A software transition that cut Excelsior Springs Hospital’s incoming payments nearly in half has led hospital leadership to request a cash advance on its 2025 property tax revenues collected by the city.

Excelsior Springs Hospital CEO Kristen De-Hart recently appeared before Excelsior Spring City Council members to explain the situation and formally ask for support. The request mirrors a similar arrangement made in 2023 and would help the hospital manage a temporary shortfall caused by claims denials in its new clearinghouse system.

DeHart noted the hospital went live April 15 with SSI, a replacement clearinghouse used to process insurance claims submitted through its Cerner electronic health record system.

But within days, incoming revenue dropped significantly.

“We experienced a dramatic decline in our incoming payments soon after that,” said DeHart. “Prior to that process, we had been averaging about $1.1 million in cash collection per week. What we started to see the week of April 15 a…