Revenue Cycle Management
Healthcare Blog

Let’s face it, collecting patient payment can be difficult Sometimes, it can be a long, drawn out, and even uncomfortable process. But, there are steps you can take to significantly smooth and simplify the patient collection process. And we’ve put together some of the big wins.

Health care companies have faced some of the biggest shifts in operations, regulations, and general practice in nearly any industry. The changes are coming hard and fast and only the most nimble of organizations have been able to navigate them without much interruption. But, nimble and healthcare are not usually synonymous with each other. Aside of insurance regulation and patient satisfaction, many healthcare organizations are finding themselves struggling with revenue cycle management (RCM).

Are you receiving patient payments in a timely manner – or at all? While revenue cycle management systems streamline the payment process, you may still be struggling to collect amounts due from some of your clients. Post-insurance balances often are owed by patients. Sometimes, legitimate insurance claims are denied because of faulty or incomplete information. Rather than initiate a lengthy collections process with patients, dispute insurance payment denials or (don’t say it) write off bad debt, you can take steps to help close the loop on the patient pay revenue cycle.

It seems pretty straightforward: you provide a service, you bill insurance, insurance pays, a patient pays the balance. In a perfect world, that process would be flawless and you’d never have to consider terms like “revenue cycle management” or “closed-loop revenue cycle,” but as you know, the truth is that when it comes to billing and payments for healthcare services, it’s rarely a pleasant and easy task.

In 2015, hospitals and healthcare organizations are constantly on the move—and as a critical part of the team, you’re riding shotgun. There’s a lot of change in the air this year, from shifting reimbursement rates to ICD-10. With all of these new processes and protocols happening at once, it’s all too easy to let other areas of your organization slip, like your denial management strategy.

Without the ability to retain patients and collect strong revenue, hospitals can struggle financially. High levels of patient retention is a direct effect  of quality care, in addition to ensuring your patients receive exceptional service and have a good overall experience when paying for that care.

If you want an effective health care organization, your revenue cycle solution needs to be trusted, proven, and on-point - all the time. Too many companies have ended in financial ruin because they failed to keep their revenue cycle moving in the right direction.

When it comes to using healthcare BPO companies to handle your revenue cycle activities, there are a dozens of positive outcomes and advantages. Unfortunately, there are also many myths and misunderstandings when it comes to hiring a 3rd party revenue cycle vendor.

If you’ve been following our blog, it should be of no surprise that all of us here at VARO love denial management solutions. We eat, sleep, and breathe these solutions because:

1. They’re easy to manage (with the right process)

2. They reduce lost revenue (with the right support)

They also help reduce the stress, and constant back and forth between insurance carriers and hospitals. In fact, by this point, you might be used to that hassle—but with a proven solution at your fingertips (especially one you’re able to outsource), your organization will reap lucrative rewards.

So you know why we love denial management solutions…

We have reached part 10, the final step in our 10-part checklist regarding 501(r) compliance for charitable hospitals. Now that you have addressed, and implemented the previous 9 steps into your hospital’s policies, it’s time for a little housekeeping. More to the point, the 10th step advises you to put on your reading glasses, and perform a thorough policy gap analysis.