From working to optimize EHR implementations to retaining top talent, here are the top priorities for five revenue cycle leaders:
Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.
Tracy Berry. Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer at BJC HealthCare (St. Louis): Now that we finished our Epic implementations, it's all about how do we optimize Epic? How do we become more efficient? How do we gain the benefits of this new technology investment that we've made? So for the last three years, it was all about planning for the implementation and making sure we did that right and preparing for that. Now it is, "Now we've got it, let's make the thing sing." Our goals around 2023 are really around driving efficiency, driving improved results, taking advantage of this investment that we've made. All the while, I think that and always is employee engagement. How do we have the right people? How do we support our employees? How do we make this a great place to work so we continue to have a talented workforce? You can have the very best technology in the world, but if you don't have a workforce that's with you, you don't really have anything.
Julie Carpenter. Revenue Cycle Manager at Orthopedic Specialists of Northwest Indiana (Munster): Our top goals for 2023 involve three areas: talent retention, analysis of profitability, and integration of quality technology to improve efficiencies throughout the revenue cycle. In today's labor market, it is not only important to recruit top talent, but to be able to retain that talent as well. We are looking at pathways to provide our team with both learning and earning opportunities as well as continuing an environment where employees know they are integral team members who are appreciated. We are also creating exciting avenues with our accounting/finance team members to bring together the revenue and expense worlds in our reporting. We are focusing on providing the data that matters to our executives so that our partners can make the necessary financial decisions based on data, eliminating that which is subjective or anecdotal. In the first half of the year, we are looking to add technology and software primarily to our front end processes to create efficiencies and free up our team members to do higher level work. We predict this will bring an increase in revenue and also give our team members an opening to learn more and contribute at a higher level without being bogged down by manual tasks. In the last six months of the year, we will look at technology and software to help better manage denials, underpayments and non-paid claims. We are looking forward to 2023!
Shannon Fernandez. Vice President of Billing at Yakima (Wash.) Valley Farm Workers Clinic:
1. Reduce repetitive/manual transactions :
- This will be accomplished through improving Epic ordering templates triggering charges that drop to the billing/coding team.
- Integrate clearinghouse edits and payer responses into Epic.
2. Reduce turnover rate:
- Address job growth needs through the implementation of a predefined career ladder for billing staff.
- Further address management issues with a focus on leadership development.
Mike Roy. Director of Revenue Cycle at Community Hospital Corporation (Plano, Texas): Without a doubt, denial prevention will continue to be one of our top priorities, especially those categorized as avoidable. We have got to ensure processes are strong and followed, and we stay on top of payer rules (behavior) to avoid denials.
Scott Smith. Director of Hospital Revenue Cycle Operations at UT Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas): One of our top goals in 2023 is to optimize our use of artificial intelligence/robotic process automation, specifically in denial analyzation and mitigation.