Hospitals and health systems don't have to lay off employees when they outsource processes to a revenue cycle management partner, according to Leonard Wenyon, vice president of solutions at IKS Health.
Mr. Wenyon shared the following tip with Becker's Hospital Review: "Organizations can instead [of employee layoffs] elect for a natural migration phased over a period of time and receive more meaningful work from the employees they retain.
This migration could play out in several ways. To start, perhaps your RCM partner picks up all growth from your new physicians or any acquisitions your organization makes. Simultaneously, should you have attrition in your workforce, you can avoid backfilling staff — saving you downtime, recruiting fees and ultimately a higher salary and benefits for that employee — by moving the work immediately to your partner. Another opportunity is for your partner to work aged accounts receivable or claims that your existing team doesn't have resources or time to work.
What's more, as your relationship with a competent partner grows and you're beginning to see the cash wins they bring to the table, you can start to rededicate your existing employees to new tasks, putting them to work at the top of their skill set. Helping your employees refocus their workflow can improve the patient experience, financial strength and better align your organization. This might include a deeper focus on patient outreach, pre-authorizations and improving practice quality metrics, which all impact reimbursement. It's a win-win because you now have two sets of skilled team members focused on improving practice revenues. In our fee-for-value future, organizations that get this work right are the ones that will remain."
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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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