Revenue Cycle The revenue cycle is known as the process by which healthcare providers receive reimbursement for care provided. Bringing in revenue is necessary for the efficient operation of any healthcare facility. The revenue cycle consist of all the steps involved in patient care starting from bringing in the patient, meeting their needs, and receiving payments for services provided (Gillikin). Factors contributing to the complexity of revenue cycle There are several factors that contribute to the complexity of the revenue cycle. Frequent changes in contracts with payers, legislative mandates, and managed care are just a few examples of reasons why revenue cycle in the healthcare industry is so complex. Furthermore, the problems that arise in the steps of the revenue cycle further complicate the whole process. For example, going through the steps of the revenue cycle efficiently is extremely difficult when it is managed by poorly trained personnel. Furthermore, if a healthcare provider does not have the proper information system to track patient records and billing, receiving reimbursement can become difficult. In addition, one of the main factors that delay payments is denial from the insurance companies. The reason for Denial includes incorrect coding, the certain sequence of care and medical necessity or even delay in submitting claims. Lastly, inefficient patient correspondence can not only hinder the process of revenue cycle but also result in many patient complaints (Wolper, 2004). Six stages of revenue cycle The Six stages of the revenue cycle are provision of service, documentation of service, establishing charges, preparing claim/bill, submitting claim, and receiving payment. The first step consist of providing the ... ... middle of paper ... ...0. CMS-1500 is the basic form that has been set by Center for Medicare and Medicaid services and is used by most outpatient clinics. CMS-1450 is the form that is used hospitals to claim reimbursement for hospital visits. While CMS-1500 is used for patients who are under Medicare Part B, CMS-1450 is used for patients insured under Medicare Part A. Some of the charges that need to be claimed using CMS 1500 are ambulatory surgery performed in a certified Ambulatory Surgery Center, all hospital based clinics, and hospital based primary care office. Furthermore, some of the charges that need to be claimed in CMS-1450 are emergency department visits, ancillary department visits, outpatients services such as infusion therapy or observation, all services rendered during an inpatient visit, and any pathology service provided regardless of patients’ presence (Ferenc, 2013).
On the basis of the clinic’s previous collections experience, Dough was able to convert billings for medical services into actual cash collections. On average, about 20% of the clinic’s patients pay immediately for services rendered. Third-party payers pay the remaining claims, with 20% of the payments made within 30 days and the 60% remainder (of total billings) paid within 60 days. For monthly budgeting purposes, 20% are assumed to be collected one month after the billing month, and 60% are assumed to be collected two months after the billing month.
The revenue cycle is a flowchart that explains where a patient goes after registration. Registration in charge of registering the patient, and making sure the patients have signed their in-patient consent forms. After all the information is recorded into EPIC, you will then move on to scanning. In scanning, the employee is responsible for scanning in the history and physical document, the informed consent form, monitoring strips, and EKG’s. After all the documents are scanned into OnBase, you will then move onto indexing. In indexing, the employee indexes all the documents that were scanned into the patient’s chart. Once all the documents are indexed into patients charts in EPIC, the coders will code the patients’ charts. Coding will check
Pay-for-performance (P4P) is the compensation representation that compensates healthcare contributors for accomplishing pre-authorized objectives for the delivery of quality health care assistance by economic incentives. P4P is increasingly put into practice in the healthcare structure to support quality enhancements in healthcare systems. Thus, pay-for-performance can be seen as a means of attaching financial incentives to the main objectives of clinical care. However, reimbursement is a managed care payment by a third party to a beneficiary, hospital or other health care providers for services rendered to an insured or beneficiary. This paper discusses how reimbursement can be affected by the pay-for-performance approach and how system cost reductions impact the quality and efficiency of healthcare. In addition, it also addresses how pay-for-performance affects different healthcare providers and their customers. Finally, there will also be a discussion on the effects pay-for-performance will have on the future of healthcare.
When one examines managed health care and the hospitals that provide the care, a degree of variation is found in the treatment and care of their patients. This variation can be between hospitals or even between physicians within a health care network. For managed care companies the variation may be beneficial. This may provide them with opportunities to save money when it comes to paying for their policy holder’s care, however this large variation may also be detrimental to the insurance company. This would fall into the category of management of utilization, if hospitals and managed care organizations can control treatment utilization, they can control premium costs for both themselves and their customers (Rodwin 1996). If health care organizations can implement prevention as a way to warrant good health with their consumers, insurance companies can also illuminate unnecessary health care. These are just a few examples of how the health care industry can help benefit their patients, but that does not mean every issue involving physician over utilization or quality of care is erased because there is a management mechanism set in place.
The private insurers are patients with other insurances. Under Medicare and Medicaid, services that are provided by the hospitals are paid by a prospective reimbursement. Prospective reimbursement is established before the services are provided. They have a defined dollar amount per day and per diagnosis. They also use a fee scheduled by CPT code or procedure code which is usually used for physicians. Since these types of insured patients only are billed a certain amount, most procedures are not fully reimbursed. Retrospective reimbursement is determined after the services have been delivered. This is one of the reasons organizations are struggling. Along with less reimbursement, the CPT codes or procedure codes have to be correct according to the procedure ordered. “If an organization wants to get paid, its better off taking the time to make sure all its codes are accurate, timely , and meet all payers’ requirements ”(Kapsambelis, 2004, p. 3).
Another downfall to HMO coverage is selective-contracting. This is a process where hospitals deny treatment to patients because their...
2. The twin problems of the health care industry as viewed by society are cost and access. First of all, the cost of getting health care is very high and it is getting higher each day. This has been mostly caused by the combination of high cost and an increase in quantity of services provided to the communities. The other problem involves access to health care. American enjoy limited or no access to health care. Many efforts have been done to reform this, but still but still many people are left without access to the care. These two problems are related due to the fact that if the health care industry gets to high off course people no longer will be able to have any access to it. The higher prices are, the lower access people have to it.
The current PPS system has evolved throughout the years to very complicated and cumbersome layers of rules and regulations. Reimbursement is driven by services provided. There is a shift in the U.S. healthcare system with the advent of the Affordable Care Act to make health care more efficient, less costly, and produce better outcomes.
The chargemaster is an integral element of the revenue cycle. It is used in generating charges for services that are rendered to patients in real time, the absence of functioning chargemaster can result in potential collapse of the revenue cycle. Hence, the process to optimize revenue cycle must include optimizing the chargemaster and all services that is associated with it. The negative consequences of nonfunctioning chargemaster can include excessive payment/overcharging, inaccurate billing to patients; and can result in stiff penalties and fines (Bielby et al,
“From a revenue cycle perspective, getting the most accurate information up front starts with patient scheduling and patient registration. That provides the groundwork by which claims can be billed and collected in the most efficient and effective manner possible,“The last thing you want is getting a claim submission kicking back to them then having to work their way through the
Hospitals recognized the need for the case management model in the mid 1980’s to manage the lengths of stay of hospitalized patients and the treatment plans (Jacob & Cherry, 2007). In 1983, the Medicare prospective payment program was implemented which allowed hospitals to be reimbursed a set payment based on the patient’s diagnosis, or Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG), regardless of what treatment was provided or how long the patient was hospitalized (Jacob & Cherry, 2007). To keep the costs below the diagnosis related payment, hospitals ...
In the medical industry, the quality of demand always remains constant despite the changes in prices and quality of services being provided. There usually is need for a regulatory agency to keep an eye on the market forces in the business so as to ensure the patients are not exploited. There are several regulatory agencies in the healthcare sector and it at times can be overwhelming (Stange, K. 2014). The main regulatory agency is the government, but it has several other agencies under it. These regulatory agencies play a role in not only the medical industry but also in the health insurance coverage.
retrospect to its governing authority (Shi & Singh, 2012). However, private and public agencies are the controlling constituent in today’s business. Free markets allow patients to choose providers without the prior approval of insurance companies. The current system offers a proposed plan of limited physicians in exchange for payment of services. Because the potential has been given to the payers, they regulate the cost of services rendered through contractual
CMS is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and it is an agency that is part of the US Department of Health & Human Services. CMS purpose is to administrate several health care programs such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CMS play a big role in the healthcare industry for administration the health programs. CMS provides administration that helps in giving more effective healthcare system that leads to high quality care and more good outcomes with lower costs. Also, CMS cooperate with States in order to set up the marketplaces’ insurance and regulate plans for private healthcare.
Is your addiction treatment facility struggling with cash flow shortages resulting from too many past due accounts and a denial ratio that makes you cringe? Perhaps it's time to examine your revenue cycle management (RCM) strategy. Not really sure what RCM can do for you? Below are some frequently asked questions, and their answers, that will clear up the confusion.