Becker's Speaker Series: 4 questions with RPM Exec, President, Richard Morrow, MBA, MBB

Richard Morrow, MBA, MBB serves as President for RPM Exec.

On Saturday, September 23, Mr. Morrow will give a presentation at Becker's Hospital Review 3rd Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place September 21 through September 23 in Chicago.

To learn more about the conference and Mr. Morrow's session, click here.

Question: Please share the state of revenue cycle management at your organization. What is your payer mix? What about your revenue cycle is working well, what needs improvement and what do you find yourself spending more time on?Morrow Richard Headshot

Richard Morrow: The state of revenue cycle management is to retire the term. Revenue cycle was a new term to me after 25 years working in high reliability organizations. Why do healthcare organizations and suppliers or consultants have entire organizations (silos) separating revenue management from expense management? Sure, every organization has sales focused on revenue and operations focused on expenses, but high reliability organizations that focus every employee on quality —while also knowing revenue and cost — will move in the right direction when reliability improves.

Thus, these organizations gain competitive advantage and earn industry-best profitability by recognizing the driver of both revenue and expense is reliability. Healthcare is now experiencing similar drivers most industries have lived with for more than 40 years — competing on value. Will history repeat itself in healthcare?

Q: How have alternative payment models affected your line of work? Can you share three specific steps, if any, has your organization taken to adapt to bundles and ACO payments?

RM: Predictive analytics has positioned us for lower joint replacement procedures to reduce readmissions. Value-based purchasing is convincing us to focus on quality, and margins will improve from both higher reimbursement and lower cost of poor quality. A population health mindset takes a broader view of the system of care beyond the acute care hospital.

Q: Percent-wise, roughly how much of your revenue cycle is automated? Do you plan to maintain that percent or increase in the next one to two years? What effects have you seen from automation, good or bad?

RM: N/A

Q: What is one investment you've made in RCM that has surprised you in terms of ROI? How so?

RM: Assistance in improving quality to improve value-based purchasing, reduce readmissions and improve reliability to reduce hospital-acquired conditions.

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