Hospitals can increase revenue cycle integrity and performance by ensuring coding accuracy, said Kevin Smith, vice president of product management at nThrive, a revenue cycle management company.
Mr. Smith recommended organizations use a practice model program or other tool that combines proprietary pricing benchmarks, regulatory documentation and coding research into one source and is updated at least weekly to reflect regulatory changes and new devices, drugs and procedures.
"Practice model programs help normalize [chargemasters] to best practice content and achieve accurate, compliant billing and prevent revenue loss. They should correct miscoded issues by providing more specific context than what current procedural terminology [code] descriptions offer," he said.
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.