Business meetings are always a bit of a grind. But the pressure of declining margins and heightened patient expectations made the meeting inside the hospital boardroom even more tense. There was a sense of unease in the room. Because the numbers being discussed showed a sharp downward trend in terms of net revenue. Sounds familiar?
DME businesses are struggling to maintain a positive cash flow as reimbursement regulations become more complex and stringent. This could be healthcare’s worst era. How do DME businesses and suppliers get on the growth path? Where does the road to financial resilience begin? The answer could lie closer home than you think.
DME billing typically requires huge volumes of data to support medical claims. From a lengthy prior authorization process to supply information it involves tremendous paperwork. Investing in technology such robotic process automation (RPA) that can handle time intensive revenue cycle processes with speed and clarity can be a viable solution.
This can ensure important financial data and workflows are taken care of while human resources can be redeployed to more critical tasks.
Denied claims are revenue drainers as the time taken to address denials impacts productivity and the cost of reworking on denied claims has steadily increased over the years. It is clear as daylight. Denail management shouldn’t be the focus area of DME practices. It is essential to focus on denial prevention to curb down the high costs of handling denials.
Investing in a denial prevention program is the best way to cut back on unnecessary costs and ensuring reimbursable claims do not slip through the cracks.
The DME billing process can be fraught by deficiencies and process inconsistencies. Most of it goes unnoticed in a busy DME practice. Audit the revenue cycle to identify areas of improvement. Can the prior authorization process be automated? Can automated AR queues be deployed to manage pending accounts receivables? Can the average TAT of reimbursement be quickened by automating insurer follow-ups? By focusing on key areas that can be susceptible to inefficiencies helps in tightening processes.