Healthcare Insider: Improving Practice Cashflow Successful Solutions by Owners & Industry Experts

ProPractice Solutions Presents...Healthcare Insider; critical Practice Management techniques, solutions, and recommendations provided by a Healthcare Practice owner! This session of Healthcare Insider focuses on the very serious and frequently overwhelming financial blind spots that result in tremendous revenue losses and monthly cash flow problems for many Providers and Healthcare Practice owners. While this is a very broad topic that easily includes dozens of critical areas and aspects of the "business side" of managing a Healthcare Practice (which we will dive into in upcoming Insider Knowledge sessions, this session will focus primarily on the general area of Healthcare Billing, also referred to as Medical Billing as Revenue Cycle Management ("RCM").

Causes of Practice Financial Problems: There are hundreds of causes for the financial problems that devastate Healthcare Practices today. However, what we see and hear most frequently as the primary cause of financial hardships for nearly every financially struggling Healthcare Practice, is that nearly all private Healthcare Practices are owned and managed by Healthcare Providers and their Office Managers who do not have formal business education, staff leadership expertise, or effective business operation management experience. So much education and training is required to ensure the Provider delivers proper, skilled, and quality Healthcare Services to their Patients. However there is very little business management education and training that is delivered to Providers as they begin practicing and endeavor to open, own, and manage their own Healthcare Practice.

Here is the first and possibly the biggest financial hurdle that every Provider and Practice Owner has to come to understand, and then develop an effective business plan to address; and that is providing Healthcare Services DOES NOT GENERATE REVENUE!! The care and Services rendered by Providers and the Practice EARN potential revenue, but you cannot pay salaries, the monthly lease, or any other monthly bills with an Accounts Receivable report! Billers that properly prepare, submit complete and accurate claims to insurance payers and to Patients and then collect payments, is what delivers the revenue to the Practice that pay for salaries and all the other monthly Practice expenses! And despite this reality, the billing and claims management (RCM) of Practices is often improperly staffed, grossly under-resourced, and almost always, totally mismanaged!

Here are a few specific actions that can (and should) be implemented immediately that will improve the financial performance and monthly cash flow of your Practice:

1. Practice Insights: Set aside 1 hour on the same day every week to review and analyze the Production and Financial Reports for the Practice including submitted claims, rejected claims, unpaid/pending claims, paid claims, A/R, etc. Become intimately aware of every detail of the revenue cycle and financial performance of your Practice.

2. Professional Biller(s): If you are not utilizing a certified, formally trained, and highly experienced professional Biller to submit, manage, and collect the Claims for the Practice, do so immediately. It is almost always more cost-efficient and effective (better claims processing performance) to hire a professional and reputable Medical Billing Service Provider than hiring full-time Billing staff for the Practice that nearly always get assigned numerous other tasks other than focusing on the activities that generate revenue payments to the Practice. This is a crucial decision and a critical necessity to properly manage claims, expedite the claims approval process, and to maximize the insurance reimbursement payment rates for your Services. These together determine the monthly cash flow for the Practice!

3. Billing Systems: Every practice has a Practice Management software solution that may or may not be your claims submission and management solution. Selecting one of the industry-leading, reputable, and cost-effective platforms that is preferred by your Biller and/or Billing Manager is the best practice in this regard. EVERY Billing Team needs a platform to communicate securely with the Provider(s) and other office staff to provide Patient visit information that is required to complete claims and obtain Payer approval and payment on Claims. Agrippon by ProPractice Solutions (www.agrippon.com) is the industry-leading Biller Information Request platform that provides a HIPPA-compliant solution that keeps the Billing Team and Office Staff focused on providing necessary information to gain claims approval and expedite reimbursement payments to the Practice.

These recommendations are incredibly important to the financial success of every Healthcare Practice regardless of specialty. If these recommendations are implemented and managed closely, you will realize an improvement in both the productivity and the financial performance of your Practice.

#healthcare #medical #rcm #medicalbilling #revenuecyclemanagement #dental #chiropractic #mentalhealth #hospital #patientbilling