Organizations are being obliged to cope with a decline in cash flow and reduced revenues in the wake of the COVID-19 issue. Hospital beds were placed on hold to preserve income streams critical to inpatient hospital stays and elective operations. Unsurprisingly, there is extra financial stress in preparation for dealing with the second unexpected increase in COVID-19.
How healthcare organizations minimize the impact of destabilized financial operations and re-establish normalcy amidst the chaos?
- Revenue Integrity program – In the current healthcare revenue cycle management crisis, CFOs are concentrating attention on revenue integrity teams to protect the company’s income stream. This is done to verify that their facility has appropriate procedures in place to avoid income loss or delay, and enhance compliance. Also, they must stay up to date with laws and building codes that have been passed or created.
Since this is to improve the quality of healthcare providers’ documentation, Clinical Document Improvement staff will play a critical role in ensuring that healthcare providers are complying with new documentation standards and should be given sufficient training to fulfill their growing roles. To effectively profit from these new reimbursement policies, healthcare providers should use thorough documentation to leverage the new payment policies provided by payers.
- Staffing Challenges – COVID-19 has created some unforeseen demands, making hiring the best more difficult for all roles in all RCM services. While balancing their furloughs and work-from-home transitions, healthcare professionals found themselves in a dilemma. An additional problem caused by a lack of visibility and tracking is remote activities. Rework volume has also risen, putting pressure on RCM services employees to continue on their existing worklists even if their workload seems never-ending. Additionally, staying current with new diagnostic codes for COVID-19 and all of its procedures should be a must.
Managed RCM services and AHIMA and AAPC certified professionals may be hired to help optimize return on investment and concentrate efforts on RCM services that are most essential. Even the best RCM healthcare services in the USA are affected massively.
- Leveraging Virtual Care Programs – Virtual care is on the rise, due to COVID-19 cases. This practice is only expected to rise since CMS has made patient-to-visit equivalence with office visits official, and has relaxed the restrictions for providers that provide virtual services across state borders. Healthcare professionals must ensure the proper flow of clinical data collected from virtual care platforms so that medical coding and billing systems can provide as much detail as feasible. Reimbursement for virtual care services must be obtained through medical necessity. Telehealth may benefit primary care team processes by providing additional income possibilities.
- Financial Reporting is Crucial – Revenue cycle procedures have always been critical in assessing the financial health of healthcare providers, and the pandemic has only emphasized their importance in maintaining economic viability. Accurate reporting from revenue cycle teams is critical in allowing business executives to make data-driven decisions. Weekly and daily A/R shifts, bad debt performance, initiatives to reduce operations expenses (outsourcing or remote working), A/R stratification and predictions, net revenue estimates, and so on are all included in these reports.
The lack of revenue cycle and claims management employees has affected both payers and healthcare providers. In reality, most providers are dealing with both pre-and post-pandemic accounts receivable, with both billing offices and back offices short on personnel.
How Tall RCM, the best RCM healthcare service provider in the USA, help healthcare providers?
Healthcare providers are now susceptible to undesired budget changes due to the pandemic, thus, revenue cycle executives can help. With their skillsets and years of experience, they can guide you well to adapt to the new normal.
Additionally, we may anticipate a lasting economic effect. Now is the ideal time to concentrate on boosting efficiency within the revenue cycle, establishing procedures that improve workflow, obtaining data, and tracking changes. To find out more about our current service offerings, you can connect with us!