The revenue cycle management process is going through a digital transformation that will make the experience better for patients as well as the billers on the back end.
At the Becker's 5th Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle conference in Chicago, Spectrum Health CIO Jason Joseph and Senior Vice President of Revenue Cycle Amy Assenmacher outlined the keys to a successful revenue cycle process based on their experiences at Spectrum Health. The session, titled "Lessons Learned from Revenue Cycle Transformation," was held on Oct. 11.
Here are five key takeaways from the session:
1. Revenue cycle management is no longer about transactions; it's more about creating the ideal patient interactions. In the front end, consumer engagement means giving the patient easy access to the payment system. Then, the health system needs to create a coordinated clinical and financial experience with accurate documentation. At the end of the cycle, the consumer experience becomes key for resolving the patient's bill in an accurate and timely manner.
2. The entire executive leadership team must commit to investing in the revenue cycle process and reducing fragmentation in the process as much as possible. Create a culture of metrics and accountability through tracking analytics associated with successful transactions.
3. The digital transformation is present in the revenue cycle. If your technology platforms are disparate and disconnected today, it will be harder to achieve your ultimate revenue cycle goals. Build a cohesive system around your billing system and then invest in technology that will make your system interoperable so all the information is accessible.
4. Make sure the revenue cycle process is seamless for the biller. Those staff members need the right tools to do their job as efficiently as possible. The revenue cycle can get stuck because of the huge amount of information that is needed, but aligned digital tools can simplify the workflow.
5. Optimizing the workflows and tools for the revenue cycle is a continual and constant process. There are always new tools coming out that will make the process easier; stay on top of the best digital tools and develop relationships with vendors so they understand your pain points and can make continual developments for a more efficient, less costly system.
Don't miss the Becker's 3rd Annual Health IT + Clinical Leadership + Pharmacy event in Chicago, May 19-21, 2020. Click here to learn more and register.