Hospital revenue cycle management leaders from across the country have shared insights with Becker's the last six months.
Here is a selection of seven quotes from them.
1. Deborah Vancleave, vice president of revenue cycle at St. Joseph, Mo.-based Mosaic Life Care, on her advice for other leaders: "Leverage advancements in technology and put more pressure on your payers to communicate out-of-pocket costs to their members."
2. Melissa Shore, vice president of revenue performance management at Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: "If we could carve out the routine tasks for a machine and let people focus on analyzing and problem-solving, I think we would be working smarter instead of just working harder."
3. Tina R. Strawn, RN, administrative director of operations for patient financial services at Houston-based Harris Health System: "To improve the patient experience related to their portion of a bill, there needs to be a tool that assists patients in their understanding of their patient financial responsibility (billed charges, allowed amount, coinsurance, copayment, deductible, out-of-pocket, premium, in-network vs. out-of-network, etc.) when compared to the monies they've already paid for the year."
4. Mike Simms, vice president of revenue cycle at Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health: "I strongly believe that you will not succeed as a leader unless you allow for your leaders to be empowered. Your direct reports should be empowered to make decisions regarding their area of responsibility along with collaborative input in making overall decisions."
5. Steve Scharmann, vice president of finance and revenue cycle management services agreement operations at San Francisco-based Dignity Health: "The message I always send to my staff is we in the revenue cycle have just as much impact on the patient satisfaction survey as the physicians and nurses that treat the patient during the clinical time that they're there."
6. Richard Madison, network vice president of revenue cycle for Bethlehem, Pa.-based St. Luke’s University Health Network, on revenue cycle leaders: "We are now part of the strategic mission of an organization, not just the tactical part of the organization"
7. J. Brett Tracy, vice president of revenue cycle for Roanoke, Va.-based Carilion Clinic, on what contributes to better conversations between financial and clinical leaders: "Shared understanding and executive communication to articulate guidelines, responsibilities and owners of key processes."
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