Hospital financial and revenue cycle benchmarks paint a complicated picture heading into the new year
The tail end of 2024 has brought promising news regarding hospital financial metrics, even as revenue cycle indicators suggest continuing strain. Margin data are showing moderate improvement, and one of the three credit-rating agencies has upgraded its 2025 sector outlook for not-for-profit (NFP) hospitals and health systems. Fitch Ratings announced this week it was revising…
Common coding challenges hospitals face and how to fix them
Managing revenue and profitability has become increasingly difficult for hospitals, leading many to take drastic cost-cutting measures. However, there are less painful options, including reevaluating and revamping medical coding processes. Managing revenue and profitability has become increasingly difficult for hospitals, leading many to take drastic cost-cutting measures. However, there are less painful options, including reevaluating…
The patient as the new payer: 5 opportunities to improve the patient financial experience
Patient collections have become an increasingly difficult challenge for hospitals due primarily to a shift in payer mix. Because of rising deductibles and increased patient responsibility, the percentage of healthcare provider revenue collected directly from patients increased to more than 30% from less than 10% over ten years, according to an article from HITLeaders. Faced…
4 tips for simplifying prior authorizations
Healthcare spending in the U.S. has reached what many consider to be unsustainable levels. While spending in other developed nations averaged 8.8% of GDP in 2019, it was nearly double that in the U.S. at 16.8%. One of the major contributors to this spending is administrative waste, which accounts for up to 30% of our…
How to automate revenue cycle operations to improve revenue and reduce resource dependency
Even with an increased focus on automation in the industry, too many revenue cycle operational processes remain highly manual and resource intensive. This is especially true for mid-cycle processes. Manual data entry, such as coding, leaves significant room for error and takes longer to complete, leading to slower reimbursement and ultimately impacting the bottom line. Automation…
How to protect your revenue cycle on the road to price transparency compliance
While the CMS hospital price transparency rule has been in place for more than a year now, the vast majority of hospitals are still noncompliant.
Revenue cycle automation helps health systems regain financial footing during COVID-19 and beyond
Bots and other forms of automation are helping hospitals keep up with the revenue cycle at a time when resources are limited.
How four health systems are using revenue cycle management robotics
Health system executives say that they were already using automation before the pandemic, and the pandemic led them to speed up the adoption process.
HFMA recognizes the 2020 winners of the MAP Award for revenue cycle excellence
During Day 4 of the Digital Annual Conference, HFMA recognized the 23 winners of the 2020 MAP Awards.
4 proven strategies for optimizing revenue cycle performance
Hospitals revenue cycles can all too often experience denied claims and delayed payment due to outdated manual processes and workflow inefficiencies. Hospital revenue cycle leaders can address these problems with a sharper strategic focus on submitting clean claims, managing denials, applying analytics and outsourcing.