2017 Resolutions For A Healthier Revenue Cycle

The start of the new year is a great time to evaluate your facility’s past performance, identifying areas of excellence and areas for improvement. After evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each department and your revenue cycle, crafting a set of resolutions can help you achieve optimal results and surpass prior year’s successes. 

Our HRG team of industry experts came together and compiled a list of resolutions that don’t require a new gym membership or any fancy supplements. They will, if implemented, pay off by increasing the overall health of your facility’s revenue cycle.

14 RESOLUTIONS FOR A HEALTHIER REVENUE CYCLE:

1. Review the past. Look at reports for trends and highlights. Review your KPI’s against benchmarks to take your team to the next level. – Jim Heilsberg, VP of Revenue Optimization
2. Find your “best potential” KPI's this year.  Each facility is unique and does not fit a cookie cutter best practice model.  Let 2017 be the year you not only discover your best potential metrics, but achieve them as well.  - Cassie Wise, Senior Director-CBO Division
3. To keep denials and take backs at bay, study the 2017 OIG Work Plan and educate your coders on this year’s targets. – Carole Morris, VP of Coding Services
4. Use tax time to maximize your self-pay collections; 50% of Americans use taxes to pay off debt so this is a great opportunity to work with your patients to pay down any past due balances. – Brandon Hayes, Revenue Cycle Senior Director
5. Keep your DNFB in check as your census grows during the “super bug” flu season. – Kelly Jacobus, Director of Facility Coding
6. Read up on MACRA QPP eligibility. There are many pieces to MACRA so take one bite at a time to digest it easier. – Kerry Luciani, Director of Business Intelligence  
7. Invest in your team. Providing extra education, training or certification opportunities for your employees pays off for everyone. – Denice Robertson, Director of Human Resources
8. Keep your facility and your patients’ information safe by reviewing your IS security protocols and implementing a security awareness training program for employees. – Jessica Sublette, Executive Director of Information Services
9.  Focus on improving clinical documentation. CDI will pay off in many areas including coding, revenue integrity and ultimately patient care. – Laura Legg, Executive Director of Revenue Integrity and Compliance
10. Specificity is Key.  The grace period for allowing unspecified codes has come to an end.  Minimize your denial management processes and maximize your initial billing collections by ensuring that provider documentation includes the required specificity for ICD-10 diagnosis codes. - Teresa Tate, Director of Professional Fee Coding
11. Have your charity policy and payment plan policy visibly displayed at registration. – Kelli Daschbach, Self-Pay Director
12. Medical necessity rules. Make sure your front-end staff have complete physician orders with appropriate diagnoses before performing expensive testing and procedures. – Kelly Jacobus, Director of Facility Coding
13. Ninety-two percent of New Year resolutions fail because they are not meaningful, realistic, and written down.  Take time to develop good stretch goals for your revenue cycle team.  Write them down and post them to keep focus on those goals.  Take time to review the progress and celebrate the milestones. – Greg West, COO and President
14. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. A team of specialists can help you get better results faster and for a better value than trying to go it alone. – Jason Coffin, VP OutPartnering™ Center

 

We at HRG wish you a happy and healthy new year. If you find you need help implementing your resolutions and achieving your 2017 revenue cycle goals, don’t hesitate to contact our team of experts. We’ll get you there!