A healthy relationship. How Urologic Specialists rebuilt its back office to support expansion.

Reliability is important to the 25 board-certified urologists at Urologic Specialists. Patients of the Tulsa-based practice depend on them to treat everything from kidney stones to urologic cancers.

Staying current is also important to the nearly 80-year-old physician-owned and -managed group, the largest practice of its kind in the region.

After meeting Commerce Bank in 2017, the leaders at Urologic Specialists believed they had found a bank guided by similar principles.

"We wanted a sophisticated banking partner that understands healthcare and could support our growth,” said Chief Executive Officer Matt Keep. “Commerce brought in people with a healthcare background and gave us the peace of mind we were looking for.”

A back office built to grow.

Since moving its banking business to Commerce nine years ago, Urologic Specialists has experienced significant growth, expanding from a single Tulsa location to seven offices across Oklahoma and Arkansas. New clinics in Owasso and Bartlesville, Oklahoma, along with the addition of PET scanning services and new drug dispensing technology fueled a 15% revenue increase in 2025 alone.

Early on, Commerce supported this growth by strengthening the practice’s financial foundation, starting with a debt refinancing that saved the physician-owners several hundred thousand dollars over the life of the loan.

Next, the bank went to work behind the scenes, rebuilding Urologic Specialists’ financial and operational backbone with scalable systems designed to support stronger cash flow, greater efficiency and earlier visibility into expected revenue. Within a year, insurance claim automation opens in a new window and an electronic lockbox had accelerated cash receipts by as much as 20 days.

Streamlining billing and payments.

The bank’s more recent efforts have focused on modernizing payment workflows at the practice’s central office in Tulsa, where invoices for all seven offices are processed.

That includes the introduction of CommerceHealthcare^® Payment Hub, an automated payments portal that makes it possible to pay suppliers using their preferred payment method — virtual AP card, ACH or check — from a single payment file.

The CommerceHealthcare^® team also took the lead in enrolling the practice’s suppliers into the system, giving them the option to accept payment through one-time-use electronic cards. “The bank’s proactive effort to convert paper checks to electronic payments has saved us significant time and improved day-to-day operations,” said Johnson. Not only does the program reduce the postage, paper and administrative costs associated with issuing checks, it generates a monthly revenue share back to Urologic Specialists.

On the accounts receivable side, CommerceHealthcare^® has modernized how incoming payments and remittance information are handled.

“Through solutions like RemitConnect^®, Commerce streamlined our payment processes by automating payment files, correspondence indexing and 835 file creation,” said Michelle Johnson, director of revenue cycle for the practice. The result is faster payment posting, fewer errors and a back office that can scale as the practice grows.

In a healthcare environment where administrative demands are constant, Johnson says the ability to minimize time-consuming tasks is critical. “Any tool that reduces that burden is valuable,” she said, “and we’ve found many of those tools through Commerce.”

The right relationship.

The improvements to the revenue and payments process are part of a broader move to future-proof the practice’s business operations in a fast-moving technological environment, explained Chief Financial Officer Rob Miller.

“Healthcare has always been complex, but the pace of change has accelerated,” Miller said. As a result, the technologies themselves have become less of a differentiator than how they are applied.

“The people are what makes the difference,” Miller said. “We need a banking partner who understands where healthcare is headed and can apply technology in ways that accommodate different payers’ needs and keep our cash flow steady.”

That is especially true with tools such as artificial intelligence.

“AI can be a powerful tool — if you know how to use it properly,” he said. “Commerce has consistently demonstrated a thoughtful approach to emerging technology.”

“As payer requirements and reimbursement practices continue to shift, Commerce has played an important role in helping us understand changes in the marketplace and negotiate favorable terms.” That kind of guidance, he noted, helps reduce uncertainty and keeps cash flow moving without disruption.

“Commerce consistently looks for new ways to help us improve efficiency and save money,” added Johnson. “Commerce is more than just a bank — they are a trusted advisor who genuinely cares about our success and takes the time to understand our unique needs as a urology practice.”

“We want our operations to be seamless,” Miller said. “Commerce understands that. The support we get from them is second to none.”

CommerceHealthcare^® solutions are provided by Commerce Bank.