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

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

Study Shows the Future of Hospital Revenue Cycle Management Looks Bright

If the projections on industry trends are to be believed, revenue cycle management (RCM) is going to experience a lot more growth and heavier demand from various healthcare institutions in the next decade. This was the finding of a recent study conducted by TMR Research concerning the relevance of global RCM in the improvement and development of industry workflow growth and development.

Increase in Demand

According to the study, increased demand will be occurring on a global scale, with developed countries in particular looking to complement the more traditional workflow models with more modern ones such as those offered by RCM services. As healthcare organizations grow over the years, the need to further streamline their workflow processes will increase, particularly in how they complete the billing cycle. After all, the bigger these organizations grow, the more complex their documentation can be. It is crucial that their medical and financial records are kept accurate for better transparency. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2vkZfXl

Employ More Assistants to Improve Hospital Revenue Cycle Management Processes

Recent years have seen numerous changes headed towards hospital revenue cycle management processes, including the introduction of ICD-10 and changes to Medicaid and Obamacare. Because of this, healthcare facilities need to become more creative in how they manage these issues while still maintaining focus on keeping costs low.

Although it may initially seem counterproductive, the truth may be that increasing the amount of assistants employed across the hospital setting may be the answer to streamlining revenue cycle management processes.

Keep Billing Specialists Focused on Their Role

If your healthcare facility expects billing specialists to speak to patients about denied claims, outstanding balances and collect the copay, you may need to rethink this model. Instead of using the costly time of specialists for these matters, leave them to focus on completing coding on patient documents instead.

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Avoiding Denied Claims is Crucial to Good Hospital Revenue Cycle Management

According to a report by Relay Health Financial, large hospitals in the Northern Plains have higher average claim denial rates compared to other areas in the country at a surprising 10.58%. The report defines large hospitals as facilities that host 250 to 400 beds. The percentage was derived by comparing the claims dollars that were denied relative to revenue successfully billed on the claim.

The South Central region, meanwhile, topped the list among mid-sized hospitals (100-250 beds), with a denial rate of 8.82%. The region also ranks second among large hospitals, registering a denial percentage of 8.8%.

Of course, as any healthcare executive knows, denial rates are simply part of business. After all, insurers closely scrutinize each claim to see if they should indeed pick up the tab for the patient. However, keeping denial rates to a minimum is a crucial part of hospital revenue cycle management. After all, when claims are denied, unpaid bills have a higher chance of becoming potential bad debt.

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Analysts Project Bright Future for Hospital Revenue Cycle Management in the Next Decade

If there’s one thing that hospitals can look forward to in terms of the revenue cycle management, it’s that more good things are expected to come out of it this year. A recent study conducted on the matter showed that RCM practices are expected to increase due to a rise in the rate of claim denials as well as the reduction in healthcare reimbursements from both private providers and government.

Other factors that will further highlight the importance of adopting RCM measures include the ever-evolving and complex medical coding for bill reimbursements. It is crucial for healthcare institutions to ensure the validity of their billing, especially with the expected changes to the coverage of the Affordable Care Act. Reducing billing errors can be achieved with an efficient hospital revenue cycle management program.

Technology Forecasts

Helping along the improvement of RCM systems in healthcare institutions are new developments in technology. Artificial Intelligence (AI), for example, is expected to play an even bigger role in the healthcare industry, not only with the medical procedures, but even for the administrative tasks in the hospital. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2m0PCeu

18 Months On: Learning the Real Impact of ICD-10 on Hospital Revenue Cycle Management

The introduction of ICD-10 as a new classification system sparked controversy in the healthcare community. ICD-10 is the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems issued by the World Health Organization.

There were many predictions that the hospital revenue cycle management process would be severely affected, as the coding system increased diagnostic codes to over 68,000- up from just 14,000. Procedure codes had a similar story, rising from 4,000 to 87,000.

It’s now been 18 months since the ICD-10 system was implemented in America. What has the real impact of this change been and was it as bleak as was expected?

Falling Productivity Levels?

It was expected that productivity levels would drop by around 50%, causing far more hold ups and errors than ICD-9 had done. This was based on Canada’s results back in 2001, which found the amount of work required to input each code had been underestimated. Read more from this blog. http://bit.ly/2nr2N6h

Five Hospital Revenue Cycle Management Challenges Healthcare Providers Face

 

 

 

While the Affordable Care Act aims to provide health assistance to millions of Americans, it also poses challenges to hospitals in terms of their revenue cycle management. With the growing number in enrollments, financial pressure from the program is increasing as well. Revenue cycle is also continuously evolving. This means that hospitals should keep adjusting their internal systems to adapt to the changes. Otherwise, errors are bound to happen, which would hinder their growth.

Hiring trusted professionals in this field can help hospitals address these common challenges that can definitely get in the way of treating patients efficiently. Read more from this blog: http://bit.ly/2k7rLGG

Social Security Disability Benefits Requirements

If you get hurt and have social security, you can be eligible for compensation. The Social Security Administration (SSA) will assess your condition and other factors influencing your application to determine just how much financial support you are entitled to receive.

The financial benefits will generally depend on the type of disability you sustain. There are SSA requirements any individual application for Social Security disability benefits must meet. Also listed are the major conditions the SSA considers as proof of entitlement to disability benefits. These include musculoskeletal problems, cardiovascular conditions, and others.

Tips on Filing a Social Security Disability Claim

Filing a social security disability claim can be an inconvenient affair. It can be confusing and taxing; unless you have enough resources to follow through, the assistance of other people in the know, and tons of patience, you might probably give up and wait another year. Here are some pointers to help you through the rougher spots with your application. 

Unless you know a lot about law, better hire an attorney! Most people might forego this option, mainly because they think it costs a lot of money. Yes, you’ll need to pay for professional help, but you don’t need to pay everything upfront. Social security disability lawyers are mandated by the law to work on a contingency basis; that is, they cannot charge for attorney’s fees until they have won your case.

Always remember to keep in touch with your attorney, and update him whenever needed. However, keep in mind that hounding your lawyer will do nothing. No matter how eager you are to know the progress of your application, your lawyer can’t do anything much while he’s waiting. What he can do is to make sure that you have provided all the information required for your claim to stand a chance for approval.

Do not be discouraged if you’re denied the first time. Don’t lose hope if you get blocked on your initial application! Remember that every denial gets you closer to a court hearing, which may be an advantage to you.

Continue visiting your doctor. Your claim will need updated evidence of your disability every now and then. Doing so regularly (at least every 3 months) will keep your information about your disability current, a crucial factor in the approval of your claim once you get into a court hearing.