Managing and Improving the Hospital Revenue Cycle Process The objectives related to successful revenue cycle management are as follows: Improve cash flow Increase revenue Lower bad debt expense Improve patient/customer satisfaction with financial services Reduce operating cost Increase productivity Reduce the possibility of extended patient stays Understand problem areas and implement improvements
Issues impacting the revenue cycle Impact of consumer-driven health Competing high-priority projects Lack of skilled resources in several areas Narrowing margins Significant market changes Limited access to capital
Need to optimize revenue: There are five core areas that hospitals must examine carefully: International Classification of Diseases–Tenth Edition (ICD-10): System integration: Clinical documentation: Billing and claims management: Contract analysis:
The following lists provide a few critical areas in which technology has improved revenue management operations: - Patient Access Call center capabilities with auto dialing, faxing, and Internet. Master Patient Index software to eliminate duplicate medical record numbers. Registration and admission software.
-Health Information Management Chart-tracking software. Encoding and grouper software to improve coding accuracy. Auto-printing and faxing capabilities. Internet connectivity for release of information. Electronic management of documents.
- Patient Financial Services Automated biller. Claims scrubbing software. Electronic claims