Healthcare organizations seeking to improve revenue cycle management performance should focus on improving the front end of operations, according to Cynthia Ethier, senior healthcare consultant of revenue cycle transformation at Wellesley, Mass.-based Hayes Management Consulting.
Ms. Ethier shared the following tip with Becker's Hospital Review.
"Many hospitals and practices ignore the significance of a strong front end. My motto has always been, 'If you do things right on the front end the first time, you won't need a back end.'
"By educating registration staff and giving them the tools to be successful, you can reduce the rejections and denials due to registration errors.
"Verifying insurance eligibility, not only confirms the patient is covered by the carrier, but can also provide accurate billing data such as certificate or group number. Providing a registration hotline for registration staff to your central business office to address questions can prevent staff from having to guess when they are unsure how to resolve a front-end registration issue.
"Training registration staff on the system, insurance products and process can reduce rejections and denials, and verifying insurance eligibility while providing a registration hotline can ensure you are on your way to a clean front end while reducing one of the most preventable reasons for claim rejection or denials. Clean claims are an effortless way to reduce your accounts receivable days and enhance your revenue cycle."
Read more about how hospitals can improve RCM performance here.
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.