Here's what four revenue cycle leaders recently told Becker's excites them most about the future:
Christopher Ault. Chief Revenue Officer at Cooper University Health Care (Camden, N.J.): I think we are just scratching the surface of how creative and consumer-friendly healthcare can be. Despite unprecedented attention, regulation and investment into price transparency and a consumer-friendly financial model, healthcare is a wildly consumer-unfriendly process for most patients. Regardless of how slick your intake process, there is typically a limit to how far a consumer can get on their own into the financial process. As long as there is still an underlying sea of red tape, preauthorization requirements, varying medical necessity guidelines and administrative burden, that will be the case.
I am excited to watch those barriers slowly disappear over time. As I mentioned above, we are still miles away, but closer than we've ever been to a truly consumer-driven model.
Cherie Smith. Chief Privacy Officer and Vice President of Revenue Cycle at Brattleboro (Vt.) Memorial Hospital: Artificial intelligence integration.
Jennifer Timmerman. Division Director of Revenue Cycle at CHI Health (Omaha, Neb.): I am most excited about AI; the more automation we have, the more efficient we are with the staffing levels we have.
Ashley Toney. Director of Revenue Cycle and Chief Compliance and Privacy Officer at Atrium Health's St. Luke's Hospital (Columbus, N.C.): I am sure anyone who has been in healthcare for any stretch of time can remember manual healthcare. While the revenue cycle side of healthcare has evolved to more technology integration and there are many vendors to help with this, access and tailored integration can be improved, especially in regard to smaller facilities.
In these facilities, automation is even more crucial given the roles and functions of teammates as well as the financial impact. While facility financial ability can be of issue, the larger issue is the lack of integration based on actual needs and personalization. The idea of a truly tailored process and seamless integration is exciting based on the need for true automation.