To optimize revenue cycle workflows, senior healthcare finance executives are more likely to implement updated IT and hire additional staff than contract with outside consulting services, according to a recent survey by Connance.
Connance, in conjunction with Porter Research, surveyed 93 senior finance executives in an 11-question online survey regarding their organizations' revenue cycle improvement priorities. Respondents completed the questionnaire in July.
Below are six survey findings.
1. Respondents' revenue cycle teams have an average of 14 priority initiatives. A third or more of respondents identified 15 or more initiatives as top priority.
2. These were the top 10 initiatives ranked according to the percentage of respondents at large health systems who identified the initiative as a top priority. The survey defined a large hospital as organizations making more than $350 million annually in net patient revenue.
- Preventing denials and underpayments.
- Lowering total cost to collect.
- Increasing collection rate among insured patients with balance after insurance responsibility.
- Managing bundled payments.
- Collecting more patient balances at point of service.
- Lower the cost to collect patient balances.
- Identifying uninsured patients likely to qualify for financial assistance.
- Calculating patient liability prior to or at point of service.
- Improve patient registration data and eligibility accuracy.
- Improving patient utilization of online payment options.
3. These were the top 10 initiatives ranked according to the percentage of respondents at a small health system who identified the initiative as a top priority. The survey defined small hospitals as organizations making less than $350 million annually in net patient revenue.
- Preventing denials and underpayments.
- Resolving denials and underpayments.
- Collecting more patient balances at point of service.
- Lowering total cost to collect.
- Increasing collection rate among insured patients with balance after insurance responsibility.
- Increasing collection rate among uninsured patients.
- Calculating patient liability prior to or at point of service.
- Analyzing denial and underpayment trends to find patterns.
- Lower the cost to collect of patient balances.
- Improving efficacy of financial assistance efforts.
4. To lower the cost to collect, both overall and patient-related, more than 40 percent of respondents said they believe the path to improvement is within the organization and through IT implementation.
5. To improve denials and underpayments, 51 percent of respondents expect to leverage new technology to address the performance gap.
6. Contracting with external consulting services had the lowest expected utilization rate for the top 10 initiatives, with likelihood of usage being below 20 percent for each initiative.
More articles on revenue cycle management issues:
4 best practices for managing patient billing complaints
20 financial benchmarks for hospital executives
Clinical indicators coding guideline sparks mixed reactions from healthcare professionals