In: Accounting
Changing healthcare regulations combined with evolving revenue cycle management equals a lot of shifting sand in the healthcare industry. Along with staying current on updates to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicaid and other healthcare programs, healthcare providers need effective billing and tracking procedures in place. But even these must adapt to changing times and needs. Unfortunately, a lack of solid ground in these areas results in many challenges for hospital revenue cycle management. Errors are bound to happen, which hinder the hospital’s growth and service abilities. Hiring trusted professionals in this field can help hospitals address these common challenges that can definitely get in the way of treating patients efficiently. Here are five such challenges and how they can be resolved.
With the patient and its impact of the revenue cycle for providers of services with ever-changing healthcare regulations and new reimbursement models, it can be difficult for healthcare organizations to maintain stable healthcare revenue cycle management policies.
One of the top revenue cycle management challenges for healthcare organizations is collecting payments from patients at or before point-of-service. While collecting payments before a patient leaves the office can save time and efforts with collections, most providers say that it is an arduous task, as reported in an Availity Research study.
Five Hospital Revenue Cycle Management Challenges Healthcare Providers Face
1. Billing and Collections Mistakes
2. Lack of Technology
3. Untrained Staff
4. Lack of an Effective Financial Policy
5. Poor Monitoring of the Claims Process