Medical Billing Blog with Medical Billing & Coding Info & Articles
Our blog contains news and articles relating to numerous healthcare sectors including revenue cycle management, medical billing, medical coding, ICD, HIPAA, practice management functions and more.
RCM tip: Consider Revenue Cycle Outsourcing
Outsourcing the revenue cycle management process can prove beneficial for healthcare organizations, according to Joel Gleason, senior vice president and global market head of the provider segment at Cognizant. Mr. Gleason shared the following tip with Becker’s Hospital Review. “For hospitals and standalone healthcare providers, it’s all about delivering top-quality care, not necessarily managing the revenue cycle. Collecting payment is crucial to success. But chances are it’s not a core competency. “In fact, 57 percent of businesses outsource because it allows them to concentrate on what they’re good at, according to Deloitte. Focusing on the core business is the second most popular reason to outsource, just two percentage points behind …
RCM tip: Reduce costs through patient blood management
Hospitals and health systems should focus on patient blood management to improve quality and reduce costs, according to Joseph Thomas, BSN, RN, national director, clinical optimization for Accumen. Mr. Thomas shared the following tip with Becker’s Hospital Review. “Comprehensive patient blood management programs are an essential part of enterprise-wide strategic initiatives and are proven to reduce the utilization of blood by up to 60 percent with improved clinical outcomes. This is consistent with a strategic vision of enhancing innovation in patient care at a lower cost as healthcare initiatives drive value-based care and population health management. “A critical component of accelerated success and sustainability is establishing a strong clinical infrastructure …
Choosing an EHR for its Usability
“The usability of the system is probably the most important factor in making an informed choice of which EHR to use for your practice. Most every bit of software says that it is easy to use, but how can you choose an EHR that is actually usable? We recommend choosing an EHR that is ONC certified. The MU2 certification program required that EHR vendors have a user-centered design approach, and submit a summative usability evaluation as part of their §170.314(g)(3) Safety-enhanced design certification submission. These usability documents are made available to the public on the CHPL site. Look at the published usability document for the EHR that you are considering. …
Increasing EHR use of problem lists among clinicians can save money
Healthcare organizations, policymakers, and health IT developers can take steps to increase clinician EHR use of problem lists for improved health outcomes and clinical efficiency, according to researchers from the University of Utah Department of Biomedical Informatics and Intermountain Healthcare. Hodge et al. conducted a systematic literary review of 848 full-text articles and included 110 articles in a thematic analysis to gain broad insights into the characteristics that define a useful EHR problem list, as well as the myriad factors that contribute to its success as a resource. Ultimately, researchers determined there is a need to improve problem lists in ways that encourage increased utilization by clinicians. “There is also …
RCM tip: Use an automated solution to tackle claim denials
As healthcare organizations continue to struggle with claim denials, an automated solution can help limit the issue, according to Kevin Lathrop, president of TriZetto Provider Solutions, a Cognizant company. Mr. Lathrop shared the following tip with Becker’s Hospital Review. “One way to keep denials from happening in the future is by stepping away from the manual processing that takes place at a computer terminal, and replacing it with an automated claims and denials system. An automated system has the benefit of knowing payer codes. Treatment codes change over time and must be kept up-to-date. Keeping track of them by hand is difficult and time-consuming, but an automated solution has the …
Trump Admin Shares Vision for Patient-Centered Health System
The Trump administration, led by Jared Kushner, director of the Office of American Innovation, and Seema Verma, administrator of CMS, spoke about its plans to put data in the hands of patients at the annual Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) conference, held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The administration announced its new initiative, MyHealthEData, which aims to break down the barriers preventing patients from accessing and controlling their medical records. “Patients should have access and control to share their data with whoever they want, making the patient the center of the health care system,” Verma says. Part of MyHealthEData will include the revival of the Medicare Blue Button initiative, …
EHR Time Exceeds Patient Face Time in Family Practice
Primary care physicians spend less time interacting face-to-face with their patients than they do working on electronic health records (EHR), according to a cross-sectional study published in the February issue of Family Medicine. “The majority of family physicians worked through lunch, stayed late at clinic, or took their work home to complete the day’s EHR work,” write Richard A. Young, MD, from the JPS Family Medicine Residency Program in Fort Worth, Texas, and colleagues. “Significant predictors of visit length included the number of reasons for the visit, new patients to the practice, the number of medications prescribed, whether the physician was Hispanic, whether a resident physician presented the patient to …
CMS Modifies E/M EHR Clinical Documentation Requirements
The American College of Physicians (ACP) recently applauded a CMS decision to change EHR clinical documentation requirements. Teaching physicians can now verify medical student documentation in a patient’s EHR related to evaluation and management (E/M) code services. “Prior to the change, physicians were required to re-document most work performed by medical students — which is often very thorough and based on careful and supervised evaluation — rather than review, refer to, amend, or correct the student note,” clarified ACP President Jack Ende, MD in a public statement. Changing the EHR clinical documentation requirement allows teaching physicians to educate medical students about EHR use within a more streamlined workflow and reduces …
RCM tip: Achieving effective revenue cycle practices in urgent care
Urgent care facilities have various factors contributing to their financial performance. With the start of a new year, one factor they should focus on is achieving effective revenue cycle practices, according to Monte Sandler, executive vice president of revenue cycle management at DocuTAP. First, Mr. Sandler encouraged urgent care facilities to look at patient registration. “Though it can be challenging in many ways, the good news is that with focus on training and oversight during patient registration, you have control over your revenue cycle. The patient experience is critical in the urgent care setting, so … be sure you put the right staff in place to oversee this important and …
RCM tip: Focus on field training in an IDN environment
Healthcare providers operating within integrated delivery networks should pay attention to field training as they manage a central business office, according to Kenneth Miller, Senior RCM Specialist at Cantata Health. Mr. Miller shared this tip with Becker’s Hospital Review. “Ongoing education is key to ensure financial success. Without an education department, it is impossible for IDNs to ensure field staff and registrars are doing what the leadership team expects of them. Trainers must be sent out to the field on rotation to certify staff are following through on verification, maintaining the required financial paperwork, and communicating with patients as appropriate.” Beckers is seeking article topics and tips…. If you would …
