Data analytics — using technology to examine and make conclusions from data sets — can help hospitals and health systems improve revenue cycle performance, said Bo Shi, assistant professor of finance at Morehead (Ky.) State University.
For instance, organizations can forecast which patients are most likely to skip a scheduled medical appointment based on past behavior.
"These small things can be predicted by data analytics. They can capture more accurate predictions of how the patient deals with an appointment and which services are most likely to lead to lost revenue," said Ms. Shi. "Those kinds of things can be analyzed, can be improved by using data analytics."
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.
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