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Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) Trends for 2020

Revenue cycle management has experienced ups and downs in recent years. What lies ahead for revenue cycle management?
Last year, we saw the continued rise of automation and AI. We also saw battles over price transparency.
Continuing the trend from previous years, we also saw healthcare organizations contend with patient expectations, government regulations, and a growing number of technology options.
Let’s take a look at some of the revenue cycle management (RCM) trends we’re preparing for in 2020.

Continued Battles Over Healthcare Pricing Transparency

Healthcare pricing transparency battles occurred across the country in 2019. Expect battles to continue into 2020.
A Waystar survey released in August 2019 found that lack of price transparency was the biggest factor to a negative patient experience. Governments are pushing for increased healthcare transparency, and healthcare organizations are adapting.
Last year, we saw healthcare organizations implement strategies to better manage the patient financial journey. In 2020, we expect healthcare organizations to take the next step.
Some organizations have published the chargemaster online, giving patients full transparency over how much services cost. However, because chargemaster prices are not necessarily the prices charged to the patient, these resources can be difficult for patients to interpret.
In June 2019, the Trump administration signed an executive order mandating that health systems provide out of pocket cost estimations to patients upfront.
Look for increased transparency and better patient access to prices as we move through 2020.

Higher Demand for Revenue Cycle Management RCM Outsourcing

Revenue cycle management outsourcing is becoming increasingly popular among healthcare organizations – and it’s been a trend for several years.
The trend towards revenue cycle management outsourcing is expected to continue into 2020.
Revenue cycle management companies advertise benefits like sharing the risk and reward, which creates a win-win solution for partner organizations. Healthcare organizations can create a sustainable, high-performing engine while still enjoying growing cash flow.
As revenue cycle management outsourcing companies become more competitive, outsourcing is an increasingly attractive option for healthcare organizations.

More Cybersecurity Battles and Ransomware Attacks

Cybersecurity has been a priority for healthcare organizations for over a decade, and this trend is expected to continue into 2020.
Cybersecurity attacks aren’t stopping anytime soon. Healthcare organizations need a coherent cybersecurity strategy to stay competitive.
In April 2019, the United States government reported 44 healthcare data breaches, which was the highest number of healthcare breaches reported in a single month since the government started tracking healthcare breaches in 2010. The previous record was set in April 2018, when there were 42 breaches.
Ransomware attacks are particularly common. Last year, Carbon Black released a study showing that 66% of healthcare organizations experienced a ransomware attack within the last 12 months.

Higher Volumes and Patient Revenue

Hospitals nationwide ended 2019 with an increase in hospital profitability. The increase was linked to surges in net patient revenue and service volumes. Hospitals were treating more patients – and making more money from those patients – than ever, according to a report by RevCycle Intelligence.
This profitability increased despite a slight increase in supply expenses, increases in bad debt, increases in charity care, and mixed performance on expenses.
Over 800 hospitals across the country saw particularly high volumes in adjusted discharges, emergency department (ER) visits, and operating room (OR) minutes.
It was a positive trend after a tough year. The December 2019 increase was the first year-over-year operating EBITDA margin increase in six months. Hospital operating margins also increased by 171.8 basis points compared to November 2019.
Overall, EBITDA margins rose 136.9 basis points year-over-year in December 2019. It’s possible this trend will continue into 2020.

CFOs Are Becoming More Involved

The role of the healthcare CFO has been changing in recent years. 2020 might be the year it becomes even more evident.
CFOs are expected to continue taking a leading role at every level of the healthcare organization. Modern healthcare CFOs don’t just listen: they act.
Healthcare IT Leaders Revenue Cycle Lead, Larry Todd, recently recommended that CFOs go beyond listening and start implementing:
“…any implementation will affect the revenue of the organization so it’s very important for CFOs to be involved in the implementation project and to be informed of key parts of the project that could put the organization and its revenue at risk.”
In the same article, Linda Hoff of Legacy Health described how CFOs need to take a specific interest in not just financials, but also patient satisfaction and quality. All metrics are closely intertwined:
“You have a passion for what you’re doing within your facilities, how you’re interacting with patients. You have to be as interested in patient satisfaction and quality as you are in the financials. If you don’t have that passion for all those aspects, you’re really not going to land yourself in a CFO role especially today.”

Surprise Billing Will Continue to Be Attacked

Surprise billing took a beating at the end of 2019. In December, members of Congress announced the expansion of a bipartisan investigation into supress billing practice. Because of that expansion, the investigation will now look at physician staffing companies and health insurers.
That same month, a Health Affairs study found that annual healthcare spending for patients with employer-sponsored health insurance would drop by $40 billion if specialists were not able to bill out-of-network.
A Kaiser Family Foundation report released in June, meanwhile, found that one in six Americans received a surprise medical bill in 2017 despite being covered by health insurance.
As surprise billing continues to make media headlines nationwide, surprise billing practices will continue to be attacked.
Look for these trends and more to make headlines across the revenue cycle management field in 2020.

What Role Does a Hospital Chargemaster Play in Revenue Cycle Management?

The hospital charge description master, or hospital chargemaster, communicates medical bills to payers and patients.
The hospital chargemaster plays a crucial role in revenue cycle management: it’s the heart of the healthcare revenue cycle. It’s the central point from which all billing gets sent to patients and insurers.
Organizations that fail to maintain the chargemaster face enormous problems. Poor chargemaster maintenance leads to revenue leakage. It can also lead to inaccuracies, non-competitive fees, and claim rejections.

What is the Chargemaster?

The hospital chargemaster is a list of all the billable services and items to a patient or patient’s health insurance provider.
The chargemaster lists the costs of each product and service offered by the healthcare organization, including any procedures, services, supplies, prescription drugs, and diagnostic tests provided by the hospital. The chargemaster lists the cost of everything related to that service, including any equipment fees and room charges.
When a patient receives service from a hospital, the healthcare provider documents the encounter in the medical record. Then hospital staff – like professional coders – assign the service a code for reporting and claim submission.
The codes are sent to the chargemaster. Each code is matched with a specific product or service and a fixed rate. Then, the charges are billed to the patient, creating a claim for payers – like insurance companies – to pay.

What’s Included in the Chargemaster?

Hospitals use chargemasters to keep track of the cost of all products and services offered by the organization.
Each product or service offered by the hospital – like a diagnostic test or specific surgery – gets its own entry in the chargemaster.
Each chargemaster entry includes the following:
Item Number: This number is assigned by the facility and is unique to that product or service.
CPT or HCPCS Codes: Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes or Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes help keep track of each product or service in a standardized way.
Item Description: Each entry has a brief text description of the product or service.
Revenue Code: A unique code based on the revenue of that item.
Charge Amount: The fee assigned to the item.
Alternative CPT or HCPCS Codes: Sometimes, codes overlap. Or, some insurers may require additional codes.
Numeric Designation for Department: A unique code describing the department where the product or service took place.
Ledger Number: A general number for organization accounting purposes.
A hospital may offer thousands of products or services. There’s a chargemaster entry for each one.

Patients Rarely Pay the Chargemaster Rate

Healthcare transparency battles raged throughout 2019. In response, some organizations are making chargemasters more transparent.
However, it’s easy for patients to get confused about chargemaster prices. The prices displayed on the chargemaster are rarely the prices paid by customers.
In fact, most patients do not see the chargemaster price from their hospital visit unless they are uninsured and must actually pay the chargemaster rate.
Why are chargemaster rates so different from real prices? It’s because of markups.
Chargemaster services are heavily marked up to make negotiations with insurance companies easier. One recent study found that the average hospital in the United States had a charge-to-cost ratio of 4.32, which means the hospital charged $432 when the service really only cost $100.
Maintaining marked up chargemaster prices also makes it difficult for patients to compare prices between organizations.
Hospitals defend this practice, claiming that markups help hospitals stay open and competitive. However, there’s been a push for transparency in recent years, and hospitals have started changing how they treat the chargemaster.

Why is Inadequate Chargemaster Maintenance a Problem?

Inadequate chargemaster maintenance is a serious issue. Even the best healthcare organizations experience chargemaster-related issues, and these issues lead to lost revenue.
Accurate chargemaster maintenance is crucial for revenue integrity. A lack of maintenance leads to revenue leakage.
Poor chargemaster maintenance can lead to overpayments or underpayments. It can also lead to claim rejections from insurance companies, poor patient experience, or compliance violations.
Many organizations are surprised to discover they have been significantly undercharging or overcharging for specific treatments because of poor chargemaster maintenance. A chargemaster audit can reveal surprising results.

Tips for Maintaining Accurate Chargemasters

Hospital chargemaster maintenance is crucial to revenue cycle management. Here are some tips to help your organization manage.
First, the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) recommends maintaining chargemaster lists by following the three C’s: correct, complete, and compliant codes.
Correct Codes: Chargemaster coordinators should check that the correct codes are billed. There may be differences between what is captured in the order entry system or EHR and what is reported on the chargemaster. Someone may assign an unlisted HCPCS code when a specific code is available, for example, or the entry may be missing HCPCS codes for separately paid drugs.
Complete: Chargemaster code sets need to be complete. Hospitals need to capture the charges for all the services and items provided to patients. Failure to maintain complete code sets can lead to missed payments and revenue leakage.
Compliant: Chargemasters must also be complaint with coding standards and federal, state, and commercial payer rules. Failing to adhere to regulations can lead to significant issues, including repayments to payers, healthcare fraud, and healthcare abuse.
Ultimately, all of these issues can be solved with frequent chargemaster code reviews. Check your chargemaster code to ensure it’s correct, complete, and compliant to ensure good revenue cycle management.

Telehealth Coding and Billing During COVID-19: Tips and Guidelines

Healthcare organizations have turned to telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some are not prepared to handle telehealth coding and billing.
Demand for contract medical coding experts is surging. Companies like HMI Corp can help your organization manage complicated COVID-19-related telehealth coding. Our coding experts have proven expertise across the United States.
Today, we’re highlighting some of the best telehealth coding and billing practices for the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, including changes to be aware of.

HHS Relaxes Certain Telehealth Rules During COVID-19

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, HHS has relaxed certain telehealth coding rules. HHS allows providers to offer telehealth services while charging the same amount they would for in-person care.
Whether providing care virtually or on-site, providers can get paid the same amount for patient care because of these new HHS regulations.
Specific services covered under these regulations include:
• Telehealth visits
• Virtual check-ins
• E-visits
These rules are changing regularly.
CMS recently announced that doctors can directly care for patients at rural hospitals, across state lines if necessary, via phone, radio, or online communication, without having to be physically present. They announced similar options for nurse practitioners, occupational therapists, and hospice nurses. These changes affect critical access hospitals (CAHs), federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), rural health clinics (RHCs), skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and home health agencies and hospices.
You can learn more about the CMS’s COVID-19 emergency declaration blanket waivers for healthcare providers and telehealth services at CMS.gov here.

CMS Releases HCPCS Codes for Telehealth Services

CMS has released a list of HCPCS codes for telehealth services and other virtual patient treatment sessions.
These codes are covered under the Physician Fee Schedule, and they will continue to be covered throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
You can view the full list here.

AMA Releases Guidance on Telehealth Billing and CPT Codes

AMA has released information on telehealth billing and CPT codes, including telehealth visits, online digital visits, remote patient monitoring, and similar telehealth services.
AMA’s guideline was updated on May 22 and covers the implementation of telehealth in response to COVID-19, including how to code telehealth services.
The goal of the guideline is to help providers implement telemedicine and remote care services while ensuring uninterrupted care for 100 million Americans with chronic conditions.
Items covered by AMA guidelines include:
• Store and forward technologies that collect images and data for transmission and interpretation at a later date
• Real-time, audio-video communication tools that connect physicians and patients
• Remote patient monitoring tools like blood pressure monitors, wearables, Bluetooth devices, and other devices that collect biometric data for review (including mHealth apps).
• Verbal/audio-only and virtual check-ins via patient portals, messaging platforms, etc.

Using Telehealth Services for Triage

Hospitals are now using telehealth services to triage patients whenever possible, according to a recent report from the Office of the Inspector at HHS.
As demand for elective and non-urgent services declines, ambulatory organizations are following similar guidelines.
That means demand for telehealth services continues to grow – and the demand for effective telehealth coding guidelines is increasing with it.

Other Tips for COVID-19 Telehealth Coding and Billing

COVID-19 has left organizations scrambling. Some are struggling to effectively code for telehealth services. Others are struggling with COVID-19 coding.
Whatever your coding issue may be, these tips can help:
Stay up-to-date. The AMA, CDC, and CMS are releasing new guidelines regularly, and the COVID-19 pandemic is changing weekly. Spend extra time checking information from all relevant providers to help your organization stay up-to-date.
Spend extra time verifying EHRs to ensure accuracy and compliance. This is always a good tip, but it’s particularly important during an uncertain situation when coding errors are rampant.
Consider hiring contract medical coding experts for assistance. Contract medical coding experts are a guaranteed way to solve inefficiencies and reduce errors. They’re experts at medical coding, and that expertise is invaluable during a time like this.

HMI Corp’s Contract Medical Coding Experts Can Help

HMI Corp has contract medical coding experts standing by to solve medical coding issues for your healthcare organization.
Whether struggling with telehealth coding or COVID-19 coding, your organization cannot risk inaccurate or ineffective coding.
Our US-Based contract medical coding specialists are credentialed by AHIMA and/or AAPC. They have firsthand experience in Inpatient/MS-DRG, Outpatient Surgery, Physician E/M, Emergency Department E/M, Interventional Radiology, Ambulatory Surgery, GI/Endoscopy, and other fields of care. They can work with TruCode, Meditech, VISTA, 3M, McKesson, Cerner, Epic, and CHCS/CHCSII.
Contact HMI Corp for effective contract medical coding for your organization. Whether dealing with telehealth coding issues with COVID-19 or general medical coding inefficiencies, we can help.

Medical Coding Tips for Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic

Demand for medical coding companies has surged in recent months. COVID-19 has revealed medical coding inefficiencies, and firms are struggling to keep up.
Good medical coding companies work with healthcare organizations to solve inefficiencies and reduce errors. Effective medical coding tips helps a company avoid wastage, capture lost revenue, and reduce patient conflicts.
Your healthcare organization might have effective medical coding systems in place. Unfortunately, a pandemic like COVID-19 can reveal problems with any organization’s medical coding.
The CDC, CMS, and AMA have all released COVID-19 coding guidelines in recent weeks. We’ll summarize that information below to help your organization manage the COVID-19 pandemic.

What Providers Need to Know About COVID-19 Medical Coding & Billing Tips

COVID-19 has put strain on healthcare providers across the United States. Effective coding and billing helps organizations manage the infectious disease and avoid becoming overwhelmed.
The healthcare industry is adapting to COVID-19 and creating new codes for the novel coronavirus. The pandemic is bringing in new patients with unique needs, creating more coding and documentation challenges for organizations.
Below, we’ll summarize some of the guidance released by the CDC, CMS, and AMA in weeks for medical coding during COVID-19.

CDC Guidance on ICD-10-CM for Positive COVID-19 Test Results

The Centers for Disease Control released new medical coding guidance in March for COVID-19. The CDC added the new International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) emergency code from the World Health Organization.
Based on that guidance, the code for the diagnosis of COVID-19 is U07.1, 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease.
The CDC expected to implement that code in October 2020, but they moved the implementation date to April 1 after the rapid spread of the disease.
The CDC recommends only using U07.1 to document a confirmed COVID-19 case based on a confirmed test result or a presumptive positive test result. This code also applies to asymptomatic patients who test positive for coronavirus.
U07.1.1 is a principle or first-listed diagnosis code. That means providers should sequence the code first, then use appropriate codes for associated manifestations of the illness, unless dealing with obstetric patients.
The CDC does not recommend using the U07.1 code to diagnose suspected, possible, probable, or inconclusive cases of COVID-19. Providers should only use this code for confirmed (or presumptively confirmed) test results.

Coding for Exposure to COVID-19

The CDC recommends using code Z03.818 for exposure to COVID-19. This code covers encounter for observation for suspected exposure to other biological agents ruled out and screening, according to CDC regulations.

HCPCS Codes for Diagnosing Patients and Stopping Spread

CMS created Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes to help providers get reimbursed for diagnosing patients and stopping the spread of COVID-19.
CMS recently announced two new codes, including U0001 and U0002, which cover COVID-19 tests:
• U0001: This code is used to document and bill for tests performed at CDC laboratories.
• U0002: This code is used to document and bill for tests performed at non-CDC laboratories, including clinical laboratories outside of the CDC.
Medicare has accepted these codes since April 1, 2020, although any codes will be retroactive to February 4 to account for any tests performed since that date. Providers can expect to receive approximately $35 for U0001 coded claims and $51 for U0002 coded claims through Medicare.

American Medical Association Reveals COVID-19 Coding & Guidance

On May 20, AMA released new coding and guidance for the Medical Coding Tips COVID-19 coronavirus.
AMA’s new Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes were created to streamline the novel coronavirus testing available across the United States.
Key points from the AMA’s CPT codes include:
• The AMA accepted the addition of code 87635 to report infectious agent detection by nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) for COVID-19 by amplified probe technique. The code is effective from March 13 onward.
• The AMA accepted the revision of code 86318 to report immunoassay for infectious agent antibodies and to be a parent to 86328.
• The AMA accepted the addition of code 86328 to report single step antibody testing for COVID-19. They also accepted the addition of child code 86769 to report multiple-step antibody testing for COVID-19. These new codes and revisions were effective from April 10 onward.
• The AMA accepted the addition of PLA code 020U to report the BioFire Respiratory Panel 2.1 (RP2.1) test, with the new code effective from May 20 onward.
You can view full details of the AMA’s expanded COVID-19 medical coding additions and revisions here.

Telehealth Coding for COVID-19

More healthcare providers are using telehealth for patient care. Telehealth can introduce new coding challenges beyond COVID-19.
HHS has relaxed certain rules during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing providers to use telehealth while getting paid the same amount for patient care – even though care is provided virtually instead of on-site.
CMS has released a list of HCPCS codes to document telehealth services and other virtual patient visits. These codes will be covered under the Physician Fee Schedule throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
AMA has released its own guidance on telehealth billing with CPT codes. The AMA’s guidance covers telehealth visits, online digital visits, remote patient monitoring, and similar telehealth services.

Other Medical Coding Tips COVID-19

COVID-19 medical coding can be complicated. By following these tips, you can minimize disruption and maximize patient care during the pandemic:
• Check the latest information from the CDC, CMS, AMA, and other official organizations frequently. The situation is changing constantly, and these organizations regularly release new coding guidelines.
• Assess documentation guidelines in EHRs to ensure providers are accurately documenting services.
• Take extra care to provide complete, precise, accurate documentation that reflects all related conditions during this pandemic. Researchers will use this data to assess this pandemic and the response, and high-quality data will be more valuable for preventing future pandemics.

Request Contract Medical Coding Services from HMI Corp Today

Struggling to keep up with medical coding during COVID-19? Your organization is not alone.
HMI Corp is one of America’s leading contract medical coding companies. We have decades of proven expertise solving medical coding issues across the United States.
Our contract medical coding specialists are all US-Based and have experience with TruCode, Meditech, VISTA, 3M, McKesson, Cerner, Epic, and CHCS/CHCSII.
All coding services are performed by AHIMA and/or AAPC credentialed medical coding professionals. Our professionals have firsthand expertise in Inpatient/MS-DRG, Outpatient Surgery, Physician E/M, Emergency Department E/M, Interventional Radiology, Ambulatory Surgery, GI/Endoscopy, and many other fields.
For help from one of the leading contract medical coding companies in the United States, contact HMI Corp today.

6 Ways COVID-19 Has Impacted Healthcare Revenue Cycles in America

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on healthcare organizations across the United States.
But as some organizations are failing, others are thriving. By capitalizing on changes, and by training staff, organizations can optimize healthcare revenue cycles throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Today, we’re highlighting five ways COVID-19 has impacted healthcare revenue cycles for organizations across the United States – and how organizations are thriving in the face of change.

Telehealth Appointments & Coding Challenges

Obviously, telehealth has surged in recent months. Many outpatient facilities have switched to telehealth appointments, giving patients the same quality of care via a safer, remote environment.
Telehealth appointments are also introducing coding and billing challenges. Some healthcare plans have updated policies for telehealth, while others have not. Medicare has introduced telehealth-related changes, for example, while other insurers are struggling to manage.
Meanwhile, some staff have inadequate training for telehealth billing. They bill patients when they should be billing healthcare plans, for example, or they’re charging inaccurate out-of-pocket payments and co-pays to providers. Some organizations have improper coding in place, complicating things further.

Remote Work

It’s not just patients accessing care remotely: staff are working remotely. Many organizations have requested billing and other support staff to work remotely throughout the pandemic.
Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, for example, recently shifted nearly all support staff to remote positions, including coders, coding educators, coding auditors, coding support specialists, coding coordinators, and transcriptionists, as explained in an interview with HealthLeaders.
Remote work has introduced new challenges. Remote employees need to access company infrastructure to work, for example. Remote employees also need to consider HIPAA, taking extra care when managing patient data in an unfamiliar setting.
With employees using their own equipment, it introduces new challenges. IT departments across the country are struggling to keep up.

Billing & Coding Updates

There have been multiple billing and coding changes as a result of COVID-19. Good healthcare organizations are staying up-to-date on changes, while other healthcare organizations are lagging behind.
In April, the American Medical Association (AMA) announced it was fast-tracking the development of a unique Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code for coronavirus testing.
CMS also released guidance on billing and reimbursement for treating COVID-19. CMS had previously released two Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes, allowing labs to bill for certain COVID-19 diagnostic tests.
These changes can seem confusing, but good coding is the backbone of healthcare revenue cycle management.

Long-term Medicare Changes

As part of an $8.3 billion emergency funding measure passed earlier this year, Medicare now covers telehealth services. Healthcare organizations can receive payment from Medicare for telehealth appointments. Medicare covers video visits and similar telehealth appointments.
It’s possible this change is permanent: some experts suggest it will forever change the way we deliver healthcare.
When patients can access care without leaving their home, and when specialists can provide treatment from a remote setting, it changes the face of healthcare.

Postponed Elective Surgeries

Many patients have postponed elective surgeries due to concerns about coronavirus transmission in hospitals. Revenue cycle experts have also encouraged patients who can’t afford out-of-pocket costs to postpone elective procedures until they have a payment plan in place.
In April, CMS recommended that “all elective surgeries, non-essential medical, surgical, and dental procedures be delayed during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.”
Prior to that press release, organizations had already announced their own elective surgery policies.
Organizations across the country postponed elective surgeries to free up resources in preparation for a surge in cases.
All of these shifts have a significant impact on revenue cycles.

Increased Focus on Emergency Preparedness

Good healthcare organizations were prepared for this pandemic. They had emergency preparedness plans in place. They had previously established business continuity plans. Other organizations were less prepared: they were prepared for smaller emergencies or short-term surges, but they were not prepared for a months-long pandemic.
Revenue cycle management consultants can establish emergency preparedness plans for organizations. They can create business continuity guidance, helping firms navigate a complex, uncertain future while maintaining quality patient care and compliance.

Consider Hiring a Revenue Cycle Management Consultant

Revenue cycle management consultants are in high demand. Organizations across the United States are struggling to deal with the coronavirus pandemic – but some are thriving.
The difference between good and bad healthcare organizations is effective revenue cycle management. At HMI Corp, we specialize in revenue cycle management consulting. We highlight inefficiencies in your organization, then fix them.

Schedule a consultation with HMI Corp today. Discover effective revenue cycle management services that deliver a proven return on investment. We have 30+ years of experience helping small, medium, and large organizations optimize revenue cycles.

Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management and COVID-19: Coronavirus Impact & Management Strategies

97% of America’s healthcare organizations have experienced some disruption due to COVID-19.
As states re-open, healthcare organizations continue to navigate healthcare revenue cycle management. Some organizations are managing more effectively than others.
COVID-19 has introduced billing and coding challenges, patient financial responsibility issues, and other problems for healthcare organizations.
Today, we’re explaining strategies firms are using to manage revenue cycles during the COVID-19 pandemic – including how your organization can stay ahead.

Medical Coding Challenges

Many organizations have faced billing and coding challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To navigate the pandemic, your organization needs to know what is covered by health plans for both inpatient and outpatient care.
Rules are changing constantly. That means staff require frequent training and regular updates to avoid billing and coding problems.
Many outpatient facilities are scheduling telehealth appointments, for example. Some insurance companies treat telehealth appointments the same way as in-person appointments. Others treat them differently. Check if the insurance company pays the same full rate for telehealth appointments. Check if the insurer needs further documentation or approvals.

Billing Challenges

Many healthcare organizations have shifted their billing office to work remotely. With some preparation, organizations can handle billing responsibilities from home.
To setup remote billing, an organization may need to give employees remote access. Employees may need to access certain systems and equipment to remain productive.
Employees also need to adhere to regulations – including privacy and data security. Working from home introduces new challenges with HIPAA, and your organization needs to address these challenges before compliance issues occur.

Business Continuity Issues

COVID-19 has made some healthcare organizations starkly aware of business continuity issues. Some organizations have strong emergency preparedness plans. Others do not.
Every healthcare organization has some type of emergency plan – but few healthcare organizations were prepared for a multi-month pandemic-related shutdown.
You may think it’s too late to address emergency preparedness for the coronavirus pandemic. However, nobody knows what happens next: a second wave later this year could be worse than the first wave. There’s no such thing as too much preparation.

Changes to Medicare

Several Medicare changes were introduced in recent weeks. Healthcare organizations need to review these changes and stay up-to-date on other upcoming changes.
Some of the biggest changes involve billable services, including services that can and cannot be billed under Medicare. Medicare allows billing for the treatment of uninsured patients with COVID-19, for example, or providing telehealth care.
Another big change is with Medicare cash flow: organizations can receive accelerated or advance payments from Medicare in certain situations, increasing cash flow at a time when needed most. By taking advantage of these cash flow changes, organizations can minimize COVID-19 disruptions.

Collecting from Patients

Patients are facing higher financial responsibilities during the coronavirus pandemic. Some patients are facing financial difficulties because their health plan lacks coverage for coronavirus-related bills.
Today is a great time to evaluate your organization’s collection and credit system. Each organization should evaluate its credit and collection policies. Pay close attention to changes in:
Copays and Deductibles: Some of America’s largest insurers have changed copay and deductible policies, including out-of-pocket responsibilities for patients.
Standard Referral Requirements: Consider standard referral requirements, as this can move payment obligations from the patient to the insurer.
By keeping staff trained and up-to-date on patient financial responsibility changes, healthcare organizations can optimize revenue cycles during the pandemic.

Other Things to Consider

Healthcare organizations are dealing with countless challenges during the coronavirus pandemic. Other things to consider with revenue cycle management include:
Capacity Assessment: Hospitals in many states are facing a surge in patients, including surges that overwhelm capacity. Your healthcare organization needs to develop proactive revenue cycle strategies to ensure you continue to meet patient needs when nearing capacity.
Staff Management: Your staff are on the front line of patient care. Has your organization created proactive plans for hours of operation, staffing and documentation requirements, telehealth accommodations, and other unique situations created by the coronavirus?

Hire a Consultant

There’s never been a better time to hire a revenue cycle management consultant. A good revenue cycle management consultant spots inefficiencies that impact revenue.
By implementing a consultant’s recommendations, your organization can thrive during the pandemic, surpassing revenue management cycle obligations and goals.
Revenue cycle management consulting is an investment. A good consultant firm provides a return on that investment, providing actionable recommendations that impact your firm’s revenue immediately.
At HMI Corp, we have offered revenue cycle management services since 1989. As a diversified healthcare company, we provide a spectrum of revenue cycle management services, including charge capture, chargemaster reviews, medical bill audits, and claims reviews.
Our clients include physician groups, large teaching hospitals, and organizations of all sizes in between. Contact us today to discover how we can help optimize revenue cycles for your organization. Our goal is to help you meet revenue goals while maintaining quality and compliance standards.

Final Word

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced many challenges for healthcare organizations.
The situation is fluid, and it’s uncertain what happens next. However, organizations must continue to meet obligations and missions throughout the pandemic.
Using the strategies above, healthcare organizations can manage and thrive during the coronavirus pandemic, ensuring they meet revenue cycle goals.

Top 4 Winning Ideas for Promoting YouTube Channel to Maximize Views

Nothing can ease your boredom during the global pandemic than creating a YouTube channel. The only struggle you have to face is maximizing the views. If you know any famous vlogger, then don’t forget that they too faced the tough times. Hence, you have to make a start from any point to become famous on YouTube.

After Facebook, YouTube is another leading social media site. If anyone has excellent videography tools, then YouTube is the platform to cash your skills. It works almost the same. You only have to make your content strong to get more views in less time.

Like every service follows some rules, promoting a YouTube channel also follows a few rules. It is all up to a marketer how it carries the work.

Are you interested in learning the rules to promote your YouTube channel? If yes, then this is the post for you.

Let’s get promoting YouTube channel.

How to Promote Your YouTube Channel to Increase Organic Views?

1. Write engaging titles

The first rule to promoting a YouTube channel is writing engaging titles. Marketing always starts with a good presentation. If you are not good enough in writing appropriate titles, then you are missing out on a chance to grow.

One of the reasons for writing effective titles is to grab your audiences’ attention. It is the best way to get organic views and make your channel stand out from competitors. People don’t look for the video only but the title as well. This is because it saves a lot of their time and gets the one which suits their interest.

If you are good at creating the right title, then you are telling your audience about what’s in it. Failing to do so might get you nothing. Instead, you will keep struggling until you know the worth of the title.

2. Perform quality SEO

SEO is not limited to a few social media platforms. YouTube channel also requires powerful SEO so that you can reach out to the desired audience.

In a query posted on The B2B Crowd, the experts revealed that YouTube covers 70% of Google’s search results. This means you have to play really smart to get that position. Even you can see that YouTube results often come first, then the blogs. Now you can imagine the growth of your YouTube channel with effective SEO.

Like you consider SEO parameters in writing content, you have to do the same in YouTube channel marketing. From writing titles to crafting descriptions, you have to boost your YouTube channel with effective SEO.

3. Know what your audience wants

The most important thing to grow your channel is the audience. Before you jump to the conclusion, know what your audience wants from you. It can get interesting if you research the audience easily. It will take some time, but the practice will be worth investing time in.

Getting to know your audience is the basic requirement of everything that you plan to start from scratch. When it comes to a video on YouTube, you have to be quite smart. This audience is not the same as for the blogs. People only subscribe to the channels, which produce worth-watching videos.

So, if your channel is not meeting the needs of your audience, then you are closer to the flop scene. Make things easier for yourself. Take a look at your competitors and know where you stand. Your main goal should be to promote your channel and get maximum views than before.

4. Engage with the YouTube community

Last but not least, engagement should be two-way. To get views, you have to engage with the YouTube community.

YouTube does not have a community like other social media platforms. It is nothing about likes and comments but more than that. Now you have to go one step ahead. If someone posts a comment on your video, then you should reply back. The time you interact with the subscribers, you are increasing your worth in the eyes of everyone.

Although you can like the comments too, post a reply and appreciate their contribution to your channel. This means that your subscribers will know you more, and that’s how you will create more space for them.

YouTube can be a significant marketing platform for brands that are on the hunt to garner high traffic and establish a prominent brand online. For example, if you need to promote your computer accessories business, then YouTube followers can play a key role in helping your brand stand out.

The Verdict

YouTube has a next-level audience. It requires a user to create a channel and get subscribers to promote the work. But, it puts a great question mark when maximizing views becomes a challenge. Success will come to you if you follow these rules. It is not easy at first but gets better with time.

Create your channel now and promote the videos to bring more subscribers to the channel. You will rock it once your channel becomes super-hit in the community across the world.

How A Student Can Overcome Depression Without Medication – Essay Done

There are several ups and downs in student life. There comes a situation at times when a student feels helpless due to bad grades and poor academic performance. Few of the students can recover from this phase and some go into deep stress. Many doctors recommend various medicines to reduce stress. But, we all know that medicines have some side-effects as well. Therefore, it is better to overcome depression without medication.

Ther perception we have that all those Students who have suicidal thoughts are weak and can never contribute to society, but in reality, with only little support we can make them able to live a happy life

METHODS OF OVERCOMING DEPRESSION:

The following are some methods that can help a student in overcoming depression without taking medicine:

1. TIME MANAGEMENT:

One of the best ways for a student to overcome depression is to manage his time accordingly. Every individual has 24 hours in a day. It depends on person to person as to how they use their day that could lead towards a productive day. A student should give proper time to every subject. He should have good time management skills. A student should wake up early and give proper time to study and understand each and every part of the syllabus in depth. A student should divide the subject preparation into an hourly basis and give equal time to each subject. However, students most of the time, don’t save time for editing their papers, which leads them to take stress later, therefore they can also take assistance from Academic Proofreading Services and get their essay editing done by university essay writing service UK. Maintaining good time management may be helpful a lot for a student to get success in his academic life. Undoubtedly, a successful academic life can reduce the depression level of a student.

2. PROPER SLEEP:

When a depression level of a student is high. It means their lifestyle is not up to the mark. A student should first inspect his lifestyle. The most important issue that a student faces is the lack of concentration on studies. A student may get a bad result when his focus is not on studies and such circumstances lead him towards depression. Therefore, in such situations, a student should improve his lifestyle. One of the main reasons why a student lacks focus on studies is due to improper sleep. Therefore, it is recommended to have a proper night’s sleep so that a student can have a fresh beginning in the morning. When a brain is active and fresh in the morning then a student can easily focus on studies and achieve a better grade than before. Therefore, it makes sense that a good proper night’s sleep can reduce a depression level for a student. Furthermore, proper sleep can also make your next day a productive one.

3. EXERCISE:

Exercise is one of the easiest ways to reduce depression levels. This is the main reason many high schools have introduced sports events to make a student fit and healthy. The more you have a healthy body the more your brain would be active. Exercise is one of the ways to refresh your mood. Exercise does not only mean lifting up the heavyweights. Many UK cheapest essay writing providers have written that even a jogging, stretching body, or a walk also comes under the segment of an exercise. There are many doctors that highly recommend a student to do an exercise on a daily basis. It does not matter how much time you are giving to an exercise. Even 15 minutes of exercise would also result in you in a positive way and it can reduce your depression level.

4. HEALTHY FOOD:

Health has a great connection with the human brain. The healthy your body is, the healthier your bran would be. Many doctors recommend avoiding junk food as such a diet can harm your health. It is better to take healthy food which includes proteins, minerals and etc. Instead of eating processed food, it is better to intake some vegetables, dairy items, and fresh juices. Health has a link with depression level. The more healthy food we intake, the more we have a chance of managing our depression level.

5. PLAY WITH YOUR MIND:

If a student wants to overcome his depression level, then he should know one thing that depression level can only be maintained by playing with his own mind. When a student is depressed about his bad performance, then multiple thoughts are generated in his mind. Such negative thoughts can lead him to more depression. In such situations, a person should not think too much. The more a person will think about the issue, the more the scenario will be worst. Never let the situation play with your emotions. It is you, who should be playing with such scenarios. If any such negative thoughts generate in mind, then a student should simply find the solution of it, instead of getting more afraid. A solution that a student can find in such scenarios would be managing his own time management skills and setting goals effectively for the next day in order to perform well. This is a technique through which a student can overcome depression.

stressed out student — **Frustrated with your assignments load?**

A student should never drown himself in the sea of depression. A person usually cuts off from himself the society and he stays alone in the depression. Such behavior is not good for his own health. Even when you are not having a good day, it is highly recommended to become social. You can visit your friends, you can hang out with your relatives, and you can go to the park to relax your mind and so on. There are multiple ways to overcome your depression level. It depends on a student as to how he consumes the scenarios. Things won’t be in your favor every day. It is you, who has to manage the situations properly in your life.

How Online Writers Pen Down Your Business Essay?

Business essay writing needs full knowledge and understanding of the business process that one is talking about. Whether it is marketing, finance, or any other business, always cling to the guidelines. Doing so will help you to come up with content that is insightful and compelling.

To help you make your work easy online business essay writing services have become common. They present relevant content and the arguments following it. These online services stick to certain writing guidelines that have been mentioned below –

Analyze the topic

This analysis will give an idea of how the essay has to be planned. One must have detailed knowledge about the essay question or topic is asking to do. The business essay can be either a case study or a discussion related to the business. The case study essay has to rely on the facts and figures that have been studied. The discussion type of business essay should be followed by reasons and arguments related to the topic.

Make an outline plan for the essay

Based on the type of topic that you have been given, do your essay research. Research from all possible sources and then frame an outline plan. That plan will help you develop an idea about the essay. The outline will guide in arranging the arguments and reasons that you have written. A clear picture of what all can be added or deleted from the business essay can be formed at this step.

Write your essay

Once an outline is prepared, now it is time to do the actual writing work. Give your outline plan clear wordings and sentences. Always use bullets or frame paragraphs to avoid long stretchy content. Always divide your business essay into three main parts. First will come the introduction part, followed by the main body of the essay, and then to sum up the essay, a conclusion will be drawn about the findings that you have made. There is a bibliography or reference section that has to be added at the end of the essay. If footnotes are present in the essay, then one can add the bibliography there also.

Edit and proofread the essay

An important and often skipped step is the proofreading part. We feel that the outline plan was sufficient for editing the content. But the actual editing is done at the end. One needs to check that the word count prescribed to him/her is met. The grammatical errors and styling issues are analyzed in this step of the business essay. Always check that the language you have used is precise, and no irrelevant examples have been quoted in the essay.

So, if at any point during your business essay, you find yourself stuck, you can always get help from these online sources. These are cheap, easily available options that present a well-structured content beside you. This will help you to get good grades at the academic level.

Summary: The article is written to make a student know how an online assignment help writer will write the business essay.

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