In healthcare case management, outcomes matter—both in terms of patient care and in financial health. Vona Case Management in Daphne, Alabama, works to provide better outcomes for workers injured on the job. Vona’s explosive growth, while exciting, was proving a double-edged sword for the company.
It’s never easy to balance rapid expansion while navigating the complicated nature of case management billing and reimbursement. Donna Johnson, Treasurer and Vice President of Finance for Vona, wanted to avoid the issues that often accompany growth.
“Between May 2024 and November 2025, we acquired eight companies. That meant more bank accounts, more direct deposits, and more lockboxes. It was an exciting and fun time for us, but it also meant more complexity.”
Johnson’s solution? Overhaul the financial systems that supported Vona’s operations, moving towards an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to help manage growth.
At the same time, she needed to consider how financial data flowed through the organization, creating order from the chaos that often crops up in case management billings and reimbursement. And Regions Bank’s Treasury Management team was there to help.
Diagnosing the complexity of claims.
Case management billing and payments are rarely straightforward. In Vona’s case, the challenge was immediate and persistent.
“To begin, the majority of health insurers pay one check per invoice,” Johnson explained. “The result is that we could issue 400 invoices to an insurance company within a given month and receive 400 payments, each having its own claim number.”
With growth, that problem began to compound with each new entity, account, and payment flow added to the mix. Vona’s number of monthly invoices climbed from roughly 1,500 to 2,500 in a short period of time, a situation further complicated by legacy payment methods. Add the unreliability of mail service, and a key priority was to convert more payments to ACH.
Prescribing a more integrated approach
Kathryn Ellis, Regions Treasury Management Relationship Manager, knew how one product could have an immediate, positive effect on financial operations.
“Every company Vona acquired meant a new bank account and new lockbox for payment.” Ellis said. “But while they were growing, their accounting department wasn’t. I told Donna about Regions Embedded ERP Finance,” Ellis said. “And I showed how well it could address all of Vona’s key challenges, as well as automate reconciliation and cash positioning over multiple companies. That proved a big benefit for them.”
I told Donna about Regions Embedded ERP Finance, and I showed how well it could address all of Vona’s key challenges, as well as automate reconciliation and cash positioning over multiple companies.
Smooth transition, minimal downtime
Given Vona’s lean finance team, implementation needed to be simple and fast. With the help of Ellis and the Treasury Management team, Johnson found the transition to Regions Embedded ERP Finance met both requirements.
“We worked with Regions to get set up. Then we jumped on a call, went through the steps, and all the transactions were there,” she said. “We were up and running within an hour. We’ve had no problems.”
That meant Johnson and her team were able to quickly shift focus from implementation to impact.
Improved financial visibility—without side effects
One of the most meaningful changes for Johnson was how her team gained clearer, almost real-time insight into the company’s financial activity.
“There are now fewer chances for error on our side,” Johnson explained. “We see everything from the bank daily. It’s not just ensuring our transactions are right but also verifying that we’re posting in our systems correctly.”
Before Regions Embedded ERP Finance, the team needed to piece together their financial picture across multiple systems.
“It was overwhelming beforehand,” Johnson said. “You only were able to match credits and debits, but that alone didn’t give you the details of what happened.”
With Regions Embedded ERP Finance, transaction-level detail now flows directly into Vona’s system, helping ensure accuracy while greatly reducing manual intervention.
“With transaction details coming over more easily, it’s simpler to record and keep track of what’s going on,” Johnson added.
Reconciliation: From multi-page reports to a clean bill of health
Reconciliation—once a cumbersome process—has seen marked, almost dramatic, improvement.
In the past, reconciliation reports could stretch over many pages, making it difficult to quickly assess status. Now, Vona benefits from a much clearer picture.
“We now have the ability to match particular days and can even have a daily reconciliation of cash,” said Johnson. “What’s more, our reconciliation report is now a one-page summary. And if the bottom line says zero, you really don’t have to do anything else.”
With that kind of simplicity, Vona and Johnson not only save time, but sharply reduce any likelihood of overlooked discrepancies. In turn, that helps the organization maintain financial accuracy as it continues to grow.
Expansion outlook with reduced growing pains
Technology is one thing. With Vona, collaboration made implementation work. Kathryn Ellis and the Regions Treasury Management team helped Vona remove its barriers to growth.
“When working with clients such as Vona, it’s so important to cultivate a problem-solving mentality,” Ellis said. “And not just tactically, but strategically. We’re so excited about our relationship with Vona and look forward to being part of their ongoing success.”
When financial operations are fully connected to the systems that run the business, organizations can move from reactive problem-solving to proactive management.
If you’re looking for ways to better integrate financial information into your ERP systems, Regions Embedded ERP Finance—along with sure-footed guidance from Regions Treasury Management team members such as Kathryn Ellis—can be part of the solution.