Revenue cycle leaders from health systems across the country shared key thoughts on reforming and improving revenue cycle operations during Becker's Hospital Review's 2nd Annual CIO/HIT + Revenue Cycle Conference in Chicago July 27-28.
Below are nine revenue cycle themes that cropped up during presentations and panel discussions.
1. Invest in front-line staff. The role of point-of-service staff has changed significantly during the past decade due to changing technology and market conditions. To manage new patient expectations, hospitals' point-of-service workforce requires a more advanced skill set and level of expertise than before.
2. Reinvest department resources. Revenue cycle leaders should reconsider where and how they invest department resources. For instance, many hospitals are struggling to collect from patients who purchased coverage for the first time under the Affordable Care Act. Hospitals can reinvest department capital and resources into hiring financial care and insurance counselors to better serve today's patients.
3. Consider centralizing RCM IT staff. For some medium to large-sized hospitals or health systems, it can make sense to centralize and manage RCM-pertinent IT staff under revenue cycle leadership. This can give revenue cycle administrators more direct control over processes that are crucial to their department.
4. Reassess alternative patient financing options. Hospitals stand to benefit by expanding their patient financing programs for insured patients who struggle to afford healthcare treatment due to high deductibles. Alternative funding programs, such as zero-percent loan programs and long-term payment plans, can ease patients' financial anxiety. Alternative financing and payment options are simple ways hospitals can show they are invested in helping patients afford the care they need.
5. Incorporate physicians in revenue cycle processes. Hospital leaders can engage physicians in revenue cycle operations to drive improved charge capture through clinical documentation improvement initiatives. Revenue cycle leaders should present clinicians with statistics that illustrate how their everyday practices affect the hospital's business. Data on revenue leakage and denial rates can be powerful motivators for physician change.
6. Collect prior to point-of-service. How patients will pay for elective services should be determined prior to the day of service. For patients that can't afford payment in full, hospitals should consider establishing funding mechanisms prior to administering care to prevent patients from experiencing bankruptcy during a period of recovery. A proactive financial care strategy can help patients feel more comfortable and prepared when they arrive for service.
7. Hold revenue cycle vendors accountable. It is administrators' responsibility to ensure revenue cycle vendors continue to produce return on investment on outsourced services. Revenue cycle leaders should assign dedicated revenue cycle employees to manage each vendor-hospital relationship and monitor benchmarks to keep vendors accountable.
8. Consider customer relationship management software. To improve efficiency during patient registration, revenue cycle and IT leaders should consider the merits of implementing customer relationship management software. Retail companies use CRM databases to automatically store, track and access customer information across an enterprise in real-time. Similarly, hospitals can use CRM databases to track and monitor patient activity across the health system for more coordinated care management.
9. Prioritize face-time with staff. Engaged and effective leadership plays a fundamental role in guiding hospital staff through times of instability. Oftentimes, successful change management largely depends upon a leader's ability to show staff why change is necessary and positive. Revenue cycle leaders stressed the importance of prioritizing face-time with staff as revenue cycle departments begin to adapt to value-based payment models.