With provider mergers and acquisition activity regularly in the news, the topic of revenue cycle integration has increasingly become a regular point of conversation.
Jim Lazarus, Managing Director of Strategy and Innovation, Revenue Cycle Solutions Division, The Advisory Board Company: The consolidation of revenue cycle staff and processes is being driven by market forces like provider consolidation, patient consumerism and compliance risk. But, not every function of the revenue cycle should be integrated. A good place to start with integration is combining separate customer service departments into one department for the whole system. Staff benefits from a single leadership structure and patients benefit from coordinated services such as one number to call for their billing and scheduling needs and consolidated billing statements.
Read my colleague's recent blog post "Three Tips You Don't Want to Miss For Revenue Cycle Integration" to make sure you approach revenue cycle integration the right way.
If you would like to share your RCM best practices, please email Carrie Pallardy at cpallardy@beckershealthcare.com to be featured in the "RCM tip of the day" series.