Revenue Cycle Management

Those who were ready before last year's postponement are expecting it to through as planned - and hope there is no further delay.

While every financial metric carries importance in running a healthcare business, tighter margins means managing days in accounts receivable is becoming more important than ever.

One of the greatest challenges for RCM directors this summer is ensuring that the organization has enough skilled coders to handle the demands of ICD-10, which will more than quadruple the number of procedure designations required for patient documentation and payment reimbursements.

Experts say existing systems are not really capable of dealing with the revenue cycle shift.

One system may be a challenge for some organizations, but it is imperative that clinical and revenue sides align, experts say.

With revenue cycle staff in big demand, healthcare providers are scrambling to find candidates with this specialized type of experience before initiatives like ICD-10 and value-based payments put too much pressure on cash flow.

The site, ICD10Central.com, features key performance indicators including days to final bill, days to payment, denial rate and reimbursement rate for RelayHealth customers throughout the country.

On the financial side, revenue leakage can be caused by a number of factors, including late filings, missing authorizations and inconsistent collection follow-up.

Healthcare Finance News and HIMSS are accepting topic and speaker proposals for the Revenue Cycle Summit in Atlanta from Dec. 7-8.

The 450-bed North Kansas City Hospital said it has partnered with CarePayment to offer patients financing options to deal with ballooning out-of-pocket costs.