Revenue Cycle Management
Although there are some indications of a possible lull, hospital systems are still buying up private physician practices at a high rate. With that come concerns about maintaining the revenue cycle during transition, but there are steps hospitals can take to smooth the process.
Money Atwal, who is both CFO and CIO at Hilo Medical Center in Hilo, Hawaii, shares with Healthcare Finance News how his organization is counteracting declining reimbursements and resources.
When it comes to speeding up the revenue cycle, the hospital pharmacy has its own part to play.
As payers and employers put pressure on providers to assume more financial risk, providers are struggling to assess the impact of the risk they have already assumed.
With patients paying more out-of-pocket costs and exchanges increasing the number of plans providers deal with, having financial counselors in a practice may become a necessity.
Medicare announced Friday that it was revising rules intended to prevent the agency from paying twice for the same prescriptions for seniors receiving hospice care. The drug categories in question were identified in a 2012 investigation by the HHS inspector general.
If we don't fundamentally change the way we pay for healthcare, we won't change the economic principles that continue to drive the rapid growth in healthcare spending. Let's pay physicians and hospitals based on the health problems their patients have.
Hospices can now lose Medicare payments if they don’t file cost reports, and yet, because there are no penalties for inaccurate reporting, there is little motivation to spend much time on them.
The Affordable Care Act included a number of delivery system reforms, such as ACOs, bundled payments, and workforce provisions to strengthen foundations in primary care. Unfortunately, a focused effort on payments for specialists was not included.
To boost patient satisfaction scores and compete with urgent care centers and walk-in clinics, hospitals are allowing patients to book appointments in the ER.