RCM tip of the day: Achieve accurate clinical documentation to improve cash flow

As hospitals and health systems strive to achieve efficient cash flow, they should focus on clinical documentation and ensure accurate coding, according to Dexter D'Costa, MD, senior director of clinical documentation improvement at Conifer Health Solutions.

Dr. D'Costa shared the following tip with Becker's Hospital Review: Quality care is increasingly tied to healthy revenue through accurate documentation. This contributes to efficient cash flow and optimizes claims processing from payers that are considering factors beyond traditional length of stay. As insurers turn more toward a Medicare-based, Medicare Severity-Diagnosis Related Group payment model, incomplete and inaccurate documentation can result in lower payments. The spike in the growth of ACOs, also based on the hierarchical condition category payment model similar to the Medicare/DRG payment model, is also spurring the need for more accurate and thorough coding.

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If you would like to share your RCM best practices, please email Kelly Gooch at kgooch@beckershealthcare.com to be featured in the "RCM tip of the day" series.

 

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