Webinar and Whitepaper Look at Solutions to Healthcare Revenue Challenges

Registration is still open for an upcoming free Webinar, presented by Ontario Systems and insidePatientFinance.com, that examines some solutions to the problems healthcare organizations face. With greater centralization and new regulations, a greater volume of information is piling up around semi-automated and manual systems.

The webinar is scheduled for Thursday, 19 September 2013, from 2.00 p.m. – 3.15 p.m. Eastern.

This kind of volume, if not managed properly, can break processes.

The five specific pain-points looked at are:

Mergers & Acquisitions

PROBLEM: These initiatives can certainly bring about new efficiencies and synergies between hospitals and physician offices. But they can also bring disparate business office infrastructures together, sometimes presenting technical hurdles and information silos.

 

SOLUTION: To address the issue, the business office needs an enterprise-wide response to accounts receivable management. A common AR system will enforce the steering committee’s business rules, apply automation to formerly manual processes, and drive exception-based workflow to each account representative’s desktop.

New Physician Alliances

PROBLEM: Many factors influence an alliance between the hospital and physicians, including alignment to mission, market factors, financial status, and the potential revenue and cost saving benefits of the alignment. But no matter the result of this scorecard, the end game dramatically increases AR management for the business office.

 

SOLUTION: Have a plan in place to properly on-board physician accounts, and a strategy to work them automatically and consistently. The high-volume, low-balance nature of those claims and patient liabilities depends on it.

Aging Patient Populations, and High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs)

PROBLEM: HDHP plans are here to stay, and that means more patients will be covering more of their own healthcare costs, a burden for which many are unprepared. In turn, that means increasing risk and volume across your patient liability portfolio at a time when margins continue to tighten.

 

SOLUTION: Revenue cycle leaders need a perspective that views patient liability volume as a financial portfolio – an approach that requires a strategic response. Account segmentation and scoring, automated workflow, contemporary contact management with patient preference understanding, and self-service options to keep the business office open 24/7 are tools that can help.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)

PROBLEM: The PPACA will undoubtedly bring new insurance options to more than 32 million Americans, but it certainly doesn’t ensure their claims will be paid more efficiently or on time.

 

SOLUTION: Review current policies and technology to ensure a robust self-pay, insurance-follow-up, and denials-management-response policy are in place.

501(r) Regulation

PROBLEM: The 501(r) Regulation is a complicated series of steps and notifications around healthcare financial assistance. Specifically, 501(r) states that hospitals will be required to make reasonable efforts to determine whether a patient is eligible for a financial assistance program (FAP) before engaging in extraordinary collection activities. Even more specifically: it’s going to require a LOT of documentation.

 

SOLUTION: Charitable hospitals must develop FAP workflows and specific controls to ensure appropriate notification before collection action is initiated, accounts are placed with third parties, and patients are reported to credit agencies.

You can register for the free webinar here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/876211065

You can download the accompanying whitepaper to prepare for the webinar here: 5 Ways Volumes Break Things — And How to Fight Back.