Managing the billing, claims, and collections of a healthcare practice is a tedious process that many companies choose to handle with an RCM software to keep things organized and up to date. Quick turnarounds, easy payment processing, and lower overhead costs are all benefits of RCM software, but it still comes down to your team’s capacity and expertise to handle your revenue cycle efficiently and effectively.
While many practices succeed with in-house RCM software, sometimes it pays to have an expert team handle it for you with outsourced RCM.
What is RCM?
Revenue cycle management (RCM) is the process by which medical practices collect payments from insurers and individuals for services rendered. It includes everything from the recording of those services to the collection of the final payment or reimbursement.
RCM is important for the financial health of practices and the experience people have with paying their bills. The longer amounts sit in A/R, for example, the higher the risk that claims can go unfilled due to deadlines negotiated in a payor contract. Plus, people expect to see any bills for medical services arrive quickly so they can pay them and close the loop on their expenses.
What is RCM Software?
There are many types of RCM software designed to help healthcare providers monitor and manage their revenue cycle across patients and services. Many of them automate tasks such as billing and collections, and there are several designed for specific industries.
However, they still require your team’s input to some degree. The best RCM software automates much of the billing process and integrates with EMR to provide updates to linked accounts and follow up with billing reminders. This type of tool requires a significant investment, and can become a hindrance when tools are misconfigured or as a result of user error.
In addition, relying too heavily on software that may or may not be updated regularly opens the possibility of misfiling or miscoding claims due to the ever-changing policies and protocols present throughout the revenue cycle process. This is where having real people servicing your accounts is more helpful than making your team handle everything manually, or relying on impersonal servicing from an RCM software provider.
What is Outsourced RCM?
Outsourced RCM is just that, when a service provider takes over the entire revenue cycle process with their own tools and labor. This frees your team to focus on your main mission: serving patients with quality care.
However, we understand that many private practices balk at the idea of leasing out sensitive or important information about their practice, which is why we go to great lengths to secure and anonymize data to provide peace of mind and HIPAA compliance at every step. Our team is focused on revenue cycle management, and we’re proactive with staying on top of regulatory and coding standard changes.
We also provide the personal touch that the best RCM software dashboards may not provide when it comes to understanding your revenue cycle. We’ll also handle all communication with regard to payors and patients when it comes to collecting bills and receiving reimbursement for claims. The value of these services often far exceeds the minimal monthly payment for outsourced RCM, since we’re experts at these tasks and have the technological infrastructure to manage them efficiently.
Revenue Cycle Management With PayrHealth
To learn more about how you might be able to benefit from the security and scalability of revenue cycle management that’s handled by our team of experts, call or contact PayrHealth online today. Our team of industry experts will be happy to answer any questions and provide a value proposition to see how we can help you boost revenue and receive payments from payors and patients more quickly.
