Patient access is the first point of contact for patients and the first time staff can get key information right for revenue cycle management success. Patient access is generally the first encounter a patient will have with a healthcare organization, making it central to the patient experience. But this aspect of healthcare is also […]
At first glance, it appeared that hospitals were complying with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) price transparency requirement, which became effective January 1, 2021. Upon a closer look; however, multiple deficiencies were found. CMS previously advised that it would begin auditing compliance with the rule this past January. Interestingly, it was the […]
Claims management is a multi-step process that provides ample opportunity for errors and delays, but if payers modify their approach to certain steps in the process it could have a positive impact overall. In the most concise language, claims management starts with a provider sending a claim or prior authorization request to a payer. The […]
Physicians enter into health care because they want to help care for patients, not to become business people. This can make revenue cycle management (RCM) seem like an overwhelming or complex set of steps, yet, at its essence, “it is basically about obtaining payment for services rendered to a patient,” says Kelly Dingwell, principal attorney […]
Revenue is not a goal; it is an outcome. Healthcare providers, hospitals and other services, have struggled for the last decade to maintain sustainable revenue for survival. This has been exacerbated by the pandemic changing borderline net revenue to worsening losses. Many have instituted new practices to acquire more revenue not realizing increased revenue is […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping proposed rule that would nullify the mandated public disclosure of negotiated rates between payers and providers and increase by 2.8% Medicare’s inpatient prospective payment in fiscal year 2022. “The rule’s provisions seek to sustain hospital readiness to respond to future public health threats, […]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has updated the Medicare fee-for-service payment rates and policies for inpatient hospitals and long-term care hospitals for 2022. Before taking into account Medicare disproportionate share hospital payments and Medicare uncompensated care payments, the proposed increase in operating payment rates, increases in capital payments, increases in payments for new […]
The COVID-19 pandemic created a host of challenges for revenue cycle management leaders, from widespread service line shutdowns to shifting staff to work at home and increasing self-pay balances. These pressures have heightened inefficiencies in A/R processes and productivity. While these challenges took a massive financial toll on healthcare organizations—to the tune of $323 billion […]
Medicare Radiology Payment System approach to advanced imaging reimbursement has been “dysfunctional” for decades, but health policy experts have a few suggestions to fix it. Over the past 20 years, the federal payment program witnessed “substantial” increases in the performance of MRIs, CT scans and nuclear studies, mostly in doc offices. A shift later […]
As promised, this is a follow-up to our first blog post on the new federal transparency requirements. In our prior post, we summarized the Hospital Price Transparency rule which went into effect on January 1, 2021, and here we discuss the transparency rules contained in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “Act”), which apply to both health plans […]