Comparative analytics: Manage revenue cycle

A. Managing the revenue cycle is more challenging than ever. HME/DME providers need to identify and analyze the issues that impact performance and streamline processes to stay competitive.

Efficiency is a key component to the revenue cycle of any HME provider. Getting the money in the door starts with the provider documenting all aspects of the business completed in a timely manner.

Next, the billing and coding team(s) takes over to properly code the encounter and form the claim.

The last steps are final scrub checks of the claim to make sure it's formed correctly before submission to the payer through the clearinghouse (or direct).

At that point, the HME provider is waiting for the payer to accept the claim. That could happen immediately, or a cycle of multiple denials/re-submissions could occur that would result in a delay in receiving payment. For any size provider, that's a hit to the bottom line.

On average, how long does that process take for your organization? Do you even know?

The process can take more than three months to capture what happened/what service or materials were provided, complete the paperwork and have the claim accepted for payment by the payer.

One easy way to address this waiting period in your organization is to map your internal processes and measure the amount of time consumed in each step of the process. Then you can manage each step to improve performance. You can also use solutions to evaluate your performance and compare yourself to your peers.

Managing cash flow is a critical function for HME/DME providers. Leveraging solutions in the market to monitor and drive performance improvement, along with process mapping, is a quick and easy way to get your cash earlier.

Brian Fugere is COO of RemitData. Reach him at bfugere@remitdata.com.