While outsourcing a critical part of your business can be scary, healthcare providers who find outside help they can trust often gain improved performance and profitability. The trick to getting good value from a third-party resource is finding the right match for your operation, to minimize any worries about quality control or inefficiency.
Revenue cycle management (RCM) is one critical function that healthcare organizations struggle to optimize on their own due to costs related to talent, turnover, technology and rapidly changing payer reimbursement policies. While tracking trends related to RCM, the experts at MedTek have uncovered four ways that outsourcing to the right third party can help your healthcare facility grow.
1. Cut Costs
Hiring an outsourced company can be considerably more cost effective than employing in house staff. Due to the expertise required, health systems have high labor costs across the board – as much as 45% of revenue according to one study conducted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Knowing how important it is to manage their money, facilities often make costly staffing investments for their revenue management departments, only to have them leave employment within the first 90 days. A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study found that replacing non-medical staff lost due to turnover can cost as much as 20% of annual pay.
2. Gain Access to Better Technology
Many healthcare facilities don’t have the technology available in house to expertly manage RCM. Outside resources can amortize the cost of the latest technology across multiple clients, which makes vital error-prevention protocols for coding and billing affordable for them. Similarly, specialized revenue cycle resources like MedTek offer sophisticated reporting tools to provide valuable insights into financial performance and analysis to address the root causes of problems related to claims collection.
3. Stay Ahead of Requirements
Due to dramatic strategic shifts in the healthcare industry, laws and regulations are constantly changing, along with payer-specific policies and guidelines impacting reimbursement. This constant state of flux makes it very difficult for healthcare facilities to keep track of critical RCM information and often leads to overbilling or lost revenue. Outsourcing to a professional revenue cycle vendor solves this problem. Because these specialized resources deal with revenue cycle issues 24/7, they proactively keep tabs on industry changes, ensuring their clients remain updated, protected, and profitable.
4. Improve Efficiency
Outsourcing RCM to knowledgeable & reliable experts means your team can focus on its top priorities and never have to worry that money will be lost because a key team member is sick or on vacation. RCM experts ensure your facility has a strategic plan to measure, manage and maximize reimbursements, collections, and profits. As a result, your facility can collect money owed faster and more efficiently.
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