Is Covid-19 impact on healthcare a loss or gain? How did healthcare billing companies adapt to the new formula of billing practice? Post pandemic reminds the substantial loss and global recession that has a very long lasting impact on healthcare industry. However, hospitals and healthcare professionals can take proactive measures to diminish the effects and construct a robust billing practice.
Healthcare billing companies has the key to unlock and revamp healthcare professionals’ practice with constant revenue flow. Obviously, many healthcare organizations and healthcare providers are yet to get into their normal lives as they are completely packed up treating patients. Because of their necessity and an urge to make billing practice successful, healthcare billing companies become major companions in sharing their medical billing obstacles.
This article answers some of the burning questions on Covid-19 outbreak and the significant revenue cycle strategies to recover from the financial impact of the pandemic.
How Healthcare Billing Companies tackle medical billing process post pandemic?
- Kick starting healthcare practices and sustaining billing processes are among the key priorities for hospitals and healthcare organizations emerging from the global pandemic.
- A report states that, inpatient services had dropped to 99% during global pandemic’s early phases.
- Building trust and confidence in patients by restarting healthcare services with ensured health capacity, safety measures and necessary supplies play an important role in generating revenue after Covid-19 situation.
- It’s up to healthcare professionals to focus on rebuilding their revenue cycle management system after the pandemic crisis.
- Healthcare industries’ most believed formula is to play defense and concentrate on sustaining in the industry.
- Meanwhile, healthcare billing companies can begin to work on billing strategies that suit to particular medical practice. And it also makes sense as the Covid-19 pandemic has led to recession as noticed earlier.
- Healthcare providers must be brave enough to fight the challenges by rethinking on financial strategies and diminish corona-virus impact on revenue reimbursements.
- Simultaneously, telemedicine plans can enhance patient volume and increase patient responsibility, experience, satisfaction which leads to revenue growth.
How does Telemedicine aid in resurgence?
- Telemedicine is one of the crucial evolution in healthcare industry due to pandemic.
- Over 9 million beneficiaries have received telehealth or telemedicine services during the first few months of COVID-19, according to CMS report.
- And this is counted as drastic change with a weekly increase from 13,000 visits before pandemic to 1.7 million during the pandemic.
- Telemedicine has proven to be a game changer for hospitals, healthcare professionals, healthcare organizations and practices confronting reduced patient volumes and revenue payments.
- But along with healthcare practices, reopening services after reduced COVID-19 instances in some regions, there is a sudden spike in in-person volume and arising unanswered questions on Telemedicine solutions post COVID-19.
- Will telemedicine services only serve as an emergency platform? However, experts say, it will not. The answer is expected!
- Healthcare billing companies, medical practices, and hospitals realize telehealth benefits and continue the services to leverage platform as patients emerge from the present situation.
- Telemedicine solutions are not just an emergency tool but play an effective part in accelerating healthcare revenue capacity post the pandemic.
How is patient billing managed by Healthcare Billing Companies?
- Covid-19 has led to a massive recession. It also fosters challenges with patient communication.
- Healthcare billing companies predict that, this recession could drastically affect health insurance coverage.
- The report from a source states that, over 2.9 million beneficiaries could become uninsured by the year-end due to job losses created by the pandemic.
- Apparently, some more could stop availing employer-sponsored insurance coverage.
- This paradigm shift in the insurance companies will lead to significant changes in payer billing tactics and payer mix.
- A demand for high-deductible healthcare plans has led healthcare providers to drive their focus towards self-pay methods.
- It abruptly means, working with financial partner hand in hand.
Future of Healthcare- Steps to follow:
- Besides the most spoken topic “New Normal”, an unacceptable fact is that, healthcare billing system and revenue cycle management in healthcare industry will not remain constant like the earlier days, as we emerge from the global pandemic.
- Covid-19 has forever changed how healthcare billing companies will handle claims and how will they collect the revenue payments.
- However, the global pandemic will bring forth the next generation of healthcare powered by hyper-connected, community-sourced and digitally-enabled healthcare system.
- The concept of connected, engaged and digital care is not new. For example, telemedicine or telehealth adoption has enabled healthcare organizations and hospitals to respond better to the pandemic’s impact compared to the previous years.
- Healthcare professionals must shift their routes from the crisis mode to adopting new technological innovations and telehealth to leverage telemedicine platforms to scale-up digitally-enabled care models.
- Apparently, healthcare industry needs to revive, repair and expand ambulatory and home care capabilities to optimize the benefits of “hospitals without barriers”, in the wake of Covid-19.
- The above digitally enabled healthcare services that include healthcare billing will be one of the significant factors driving revenue stability post pandemic.
- Upcoming reimbursement policies and regulations will also play a vital role in streamlining healthcare operations that encounter the evolving consumerism in healthcare industry.
Using Data for Growth:
- Healthcare billing companies should not only address the billing issues but also coincide as a partner in healthcare professional’s overall success.
- By using a medical practice’s operational data, healthcare billing companies can get a better understanding of the elements impacting profitability.
- Identifying the factors that’s halting or boosting the revenue is essential when looking to take a practice in the right direction.
- Healthcare billing companies can dive into the data in various ways to see how everything connects into their revenue success.
- This transparency is not analyzed by most of the medical practices on their own.
- Data application collaborated with medical billing expertise will definitely make a tremendous impact on how successful a healthcare practice can be over a period of time.
Key Performance Indicators to Track for a Healthy RCM
- Tracking and acting upon the key performance indicators are crucial for maintaining a healthy revenue cycle management.
- Some of the KPI’s are POS cash collections, days spent in account receivables, denial rate, and adjusted collection rates.
- Each of these indicators shows where and how the revenue flow in the organization is getting stuck and how you can recover them.
- For example, experts believe that the accounts receivable management should be strong enough to put the time frame within 60 to 90 days. If it moves beyond 90 days, it is indicative of the fact that the ageing AR needs better professional guidance to move ahead.
- Denial rates are also vital statistics that you must measure to monitor how your workflow management is faring in the revenue cycle scenario.
- Higher denial rates show that there are inherent errors in the functionality of the system. However, you also need to segregate them and analyze the completeness or correctness of the existing data.
Hope you got the information on Healthcare billing companies post pandemic. For more information on healthcare, please subscribe to our blog.