Lower payor and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements have made revenue cycles a major focal point for hospitals and other medical practices. Specifically, remaining solvent, maintaining a steady cash flow and stabilizing revenue streams are the areas that need to be addressed.

Internal financial management teams are charged with overcoming the obstacles to keeping a steady revenue flow. Some of the challenges include:

Every Project is a Priority

Changes come up thicker and faster than they can be managed. Plus, it also seems like each one is a top priority which doesn't help when trying to juggle them all. ICD-10, Meaningful Use, EHR, market changes and the ACA are just a few of the issues impacting hospitals. The healthcare transformation is at its height right now which makes it even more imperative to maintain revenues.

A Dearth of Skilled Resources

Some of the skills required in this transformative stage are not readily available in many hospitals,ralph lauren outlet online. They include project management, clinical documentation, training and revenue cycle management skills. In addition, when the skills exist there is tendency for them to turn into silos instead of becoming collaborative teams of people,cheap christian louboutin. This creates competing agendas, communication holes, inefficient operations and generally thwarts progress,vaginal dryness.

It's important to find personnel with right skills and place them in a culture of collaboration in order to maintain day-to-day operations while effectively addressing the many priorities.

Shrinking Margins

The steady decrease in revenues is forcing hospital management to see where efficiencies can be increased with automation,Halter Evening Dresses ,moncler jackets online. Of course, this also temporarily drives up costs which in turn strains already tight budgets.

Market Changes

To say hospitals are in a transformative stage is a bit of an understatement,dre beats headphones. It's more like a transformational upheaval. Hospitals are dealing with a wavering amount of insured and uninsured patients. This is impacted by the ACA but also by employees who are dropping health coverage because it's too costly or because they have lost their jobs.

In the face of this, the revenue cycle team will have to make sure the commercial payor contracts are solid enough to balance out the uninsured population the hospital will be serving.

Optimize Revenue Cycle Processes

For a long time, the revenue cycle has been status quo. If that continues in the current state, too much revenue will be left on the table,unless they have substantial collateral.. So, the entire revenue cycle needs to be thoroughly examined. This includes processes around system integration, billing and claims management,north face jackets uk, clinical documentation, contract reviews and ICD-10.