Thursday, August 16, 2018 | Nicole Knight
When I ask clients to define successful revenue cycle management, I get a variety of answers. Those answers are often related to the latest “dumpster fire” they experienced. And when I say dumpster fire, I mean: a chaotic or disastrously mishandled situation; the lack of planning, preparation or talent; or random events that effectively sabotage an effort. You get the picture.
Is “disastrous” the right word? Am I exaggerating? Not when it comes to revenue cycle management today. I have read a number of articles recently that state, based on the size and type of organization, an underperforming revenue cycle could leave up to $125 billion on the table for U.S. doctors each year.
Improving an underperforming revenue cycle will take some heavy lifting and attention to the details. It requires information, data and prioritizing the solutions. To reduce the number of revenue cycle fires you have to put out—and actually improve revenue cycle management—I suggest peeling back the layers to focus on these areas.
In our increasingly challenging healthcare environment, it is essential to have a proactive approach to your revenue cycle…don’t wait for the next “dumpster fire” to deal with issues. Review your revenue cycle staff and processes on an ongoing basis to improve the financial health of your organization.
MedAxiom’s blog post is published every Thursday at www.medaxiom.com/blog
Illustration: Lee Sauer
Nicole Knight, LPN, CPC, CCS-P, ACS-CA, is Vice President, Revenue Cycle Solutions and Consulting at MedAxiom. Her decades of hands-on health care experience includes cardiology and neurology practice operations, clinical management, business office management, and consulting for coding and compliance. Nicole maintains her LPN licensure in Louisiana and Florida. She is a member of the American Academy of Professional Coders and the American Health Information Management Association. She received her Advanced Coding Certification with the Board of Medical Specialty Coding. Nicole is a certified AHIMA ICD-10-CM Trainer and completed a Lean Sigma Healthcare training course at Johns Hopkins University. She also serves on the Physician Practice Council for AHIMA.
To contact, email: nknight@medaxiom.com
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