Brian Vander Mey compiled input from his peers and his own research into a flowchart that documents revenue cycle processes-for providers and payers-from beginning to end.
Brian Vander Mey had no healthcare experience when he was hired earlier this year by Arbor Healthcare, LLC, Franklin, Tenn., on a temporary basis to assist a revenue cycle project.
Access tool: Comprehensive Revenue Cycle Flowchart
“That was the first time I had ever heard the phrase ‘healthcare revenue cycle.’ I had a lot of research to do,” he says.
Vander Mey turned to HFMA’s Revenue Cycle Forum LinkedIn page for help and asked Forum members for information, materials, and resources that could help him put together a comprehensive revenue cycle flowchart as a learning tool that he could share with the online community.
“I combined my own research and the community’s input, made a few decisions regarding points of discrepancy, and created a visual representation method I felt could be comprehended fairly easily,” he says.
According to Vander Mey, the flowchart provides an end-to-end description of the revenue cycle, from first contact with the patient, through the payment process, and ending with underpayment/overpayment recovery. The top half describes provider processes; the bottom half describes payer processes.
Vander Mey believes his flowchart can be an excellent primer for rookies in the industry, as well as an important resource for experienced revenue cycle leaders and staff.
“Perhaps the most important factors are visualizing the inter-relationships of the revenue cycle, helping to understand the order of events, and clarifying what is concurrent with any given process-on the provider and payer sides. It is easy to imagine how mistakes made upstream can influence processes downstream,” he says. “This is also a great tool not only for leaders, but also for those they lead, helping them understand the reasons for and implications of management decisions.”
Source: Arbor Healthcare, LLC. Reprinted with permission.
