Liberty (Mo.) Hospital was recently recognized again for high performance in revenue cycle, being named among 15 winners of the Healthcare Financial Management Association's 2023 MAP Award. The health system previously won the award in 2020.
Becker's recently connected with John Maschger, Liberty's vice president of revenue cycle, to discuss the key ingredients that make the hospital's revenue cycle department stand out, the current challenges facing revenue cycle leaders and what he's excited about.
Note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Q: The MAP Award is something Liberty has received in the past. As vice president of revenue cycle, what does it mean to you that the hospital has again been recognized for having a high-performing revenue cycle?
I consider it an honor to serve with an outstanding team and be recognized twice. The MAP Award validates our strategic initiative to improve three main areas for our organization and patients, including: (1) achieving continued fiscal improvements utilizing MAP key indicators as our roadmap; (2) building the highest level of consumerism best practices for our patients; and (3) ensuring that we provide the best possible patient financial experience to match the exceptional care our patients receive.
Q: What are two or three key ingredients that make your hospital's revenue cycle department stand out?
JM: The first would be denial management. Denials often are the bellwether of what a revenue cycle leader should focus on. Upon my arrival at the organization, we were over 9 percent and have successfully lowered these to 1.7 percent or better through data and predictive analytics. The second would be our investment in our patient access staff. In addition to a robust training platform, we utilize auditing software to ensure our registration accuracy is 98 percent or better. The third would be our incorporation of Care Management and CDI into our revenue cycle team as part of our migration into value-based care regarding measures such as SDOH, SOI and mortality indicators.
Q: What is the biggest challenge facing revenue cycle leaders right now?
JM: The biggest challenge for revenue cycle continues to be the ever-changing complexities of successfully being reimbursed for the services we provide. Of these, prior authorization has become increasingly difficult and can adversely affect patients through delays in treatment. While we have greatly improved balance after insurance options for our patients, they often have difficulty understanding these other nuances of receiving care in our healthcare system.
Q: What are you most excited about right now?
JM: Automation and machine learning are the technological improvements that are the most exciting. These tools will enable us to move away from the traditional method of asking for more staff resources to efficiently manage our operations. Additionally, it will enable our staff to work more effectively as we have seen with other industries. While some initial results have been disappointing in the stated deliverables, I still believe we must embrace and evolve towards this technology in order to offset the ever increasing reimbursement cuts and retain high-quality staff within the revenue cycle.