3 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Revenue Cycle Management
Clinicians are constantly seeking ways to enhance operational efficiency, streamline processes and improve revenue streams. One solution that has gained significant traction in recent years is outsourcing Revenue Cycle Management (RCM). This strategic decision offers many advantages to healthcare organizations, ranging from cost savings, improved coding practices and refined focus on patient care. Let’s delve into the top 3 reasons why outsourcing RCM may be a game-changer for your organization.
So, what is RCM? Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) is a comprehensive approach that encompasses the financial processes and workflows related to the capture, management, and collection of patient service revenue. It involves everything from patient registration and appointment scheduling to the actual delivery of healthcare services, coding and billing, and the subsequent payment collection. In essence, RCM is the driving force of a healthcare organization’s financial health, ensuring a smooth and optimized flow of revenue throughout the entire patient care journey. It’s the intricate web of systems and practices that ensures healthcare providers receive proper compensation for the vital services they deliver. With this understanding in place, we can now explore the pivotal role that outsourcing RCM plays in enhancing these critical processes.
Expertise and Specialization
Outsourcing RCM allows healthcare clinicians to tap into the expertise of RCM experts who navigate the complexity of revenue cycle process. They stay abreast of industry regulations, coding updates and billing requirements, ensuring accurate and compliant revenue management. You focus on hiring and training the most critical healthcare professionals to care for your patients and these organizations hire and invest is the most qualified revenue cycle experts.
Imagine that CMS changes regulation around one of your most commonly billed procedures. Your internal team focuses on the day-to-day billing and coding but does not have visibility into upcoming regulation changes. The change is implemented the first of the month and all of your payments come to an immediate halt. It could take weeks if not months for an internal team to identify the underlying issue around these denials. With a skilled RCM team, this information would be shared with your organization prior to the changes and appropriate preparations made to ensure no impacts to your revenue.
Scalability and Flexibility
Outsourcing RCM offers scalability and flexibility to accommodate fluctuations in patient volumes, regulatory changes, and industry trends. Clinicians can scale services up and down based on their evolving needs, without constraints of hiring and training additional staff.
We all account for changes within our staffing models but how do you plan coverage for maternity/paternity leave, no call/no shows, or even worse, parting ways on short notice. Have you accounted for the financial impact of hiring and training new billers to pick up where someone left off? Not only does training and hiring have an expense, but what does the impact on your revenue cycle mean for your organization?
Are you active in the M&A market? If so, find a trusted partner that can assist in working agnostically in any system, identifying short falls, and quickly actioning to ensure increased revenue and clean up. Scale your RCM team without any HR burden internally.
Performance Monitor and Analytics
Outsourcing RCM provides access to robust performance metrics and analytic dashboards that offer valuable insights into revenue cycle performance, reimbursement trends and key performance indicators (KPIs). These analytics empower providers to make informed decisions, identify areas for improvement and drive operational excellence.
Certified PM/EHR platforms offer standard, canned reports to measure the financial health of your business. If the financial health is your organizations livelihood, why would you not invest in advanced analytics and reporting to ensure that you’re at the forefront of coding trends, have a full understanding of your claim trends and can hold your team accountable to ensuring your AR is collected? Would you invest in your heart if it wasn’t healthy?
Why DAS Health?
You may ask “Why is DAS Health the right partner for me?” – that’s easy. The largest obstacle we see in the industry is the ability to hold your outsourced RCM company accountable to perform and achieve all of the areas we just highlighted. DAS Health dedicates an Account Manager and Product Manager to your account to be your advocate. These individuals understand your practice workflows and goals and work seamlessly with you and your dedicated RCM team to ensure we hit each mark.
Outsourcing Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) presents compelling benefits for healthcare organizations seeking to streamline operations, optimize revenue streams and focus on core competencies. By leveraging the expertise, technology, and scalability offered by outsource partners, clinicians can navigate the complexities of revenue cycle processes with confidence and achieve sustainable financial success in today’s dynamic healthcare landscape.
Click here to request a free consultation with the DAS Health team!
Written by: Julianne Porter