What do successful, future-focused organizations all have in common? They are excellent at embracing change. As many of us witnessed during the pandemic – from restaurants to healthcare providers – the ability to adapt to meet consumer needs and perform well financially is critical.
So, let’s talk patient accounting systems and your revenue cycle strategy.
A Rocket Ship in a Box
Let’s say your patient accounting system is like a rocket ship in a box – an incredibly complicated system with many moving parts that don’t quite fit together yet.
Think back to implementation – perhaps it was six months ago, or maybe six years ago. You likely had a technical partner assisting with your system set up as well as conversion from your legacy system. They met with you, listened to your needs, and got to build out your system to properly handle claims, patient balances, and more. There was training. There was run down of your legacy A/R. Let’s be honest, there were probably headaches too.
Today, how far will your rocket ship fly? Did you build it to go to the moon or just to the corner store? Just as the technical partner helped you build the system, revenue cycle partners (specialists, really) can help you customize and optimize it for your unique revenue cycle – your payer mix, your patient populations, your claims processes, and your patient pay practices.
Building a System That Works for You
Like a rocket ship, there’s no question your system is robust. However, you may only be scratching the surface when it comes to understanding your system’s capabilities. The untapped complexities of the system are easy to neglect but understanding and applying them can save time and money. On the front-end, your patient’s financial experience improves and on the back-end, the cash you collect increases.
Your job is to create a system that can leverage your existing tools and streamline your processes. Prioritizing efficient work queues and custom workflows will be essential to your new system’s success. How do you identify common errors and find solutions? Are you up to date on the latest payor rules which will help you decrease Discharged Not Final Billed (DNFB) rates and increase your clean claim rates? How does your system increase patient satisfaction? Having an expert partner helps you answer all these questions and more.
The Thing About a Revenue Cycle Partner
Just as you would pull engineers and scientists in to help build your rocket ship, now’s the time to pull in the experts to modernize and optimize your revenue cycle management. When you choose to partner with an expert, they will provide you with the tools to get you to the moon. Here are several advantages to connecting with a revenue cycle partner.
First, they are external to your organization for a reason. Not encumbered by the “we always did it this way” mentality.
Second, their entire focus is on revenue cycle. Their undivided dedication to building the rocket ship for travel to the moon means unbiased expertise and access to innovative ideas that will put you in a better position to handle coding denials, introduce patient cost estimation, or reduce days in A/R, as examples.
Third, relying on a partner’s expertise eliminates the need to become an expert yourself. Revenue cycle partners can help you optimize your system by making recommendations. Ideas can come from common oversights, industry best practices, and unexpected sources. Even a small edit can reduce inefficiencies and save your organization tremendous time and money.
Thinking about change can be overwhelming, so start small. Do your research to seek out the right partner. Soon, months will turn into quarters and quarters will turn into years. You’ll be able to look back on the progress and lasting change your team has made and be proud of the system you have built together. To the moon!
