Health Information Management Trends for 2016

Health information management continues to evolve as the industry changes and new technology becomes more prevalent. Many experts have begun to predict which trends will have the largest impact on the industry as we move into 2016. By 2016, there will be a number of important health IT and reform initiatives in place, including ICD-10 and Stage 3 of Meaningful …

Rightsizing Your Staff for ICD-10 Revenue Neutrality

The transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 goes beyond a coding issue and affects every single department of a health system. For example, the transition will affect staffing in a number of ways. Providers will have to be able to maintain a healthy, appropriate staffing ratio in the midst of what is an inevitable hiring surge as ICD-10 is implemented. This …

Revenue Cycle Repercussions of ICD-10

It is quite clear that ICD-10’s impact isn’t just limited to coding. Implementing ICD-10 has an effect on an entire health system, and will particularly impact the whole revenue cycle for health care providers. Most of the focus by providers has been on implementation of ICD-10 and training staff in its use, which is understandable — many organizations were on …

How to Manage a Healthcare IT System Implementation

As the American healthcare industry moves decidedly in the direction of electronic recordkeeping, the need for robust, up-to-date health information technology systems is becoming a more urgent priority. For medical facilities long accustomed to working with older, outdated systems, this transformation promises many improvements, but a change of this sort is not without its challenges. In order to ensure the …

Revenue Cycle Changes in 2015

Medical billing has gotten significantly more complex this year due in large part to some changes in revenue cycles. In addition to other factors that are increasingly complicating the industry, such as a rapidly aging population, greater regulation of the healthcare system as a whole and the shift from paper to electronic recordkeeping, there are a few new developments that …

Best Practices for EMR Implementation

Healthcare organizations often have troubles maintaining their patient volume and profitability because there has been a trend of decreasing reimbursements and growing amounts of regulations. However, with the right planning, your organization can grow profitably through value-based payment models. Here are a few tips and best practices for implementing an EMR: Choose a long-term partner. You want to work with …

How Healthcare Reform Affects Revenue Cycle Operations

Now that we’re several years into the major healthcare reforms brought about by the Affordable Care Act, we can get a better sense of how those reforms have affected revenue cycle operations in the last few years. Healthcare Finance News put together a report on these issues last year, and many of those issues are still playing a big role …

What Comes After ICD-10 Implementation?

There’s been a lot of debate this year about the upcoming deadline for ICD-10 implementation. People in favor of ICD-10 continually note how the current ICD-9 code set is extremely limited and that here is a great need for data that is more robust. People against ICD-10 have several main arguments, including the expenses and complications associated with implementation and …

Could ICD-10 Implementation Cause Reimbursement Problems for Physicians?

Healthcare executives throughout the nation are carefully following along with all of the most recent news about ICD-10 implementation and the delays that have accompanied it. Many reports seem to indicate the industry is not fully prepared for implementation, and that there is still a lot of confusion about what exactly using ICD-10 will look like. The biggest challenge physicians …

Current Best Practices for Healthcare Billing and Collection

In today’s healthcare world, it’s more important than ever for providers to make sure they are carefully following all of the best practice guidelines for billing and payment. Every year, uninsured hospital patients build up $49 billion in medical debt. In the United States, there is more money spent per person on healthcare than any other country in the world. …