now we are. This foundation gives us room for future growth and potential mergers and acquisitions, ensuring we can scale alongside our evolving needs.”

A Commitment to Innovation and Growth

Regarding their partnership with Deltek, David said, “Deltek has become the industry standard. Costpoint focuses heavily on the project level, which is central to our operations and growth. It helps us understand our business better and successfully execute our projects.”

He added, “I'm excited to see where AI takes us and the opportunities it presents. I also see potential in exploring other modules for future use. As our company expands, we anticipate our utilization of Costpoint will grow alongside us."