What is Revenue Cycle Management Transparency’s Role in Keeping Healthcare Facilities Afloat?

While it’s true that patients are the lifeblood of any healthcare provider, it’s the accounts receivables that keep the proverbial chimneys burning. After all, if billings are not collected on time, your clinic or hospital may very well find itself short on cashflow. This, in turn, can have catastrophic effects on both your bottom line and your ability to service the infirm.

The Possible Problems

Of course, there many reasons why medical facilities can’t bill accounts receivables in a timely manner. The first and most common reason is that patients simply do not have the financial capacity to pay their medical bills. Such a problem can be alleviated by engaging the services of an eligibility expert, which can help your patients identify what government-sponsored programs they qualify under so that the government—and not third-party payers—will reimburse you. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2yaKms3

Revenue Cycle Management Companies Advise a Data-Centric Approach to Increasing Collection

Improving operational efficiency can definitely help reduce a hospital's total costs. But, just as importantly, if not more, it can noticeably improve the quality of care that patients receive, thereby minimizing their need to keep returning to the hospital for more treatments.

To explain how this is possible, revenue cycle management companies turn to some of the most recent studies conducted in several health clinics across America. Mostly, these studies focus on the importance of accessing data in a timely manner. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2wO6Miv

Rethinking Revenue Cycle Management Services in the Face of Bundled Payments

There has never been an era when the healthcare industry has seen such an upheaval quite like the past decade. With the passing of the landmark Affordable Care Act (ACA), millions of previously uninsured Americans now have a safety net to rely on should they fall ill.

However, the influx of new patients also means that there has been a renewed focus on providing quality care. On the flip side, providing quality care also often means higher costs of treatment. Now more than ever, healthcare providers are forced to juggle these two seemingly opposed aspects of the business. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2ycHbjE

Rural Hospitals Continue to Face Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Challenges

Rural hospitals are currently facing a unique set of healthcare revenue cycle management challenges that may force them out of business if not addressed properly. Should this happen, the country's rural population can possibly be left without any available healthcare options in their area. After all, rural hospitals are sparsely located throughout the land.

From 2010 to August 2017, a disturbing trend continues to haunt the healthcare industry. According to recent data from the University of North Carolina's G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, as many as 80 rural hospital closed during the said period. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2xR3ieq

Changes in the Eligibility for Medicaid May Be Underway

As more Americans are expressing a newfound public appreciation and public awareness for Medicaid, it seems like certain changes to the program, including eligibility for Medicaid are on the horizon. According to Medicaid's executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors Matt Salo, this is critical for the program's future. He also acknowledged that it’s now up to the states to bolster Medicaid in such a way that it becomes holistic, value-driven and most of all, better coordinated for the program's most needy beneficiaries.

Recent Attempt to Cut Medicaid Budget Failed

Recently, GOP congressional proposals have been aimed at one thing: to place a ceiling on the federal spending for Medicaid. This is intended to be part of the group's effort to overthrow the Affordable Care Act, a goal they have failed to meet yet again just recently. If they had succeeded, Medicaid would have lost as much as $834 billion in funding. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2xRflYW

The Importance of Intimate Staff Meetings in Hospital Revenue Cycle Management

A hospital’s finance department consists of staff with various responsibilities. This means that each accounts receivable employee has different experiences and challenges in doing their work. Understanding this allows managers to focus on each individual to address issues in a way tailored to their needs to improve hospital revenue cycle management.

According to Susan Eilman, a senior healthcare consultant at Hayes Management Consulting, one-on-one meetings can be a powerful tool to increase individual productivity, creating a more efficient department. Such meetings enable hospitals to utilize listening as a tool to point out issues that may not be discovered through a larger-scale discussion. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2yaAIW7

With Looming Budget Cuts, Getting Approved for Disability Social Security Can Become Tougher

For people living with disabilities, it’s been a case of “do you want the good news or bad news first.” Let’s begin with the good: based on several reports the lifetime of the Social Security Trust Fund has been deemed slightly healthier. This means the fund will have enough money to support the agency’s initiatives until 2028—a full five years longer than initial forecasts.

Now the bad news: the larger-than-expected fund is caused by a massive backlog in social security applications and payouts. It’s been revealed that people who have been rejected previously for disability social security benefits have to wait a record 596 days or 19.5 months before hearing anything back. This is up from 545 days in September of last year, and markedly longer than the 353 processing days in took in 2012 -- an increase of over 54%. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2wOj5eD

Eligibility for Social Security Disability Taking Much Longer Due to Hearings

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Eligibility for Social Security Disability Taking Much Longer Due to Hearings

For many people, getting social security disability benefits can be a manner of life and death. That’s why any delay in finalizing the decision is a huge cause of stress. As it turns out, hearings for eligibility for social security disability have been slowing down to a painful crawl to the point that patients in line have to wait for several more months to get a decision.


The Long Road to a Decision

It can take many months just to get a schedule for a hearing. Once the date is set, however, it’s not even guaranteed that a decision will be made immediately. The average wait for a regular disability hearing averages 19 months, while the wait for decisions to be promulgated can take anywhere from 120 to 180 days. That’s another half year of waiting, time that people with serious conditions may not be able to afford. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2verXuI

New GOP Proposal Raises Concerns About New Healthcare Insurance Marketplace Coverage Options

Recently, the GOP unveiled their big secret of a healthcare plan to the public. Instead of the warm welcome that they were anticipating, however, it only further stoked concern among citizens irrespective of party affiliation.

Is there cause for alarm on the GOP’s revised healthcare version, though? Here’s a closer look at what it does, and what is there to expect in the ‘Cruz Amendment.’


The Ted Cruz Amendment

In this new version, requirements for the new healthcare insurance marketplace coverage options appear to have gotten a lot less comprehensive than what is currently provided by the ACA. Here, the insurers could sell plans even if they are not all that comprehensive for as long as they also offer at least one ACA-compliant plan. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2woRaS1

How the New GOP Proposal Can Possibly Affect Social Security Disability for Children

When the GOP unveiled their top secret Better Care Reconciliation Act in late June, which is supposedly their proud replacement for the existing Obamacare, a lot of alarm signals went off instead of celebratory ones. Most of the concerns had to do with how burdensome it’s going to be for those with the coverage, and how it essentially will leave millions without viable insurance coverage of their own.


Social Security Disability Today

One of the demographics sure to be affected are those on social security disability. The effect may not necessarily be a direct hit, but it’s there, nonetheless. It comes in the form of the removal of the Medicaid expansion, which was originally meant to cater to the needs of low-income individuals. Once this is repealed, many folks with disabilities will have difficulty finding access to proper healthcare benefits. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2veTaOd

Revenue Cycle Management Services and Its Relevance for the Future

If there’s any remaining doubt as to the relevance of revenue cycle management services to healthcare institutions, new research studies showing an upward trend for the industry in the next several years ought to quell them.

According to the studies, the global healthcare RCM market is projected to grow by as much as 5% in terms of compound annual growth rate (CAGR) come 2021. Because physicians are the biggest users of RCM software, it only goes to follow that they will also be the ones benefitting the most from this development.

With the implementation of upgraded and updated RCM services, they could easily improve on their overall processes and clear their administrative tasks more efficiently. The most obvious benefit coming from all of this is a better leeway to pay more attention and provide topnotch care to their patients who matter most. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2wp6EoM

Developments on Social Security Disability Eligibility and Budget Plans

There’s been a lot of talk about Social Security as predictions and budget plans come out. For one, Social Security Administration Chief Actuary Stephen Goss claimed that the program will be able to provide full benefits to eligible recipients in the next 17 years. That’s five years longer than the fund’s solvency last year.

The increase is linked to a drop in Disability Insurance (DI) applications, which occurred after a growth caused by the economic downturn in 2008. There was a peak in applications in 2010, when the number reached 2 million compared to the 1.5 million recorded in 2007. However, the number of people applying for Disability Insurance has been declining since 2013 and the current rate is lower than the number recorded in 2007. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2wkPYiv

Disability Social Security Funds Outlook Seen as Bleak in the Coming Years

Recently, the Social Security’s board of trustees released a yearly report on the long-term financial health of its trust fund, saying that the numbers will likely drop in 17 years. These funds come from the Social Security taxes that both employers and workers pay, which are also invested and used to provide retirement, survivor and disability benefits to around 61 million Americans.

Unfortunately, disability social security is one of the programs that will be greatly affected if the gloomy prediction about the trust fund comes true. According to the report, the asset reserves of the Old-Age Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds reached $2.85 trillion last year. That’s $35 billion higher than in 2016 and the figures are expected to continue increasing in the next few years. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2vaNyEo

Officials Looking at Ways to Stabilize Costs in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace

There’s a lot of legislative debates going on in the country these days, but there’s one thing that politicians across party lines can agree upon: universal healthcare is important. However, legislators differ on how to implement such a wide-reaching program.

Should the country’s universal healthcare system be replaced or tweaked? This is the biggest question lingering over this landmark legislation, the legacy of Former President Barack Obama.

One of the biggest challenges faced by the program today is the soaring costs of buying insurance in the Affordable Care Act marketplace in some states. While the ultimate fate of the ACA hangs in the balance, officials are trying to find ways to tweak its current shortcomings. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2wln0Pc

Despite Uncertainty in Eligibility for Medicaid, Enrollees Say They are Satisfied with Care

While there is much uncertainty regarding the future of Americans when it comes to their eligibility for Medicaid, enrollees are currently saying that they are satisfied with the care they have been receiving. In fact, they have said that they are generally satisfied with their overall experience in the program. They also said that they had been largely able to gain access to essential care.

Enrollees Currently Reporting Care Satisfaction Amid Uncertainty

The recent survey analysis was published by JAMA Internal Medicine. The data used was from the first national Medicaid Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and System survey that had been administered in 46 states as well as Washington, D.C. For the study, four groups of adults who were enrolled in Medicaid were sampled. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2wlc6Jv

Hospital Revenue Cycle Management Performance Can Be Improved by Looking Inwards

One healthcare executive has stated that hospitals ought to focus more on internal factors versus external ones when it comes to working on a hospital revenue cycle management turnaround. That means that healthcare executives should stop blaming market factors for their unimpressive hospital revenue cycle performance. Instead, they should turn their attention to shrinking hospital margins and lagging accounts receivable.

Per Healthcare Management Partners Managing Director Derek Pierce, if a hospital is unable to collect their cash quickly enough, it may mean that management is not focusing on the right things. That’s exactly why when certain key hospital revenue cycle performance metrics appear to be declining, Pierce advises hospital executives to turn to their internal management processes to start their turnaround. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2wlrvte

The Key to Lowering Patient Cost is Value-Based Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management

A certain point has been made clear during the recent Value-Based Care Summit in Chicago by Xtelligent Media. In enabling healthcare organizations to align their healthcare revenue cycle management with value-based reimbursements, they need to start breaking down both financial and clinical siloes that have been established using the fee-for-service payment models. Moreover, everyone in each healthcare organization must learn to work together better.

According to Carmela Roberts, JD, CEO and Administrator of Valley OB-GYN Clinic in Michigan, there is a need to promote collaboration among all hospital staff, including those serving operational, financial and clinical duties. This, according to her, would be the key to developing a value cycle instead of the traditional healthcare revenue cycle.

Balancing Quality Services and Cost Efficiency

The value cycle looks to cover all the processes that can optimize financial, operational and clinical opportunities to achieve the best possible health outcomes at the lowest possible cost. As such, it would include a number of traditional revenue cycle management components, including charge capture, claims management, compliance and pricing. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2vbey6Y

What Is Revenue Cycle Management? Hospitals Seem to Fail to Capitalize on Its Benefits

Hospitals could bring in more revenue if they choose to focus on revenue cycle performance over costs. In fact, some hospitals are even showing a concerning flat performance in revenue cycle management.

According to best practices firm Advisory Board, various health systems and hospitals are missing out on a huge opportunity to increase revenue due to lagging revenue cycle performance. In fact, an average hospital with 350 beds has overlooked an opportunity to earn as much as $22 million in revenue capture, according to the firm’s analysis.

What seems to be the problem? According to National Partner for Consulting at Advisory Board James Green, a number of critical benchmarks have been continuously sliding or have remained stagnant since 2011. Because of this, Green believes that there is now a need for “strategic overhaul.” That also means meeting the four key challenges that face revenue cycle performance today. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2wl1vOC

Here’s Something That Revenue Cycle Management Companies Can Look Forward to: Good CAGR Rate

The revenue cycle management industry has a lot to look forward to. Recent data reveals that the market is set to experience significant growth by 2021. This is expected to benefit both the services and software segment.

Impressive CAGR Growth Foreseen in the Future

According to a recent study by Research N Reports, the global revenue cycle management market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate or CAGR of +12 percent. There is said to be a wide range of factors driving this projected growth. Among these are regulatory compliance, which encourage the use of various revenue cycle management solutions, and government support.

Meanwhile, process improvements implemented by health organizations, particularly by using revenue cycle management systems, are considered as a significant growth factor as well. Other contributing factors include the subsequent growth seen in insurance coverage as well as the increase in the number of patients. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2vail47