Peter Angerhofer, a principal at Colburn Hill Group, an RCM operational solutions firm: Every patient accounting system and every hospital defines metrics in slightly different ways. Don’t assume the figure means what you expect it to mean. Understand what goes into the number and what it means in context. Examples of this include: a stock discharged not final billed report might include accounts with lag, or only post lag; or accounts receivable or accounts receivable days calculations might be skewed by inclusion or exclusion of credits.
To learn more about key metrics to determine the health of a hospital billing department, access this story from Becker’s Hospital Review.
If you would like to share your RCM best practices, please email Kelly Gooch at kgooch@beckershealthcare.com to be featured in the “RCM tip of the day” series.
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