July - August 2018 - Volume 23, ISSUE 4

This issue should arrive in your inbox or mailbox as summer is in full swing. It is my hope that after you have attended to all the joys in your life that you are also looking forward to what the routine of the back-to-school season will bring. For example, our annual RCM conference coming Sept. 12-14 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Our Education Committee has worked long and hard on our fall program.

Are You Maximizing Your HBMA?Membership?; New HBMA Members; CHBME Quiz Questions; HBMA 2018 Healthcare Revenue Cycle Conference

This issue of RCM Advisor includes a listing of companies that have developed products and services HBMA members need to better serve their clients and conduct their business.

In 1998, our billing firm was still in its infancy. As a small regional company, we took on any client without regard for specialty. While trying to find our footing, we often observed and emulated what other firms had done. As our client list grew, we continued this trial-and-error method and quickly learned some valuable lessons. Below I share a few of these with you.

In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) legislation that mandated standard electronic transactions for use in the exchange of information between providers and health plans. Designed to streamline healthcare revenue cycle processes, HIPAA established a common method for providers to communicate across all health plans, with the goal of eliminating plan-specific methods that led to inefficiencies for providers.

The risks associated with poor or improper communications in healthcare compliance cannot be understated as they permeate virtually every aspect of a healthcare provider’s organization and operations.

The last decade has seen an explosion in the number of patients who owe something after a provider visit. In fact, the average deductible among all workers has increased 82 percent since 2009, from $826 to $1,505 in 2017 (Kaiser Family Foundation).

A woman who went to the emergency department in an Ohio hospital did not leave the waiting room. The patient was experiencing pain, but while waiting to be seen by the emergency room doctor, she felt better and decided to go home. She was surprised to receive a bill for $1,059...

Are you a leader? Henry Givray of Leadership’s Calling® says that “Leadership is not something bestowed upon you or granted to you by virtue of your lofty title or set of responsibilities. Rather, true leadership is invited and can only be given willingly by others based on who you are, what you do, and how you do it.”

At last year’s HBMA conference, an attendee walked up to me and said, “I like what your committee is doing. Thank you for your efforts.” I thanked this person for telling me this, but I also corrected them. I said, “It’s not my committee. It is the membership’s committee. I just happen to be at the helm right now.”

This article will add two more Excel functions to our list of functions that can be helpful in analyzing medical practice data: LARGE and SMALL. Both functions assume you have a list and want to choose a value from the list either starting at the largest (LARGE) or the smallest (SMALL).

Many of us grew up hearing the catchphrase “The customer is king,” meaning they were the most important part of the business equation. Or, they heard it as “Rule #1: The customer is always right.” And, when you think they are wrong, Rule #2 is to re-read Rule #1.