There are many great recommendations for key KPIs to focus on in evaluating your approach to medical billing solutions. We’ve even talked about them before.
But the revenue cycle is becoming highly variable.
From different impacts of the pandemic to state regulation, revenue cycle leaders will need to look at their KPIs for medical billing solutions from a highly individualized perspective. This is especially true as changes in RCM mean a shift toward end-to-end approaches – the more holistic your approach, the more you’re going to need to understand the metrics and standards that align with your specific strategic goals and opportunities and threats. You’ll need to focus on measurable improvements to stay competitive and get the most out of your vendor relationships.
For example, if you’re bringing on new technology to automate patient follow up, you might want to compare costs against FTEs replaced. If you’ve launched a new print billing layout that uses color to make bills easier for your patients to understand, you might want to track patient satisfaction scores before and after launch. This is especially true if you’re stepping into self-service technologies around patient registration or payment collection. This is bringing in an entirely new dynamic and one that will need its own KPIs if you want to properly evaluate success of the initiative.
Does this mean that “classic” KPIs like bad debt and remittance denial rates are no longer important? Not at all! They’ll possibly become even more critical, especially since now they can be used to inform where you need to start end-to-end reforms. So consider using your existing approach to KPIs as the foundation for your new, individualized approach to end-to-end revenue cycle KPIs. They’re going to be necessary in the coming future of RCM.
Hemant Apte, Chief Executive Officer in
Hemant Apte, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of 3Gen Consulting, is a seasoned executive leader with deep domain expertise in US healthcare management practices. He founded 3Gen Consulting in 2006 and has been instrumental in offering thought leadership to his clients and providing services and solutions that are unique in the market.
