If you have poor financial performance, then it could be due to your inattentive practices concerning your organization’s revenue cycle management process. Coding, EMR and PM software systems flaws, reimbursement methodologies, billing and collection processes, all have an adverse effect on your organization’s overall accounts receivable health. Since many urgent care center physicians/owners are not aware of this problem, they often cannot “stop the bleeding” prior to disaster striking. When there is a lack of appropriate oversight in your accounts receivable process, coupled with declines in income from other factors, it can mean the difference in your organization staying open or closing. Industry experts all agree that physicians/owners who manage revenue processes diligently will see improvements in financial performance.
Over the past few years, the explosion of urgent care centers across the United States have led both directly and indirectly to shrinking market share, which has resulted in declining cash flows, inability to negotiate favorable contracts with managed care plans, reduced patient volume, and an increase in client demands often resulting in increased employee turnover and higher payer scrutiny of claims because of mistakes which results in delays of payments by almost all third-party payers.
Although most urgent care owners/operators are now beginning to understand the increased complexity of reimbursement regulations require a different level of expertise among physicians and office staff members, finding the money to support those efforts, as well as locate the talent, is often the reason an organization has poor financial performance.
In the past few years, the industry states that physicians/owners are spending more time and money on oversight control in areas such as medical practice and coding compliance, EMR set-up and template development, charge validation studies, utilization and referral management, and even follow-up on denied claims. Oftentimes physicians/owners are feeling overwhelmed and frustrated which results in their inability to practice medicine. While they can do little about these factors except apply the necessary management expertise, there are other areas of revenue cycle management that can help an organization’s bottom line when properly managed.
Signs of Weakness
If revenue cycle management is weak, physicians/owners will see the following symptoms:
Just like any other type of medical practice, there are only five key areas to address when seeking to improve financial performance:
1. Reimbursement systems
2. Billing and collection processes
3. Accounts receivable management
4. Operations improvement
5. Practice growth
Every company has culture. The question you have to ask yourself, is yours the culture you want? Learn how to create a team, squash the gossip, resolve disagreements (the right way), create team values, purpose, and more...
Take this course“It was well worth the money. I found the discussion on financial statements so beneficial. I never understood it before. I’ll use so much of what I have learned both...”
“I am still overwhelmed with pure joy and excitement from this weekend’s activities. It was life changing. Thank you...for all you did this weekend to make all the little things...”
“Very interesting, very informative, very intense! B2B interaction was well worth the cost.”
Top Financial Mistakes That Will Crash Your Business. We know running a medical practice can be difficult. Most medical practice owners are physicians who graduated from medical school, not business school. Often, their teams are friends and family members with a medical background. Our goal is to educate medical practice owners, and their teams, to develop their business management and leadership skills.
Comments (0)
Likes (0)