The healthcare industry is experiencing a transition in terms of reimbursement models. Hospitals, physicians, and patients rely on prompt reimbursements from insurers and the government. These reimbursements depend on correctly executed claims payments. RCM professionals who essentially handle all tasks related to the post-service stage of patient care are faced with several challenges. This entire process is long, complicated, and time-intensive for manual processing. They need to ensure that all the billing paperwork is in order before sending it to the insurance company. They also have to deal with denials, appeals and other complications involved in this process. Most RCM professionals are not equipped to handle these tasks on their own. They may also lack the necessary resources, such as time and money.
The Fee-For-Service model has been around since the 1980s
It is time for a friendlier model so it is being replaced by pay-for-performance and value-based care models. Under the new systems, providers are rewarded for providing high quality care at lower costs.
In addition to changing payment methods, it’s likely that we’ll also experience more complex procedural codes and bundling requirements as part of the revenue cycle management strategy. It’s important to keep in mind that while the shift in payment models may be more complex, it’s also going to be much more transparent. We’re moving toward a more accountable and collaborative approach where providers are rewarded for providing high quality care at lower costs.
Hospitals, physicians, and patients rely on prompt reimbursements from insurers and the government
As a healthcare provider, you understand the importance of prompt reimbursement for your patients. In fact, hospitals and physicians rely on these reimbursements to meet their expenses, which include staff salaries and medical equipment. If these payments are delayed or denied due to billing mistakes, it can mean the difference between staying open or shutting down.
The same concept applies to patients as well: they need their insurance companies to pay them back in order to afford their monthly premiums. If insurance companies don’t make timely payments or deny coverage altogether due to clerical errors (such as misspelled names), then
consumers may have less money available for other needs like groceries or rent—which can have serious consequences for people already struggling financially.
You need a process that ensures accurate claims submissions so you get paid faster without having any unnecessary delays in payment processing timeframes that could hurt your bottom line—and ultimately affect everyone involved in healthcare from providers all the way down through insurers and patients.
These reimbursements depend on correctly executed claims payments.
Remember that claims processing is just one part of the revenue cycle management process, but it’s an essential element. There are many components that go into a successful revenue cycle management program, including:
- Claim filing
- Claims processing
- Billing and payment collection
If you want to increase your reimbursement rate and decrease your costs, you need to know how to manage these processes effectively.
RCM professionals are faced with several challenges
The manual processing of claims often results in errors and delays, which prolong the cycle time and cause frustration for everyone involved. Additionally, it’s difficult for RCM teams to maintain a consistent flow of revenue when they have no way to track their workload and productivity.
With a mainstream revenue cycle management solution you can effectively eliminate these challenges and increase efficiency by:
- Automating repetitive tasks – streamlining manual processes through automation means reducing errors while saving time so you can focus on what matters most: providing exceptional customer service
- Improving visibility into your operations – having real-time access to data enables you to identify bottlenecks before they have an impact on your bottom line
This process is long, complicated, and time-intensive
Why? Because it’s a process that involves many steps, many people and many different types of documents. For example:
- A patient needs to get their insurance information to their provider or hospital before they can be seen. This means the patient has to get this information from their insurance company (which may include mailing forms).
- The health care provider then enters this information into its own billing system–but only after they receive it from the patient! Depending on the size of the health care provider, these steps may just be different departments and offices within the same building or it may go to an entirely different office and a different building designed specifically to manage billing for multiple locations and then create the feedback
- The healthcare provider also has to send claims files back to the insurer when services are rendered in order for them to pay bills on behalf of their members that have been billed by providers like
Processing medical bills can be frustrating
Chances are that you’ve experienced the frustrations of dealing with a lot of paperwork and manual processes in order to get paid by insurance companies. These manual processes can be time consuming and cause major delays when it comes to getting paid for services provided by your hospital or medical practice.
In most cases, RCM providers need at least one full-time employee who specializes in processing claims manually through each individual insurance company’s website. This can lead to even more issues if there is no clear communication between the workers who process each claim manually and those who input them into your software system for payment purposes—meaning that some claims may never reach their destination at all!
The rise of technology is helping revolutionize the healthcare industry in many ways
It has streamlined processes and saved time. It’s also improved patient care, the patient experience, patient outcomes and satisfaction as well as loyalty all at once. At the end of the day, revenue cycle management can be a struggle. However, you don’t have to struggle alone. By partnering with a company that offers automated RCM solutions, you can easily eliminate manual processes and save time on paperwork—all without sacrificing accuracy or quality.