• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Tip: Improving the revenue cycle starts with the front end

Patient Financial Services Weekly Advisor, May 13, 2005

Assessing your front end to identify target areas for improvement means paying close attention to volumes, processes, and staffing, says Maria Hogarth, director of revenue cycle consulting at Integra Solutions.

Hogarth spoke during HFMA's Revenue Cycle Strategies Conference May 2 in New Orleans.

Volume relates to most aspects of the revenue cycle and helps set quality, productivity, and staffing levels she says.

Target areas to investigate include the following:

Scheduling:

• Number of patients within each service that can be scheduled per day/month
• Number of prescheduled procedures per day/month/employee
• Average scheduling interview duration

Preregistration/registration:

• Number of patients within each service that can be pre-registered per day/month
• Number of patients registered by employee per day/shift/month by service type
• Average registration interview duration

Financial counseling:

• Number of self-pay accounts registered by source (e.g., ED, outpatient, inpatient) per month
• Number and amount collected on copays and deductibles at point of service
• Number of uninsured patients screened per month by source (e.g., ED, outpatient, inpatient) and employee

Eligibility verification:

• Number of patients registered by payer type per month
• Number of eligibility verifications per employee, per month, per payer

Next week we'll look at Hogarth's recommendations for front-end process target areas.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive