Healthcare Revenue Cycle Outsourcing
Historically, the drivers of change in healthcare have been focused on clinical advancements. Applying innovative strategies in healthcare finance and revenue cycle management have lagged significantly behind clinical progressiveness.
Unlike corporate America’s general financial sectors like credit card processing and accounts receivable collections, healthcare finance and business office operations have been slower to adopt the cost-effective improvements offered by the outsourcing of billing and collection accounts.
Recently, due to economic factors and the shifting of patient financial responsibility, healthcare executives have become more accepting of revenue cycle outsourcing initiatives. In spite of a looming paradox, which pits opposing goals against each other, maintaining fiscal health versus the political pressure of keeping jobs in the local community offers a continual balancing act for healthcare executives.
Gartner Research Inc. estimates healthcare executives spend about twenty percent of their budget on all categories of external sourcing options, compared to the general mainstream industries, which typically invest about a third of their budget on external sourcing.
Gartner also estimates that seventy percent of healthcare organizations who do choose to outsource meet or exceed their cost-savings expectations, and most see an
Bringing Lean Healthcare to Life
Starting Blocks
Without a doubt, Lean is set to make a big impact on the Healthcare sector over the next few years and many Healthcare organisations in both the public and private sector are already exploring how they could apply it to their patient pathways and administrative processes.
Whilst many of the tools of Lean are familiar to the people in the Healthcare sector, particularly aspects of Process Analysis, the real difference that Lean will bring is a change in the way that improvements activities are implemented rather than the use of the tools themselves.
Many people in the Healthcare sector are looking to people with Lean skills gained in manufacturing to help guide them through the maze of implementing Lean, including helping the organisation to prepare for Lean as well as undertake the specific improvement activities, including Value Stream Events, Rapid Improvement Events etc. Running alongside this is the need to develop the internal capacity of organisations to lead improvements themselves, which is achieved by developing internal Lean facilitators (or Change Agents).
However, as we already know, not every problem in Healthcare can be related
More Responsible Approach To Healthcare Reform
Signed into law on March 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act (better known as Obamacare) was a large step towards a needed reform in healthcare. However, it was a large step in the wrong direction.
Democrats and President Barack Obama resorted to a flawed system of government-subsidized healthcare accompanied by a mandate (now regarded as a tax) forcing every American to purchase healthcare if they are not offered coverage by their employer.
Critics have highlighted many issues and possible problems with Obamacare ranging from underfunded “high-risk pools” to a growing government deficit due to a lack of revenue to provide for those who will be receiving healthcare for very cheap prices. Surrounding the law are several myths that Barack Obama and his allies in Congress like to parade around Capitol Hill and through the media.
Republicans and Democrats agree that the American healthcare system is not perfect. It is flawed, and there are many Americans who are not receiving coverage simply because they cannot afford it. However, despite these worries, Barack Obama’s healthcare law is not the solution to an ever-growing problem. In fact, the Affordable Care
Career Opportunities in Healthcare Management
A healthcare administration career via online healthcare management training requires no medical background. This is the field relating to the leadership, management and administration of healthcare systems, hospitals and hospital networks. Healthcare administration covers a broad area of activities and there is usually a set of factors that determine the types of jobs that need to be done to run any given facility; these often include the size and scope of the facility in question and the kinds of medical/ healthcare facilities they have.
Healthcare administrators are vital to the successful operation of any healthcare system. The day to day running and financial sides to healthcare require dedicated professionals to work on areas from clerical to administrative to financial. Healthcare professionals, also known as healthcare managers or health services managers are regular business managers who plan, direct, coordinate and supervise the delivery of health services. These managers can be specialists in charge of a specific department or managing entire facilities. Healthcare education has recently found a new home on the internet, with thousands of people pursuing online healthcare education and online training in order to improve their professional skills and profiles or to take the opportunity to
Healthcare And Capitalist Evangelism
The success of any society is ultimately determined by how well its population lives and dies. Within this paradigm of “successful population” are two fundamental elements – individual and collective wellness. A successful society therefore embodies the notion that both individuals and the overall population are well, and these two measures are reasonable assessments of the wellness, and hence the success of any given society.
In other words, the success of a society can be assessed, characterized, and understood through these two main measures. To break it down, individual wellness consists of answering the question: does the society reasonably allow and encourage individuals to be well? Secondly, does the society allow and encourage wellness for the entire population from birth to death? To the latter question, the most important component of population wellness and hence, societal success, is the degree to which the sum of individual wellness creates collective wellness. The single-most important component of population wellness is a high level of population health, measured by the numbers of individuals who are well or have reasonable access to being well.
The four scenarios below represent a summary snapshot of healthcare systems currently in existence in the
How Would Obama and McCain’s Healthcare Proposals Impact Medical Travel?
American Healthcare & Medical Travel
Today, more than 48 million Americans are uninsured, while millions more learn they are underinsured when they become sick. America spends more than $2.3 trillion, or 16% of GDP, annually on healthcare costs. By the year 2016, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services forecasts that health spending will be $4.3 trillion or 20% of GDP.
Though America spends more than any other country on healthcare, it is ranked 37th in overall quality among the world’s healthcare systems by the World Health Organization. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, healthcare spending accounted for 10.9% of the GDP in Switzerland, 9.7% in Canada and 9.5% in France, all countries ranked higher than the U.S.
A recent Wall Street Journal-NBC Survey reported that the cost of healthcare is Americans’ number one economic concern. Growing numbers of underserved patients are turning to healthcare delivery alternatives such as traveling to foreign hospitals for necessary treatment. While the medical travel phenomenon started with cosmetic surgery, successes have emboldened patients who need joint replacements, cardiac surgery, spinal fusions and bariatric surgery to reach beyond America’s borders for alternatives. At the same time, health
Can Government Healthcare Work in America?
Much has been written on this site and others, about the fallacy of a successfully run government healthcare delivery system in the United States.
Whether it is labeled single-payer, socialized medicine, national healthcare, etc., it is all the same and it will never work in America. In virtually every nation where the government runs the healthcare system, costs have risen well beyond expectations; long waits for treatment are commonplace; care is rationed and some treatments are denied; and taxes have increased to pay for the unexpected cost increases. There are no truly successful nationalized healthcare systems, when quality of care is compared to the gold standard: The U.S. healthcare system. By most measures however, the U.S. lags behind many other industrialized nations.
According to the World Health Organization, the U.S. ranks 24th in the world in life expectancy. This statistic alone should be cause for alarm, but upon further examination, we learn that the reasons have little to do with our healthcare system and more to do with the way we drive, what we eat, our violent behavior, our tobacco use, and our substance abuse.
The U.S. spends more on healthcare, per capita, than virtually
IAQ in Healthcare Environments
As the economy heads further down the slippery slope of what promises to be a deep recession, and our healthcare infrastructure continues to grow and age, it is a natural progression to see more and more IAQ professionals turn to what some believe is a recession resistant market. From ambulatory facilities to long term care, the buildings that make up our healthcare infrastructure are constantly in need of renovations and repair. This new and promising opportunity for IAQ pros offers many long term rewards but is not without new and complex challenges that must be addressed.
Every IEP realizes the importance of appropriate use of antimicrobials, containment barriers and personal protection. Though often times IEPs find the regulations and guidelines they encounter in healthcare facilities to be daunting to say the least. In traditional remediation environments the focus is to ultimately provide an environment free of dangerous pathogens or contaminants. While attention is give to the methodology, often times the end results dwarf the means of acquiring those results. With a host of accepted methods to address indoor air quality in businesses, homes and public spaces the contractor finds themselves able to select from a variety of
Healthcare Staffing Business Opportunity
Have you ever wondered how hospitals staff their facilities? Of course you haven’t. Hospitals have a human resource department that screens, qualifies and hires healthcare professionals that fit the facilities needs right? Well sort of. In reality most healthcare facilities are staffed using nursing registries or healthcare staffing companies. You’ve probably never heard of a healthcare staffing agency (also called a medical staffing company) but these companies provide a great service to hospitals and other acute care facilities. Staffing companies help save hospitals time and money by screening, qualifying, and paying healthcare professionals.
Often when people learn about what a healthcare staffing company does, they react by saying “wow I’ve never heard of that before. What a great niche.” However, recent events beg the question, is this really a niche business or could medical staffing be the quiet gorilla in the room of the growing healthcare industry? Obama’s healthcare reform and the aging population will drive up demand for healthcare in the United States. A core realization of an increase in demand for healthcare is the need for more healthcare professionals. However, while we are seeing the potential for large demand for nurses, nursing assistants, and allied
Healthcare Reform: How Doctors and Nurses View Universal Care
Background:
Even with a bill passed in both houses of Congress, Healthcare reform and the issue of a universal or national healthcare system continues to dominate discussions on the hill. There is talk of repealing the bill and potentially leaving millions more Americans vulnerable and uninsured. Some argue that repeal is for the best because the current bill gives the government too much power and circumvents our individual rights and freedoms. Still others argue that the bill does not go far enough to grant every single American the right to healthcare services. These views are polarizing both the Representatives on Capitol Hill and their constituents who live on main-street.
Nurses and physicians work in the field taking care of the insured, the under-insured, and the uninsured. These healthcare professionals see first-hand how the ability to pay for healthcare services shape people’s perception of illness and their willingness to seek medical assistance in a timely manner. Given how highly charged the issue is, it is important to know what these nurses and doctors think of all the hoopla that still surrounds the issue of healthcare.
Healthcare Workers’ Viewpoint:
The opinions in this article are those
Healthcare Schools Online
As demand for healthcare services continues to increase, it takes a specially trained person to run the oft-overlooked position that some people don’t think much about – that of a healthcare manager. That’s where healthcare schools online come in: they offer courses that train a person to be management material when the time comes for a promotion or a new job. Healthcare managers are the brains behind the operation and they ensure that things run smoothly. Healthcare schools online are a great resource for a person that needs the training, but may not have the convenient hours that other less demanding jobs can afford.
Those in healthcare management keep the day-to-day operations of any type of patient facility running efficiently. They make decisions on patient healthcare and treatment. They also work in conjunction with nurses and other administrative workers to ensure that the quality of healthcare is up to regulations and medical records and reports are accurately kept or given. These men and women must always be ready for new healthcare implementations – anything from new technology to new methods of patient care. They are typically very busy and may be called upon at all hours for advice and/or
A Must Have For Today’s Healthcare Industry
IT solutions have found its root in each and every field and healthcare sector is not an exception to the rule. Till date, the healthcare industry was going very slow in the implementation of healthcare it solutions for the very reason that the industry depends more on individual knowledge and judgment. It is true that information technology can not be a substitute for human brains; however, it can prove to be a very useful tool or aid in performing various tasks.
Healthcare it solutions can prove to be of great help all across the entire healthcare industry:
Healthcare Diagnostics – Proper and timely diagnosis plays a very important role in the treatment and recovery of the patient. If a diagnostic tool is available to the healthcare professional that is equipped with advanced healthcare software, the task of diagnosing a disease would become much easier. Healthcare it solutions are playing a very crucial role in the field of healthcare diagnostics, the trend is catching up and there is lot to come.
Healthcare Treatment – Once the disease is diagnosed it has to be treated in the right manner. Availability of advanced new age tools can make
The Evolution of Healthcare Mystery Shopping
Patients answer patient satisfaction survey questions based on their perception, and yet there is limited context for the healthcare provider. It leaves one asking the questions – who were they interacting with, what was said, when did it happen, and how capable and reliable was the patient to make those interpretations? So instead of convening a committee to explore the reasons for poor scores, healthcare mystery shopping provides healthcare clients with the research intelligence needed to make real-time improvements.
In an era of value based purchasing with a focus on inpatient stays, I have estimated that over 80% of the lives touched by health systems in this country are not patients at all, but rather family members, visitors, outpatients, and consumers of everything from equipment to Starbucks. By all means make the patient room environment as clean and silent as possible, communicate effectively with the patient, and ensure that they are fully prepared to be discharged, but the emphasis must still be on the patient’s perception. Observations, opinions, and ultimately consumer decisions derive from that source.
The elevated importance of patient satisfaction data means that as the data is digested, more and more questions will arise.
Two Way Radios in Primary and Acute Healthcare
Communication plays a crucial role in healthcare. Timely dissemination and sharing of information is critical for acute healthcare providers. Similarly, primary healthcare can be easily administered by using practical and handy communication channels. However, there are several factors that need to be taken into account before deciding upon an effective mode of communication in both primary and acute healthcare institutions. Reliability, coverage and confidentiality of transmitted information along with the institution’s capacity in handling the equipment, play an important role. Healthcare institutions can largely benefit from a mobile clinical staff and two way radios can provide prolific results if used effectively for sharing information.
Functionality and Build of Two Way Radios
Two way radios allow only one function at a time – either receiving or sending the signal. This helps the users efficiently communicate without interrupting the interlocutor. These devices are helpful in exchange of crisp information, rather than constant communication. Two way radios are also known as transceivers or walkie talkies.
Two way radios are simple devices made of primarily six components: power source, receiver, transmitter, microphone, speaker and the crystal. This implies that running and maintenance costs for these devices are not too
Healthcare Executive Recruiting
Experience breeds intuition when it comes to healthcare executive recruiting. Does it work for horse racing too? I will not attempt to prove whether experience improves your outcome at the track. However, healthcare venture capitalists often use horse racing analogies when discussing ideal investments. These venture capitalists prefer to bet on the jockey versus the horse. Their logic, it’s the people that drive the business.
A healthcare venture capital firm’s success is dependent on their ability to recruit and retain a high-performing Jockey, a.k.a. “the CEO.” If it was only so easy to win The Kentucky Derby or deliver a ten-bagger return. My healthcare executive recruiting experience working with healthcare venture capital firms provides intuition in defining the firm’s CEO need. Once understood, identifying and recruiting the CEO and building a solid support team for the CEO requires experience, extensive networks, new and real-time research and a thorough process. The intent of this article is to offer outcome-driven insights for the healthcare venture capital firm that chooses to search internally for a portfolio CEO versus retaining a healthcare executive recruiting firm.
Recent quarters show an increased level of new capital investment from healthcare venture capital firms.
Funding Your Own Healthcare
Introduction
More folks including both individual adults and families are on their own to provide funding for healthcare. There is a growing trend of being your own freelance business owner, being a contract employee or being employed by a business that does not offer a health insurance benefit. Many people make the mistake of buying price instead of value in a healthcare funding plan. This article provides an overview of options for funding healthcare with both advantages and disadvantages of each strategy.
How Much does Healthcare Cost?
Understanding what healthcare costs is important to deciding the best strategy for funding your own healthcare needs. Buying based only on price and not value (price vs. benefits) is a common and very grave mistake. Some examples of what healthcare can cost will help illuminate the importance of value and risk transfer (insurance) in funding your own healthcare.
Routine Care: Having an ongoing relationship with a medical doctor is important value and can help you avoid much more costly illness and improve your overall health outcome. I am an example of the benefits of routine medical care with the goals of avoiding cardiovascular disease, diabetes and managing my
Healthcare Administration Degree
A career in healthcare has long been associated with doctors and nurses in their crisp white uniforms delivering care to patients. But there is an entire workforce that functions tirelessly, away from the glaring lights, to support these primary care givers and ensure the smooth delivery of healthcare.
Among these men and women are the healthcare administrators or managers on whose shoulders rests the responsibility of managing and running a healthcare organization.
The Department of Labor describes the day to day function of a healthcare administrator as planning, directing, coordinating, and supervising the delivery of healthcare. In other words, they are the ones who take care of the administrative and business aspects of running an organization, so the healthcare providers can do just that – provide care to the patients.
Why Healthcare?
If you are the crossroads of choosing a career, then this is as exciting a time as any to get a healthcare administration degree and enter this profession. Pages after pages have already been written about how an aging population has led to a sharp increase in the demand for healthcare professionals.
According to the Department of Labor, 10 of the
The New Approach to Healthcare Enterprise Information Management
Introduction –
The lack of a healthcare specific, compliant, cost-effective approach to Enterprise Information Management (aka EIM) is the #1 reason integration, data quality, reporting and performance management initiatives fail in healthcare organizations. How can you build a house without plumbing? Conversely, the organizations that successfully deploy the same initiatives point to full Healthcare centric EIM as the Top reason they were successful (February, 2009 – AHA). The cost of EIM can be staggering – preventing many healthcare organizations from leveraging enterprise information when strategically planning for the entire system. If this is prohibitive for large and medium organizations, how are smaller organizations going to be able to leverage technology that can access vital information inside of their own company if cost prevents consideration?
The Basics –
What is Enterprise Information Management?
Enterprise Information Management means the organization has access to 100% of its data, the data can be exchanged between groups/applications/databases, information is verified and cleansed, and a master data management method is applied. Outliers to EIM are data warehouses, such as an EHR data warehouse, Business Intelligence and Performance Management. Here is a roadmap, in layman terminology, that healthcare organizations follow to
Evolving Healthcare Trends
The model trends in the healthcare system have been changing over the period of time. The old trend gave importance to the individual patients and the emphasis was on treating illness. The goal of the hospitals was to do inpatient admissions, fill up the beds and more emphasis was given to acute inpatient care. The role of managers in the old paradigm was to run the organization and coordinate services. In the old system, all providers were essentially the same. The hospitals, physicians and health plans were separate and not integrated.
The newer trends that evolved gave importance to the population as a whole. It not only treated illness, but emphasized on promoting the wellness of the people. The goals of the healthcare system after being transformed over the years is to provide care at all levels which is continued. The role of managers in the new paradigm is more broad. They see the market and help in quality and continued improvement. They not only run the organization, but also go beyond the organizational boundaries. In the evolving system, the providers are differentiated according to their ability. The hospitals, physicians and health plans have formed an integrated
How Can a Healthcare Professional
Social Media: Opportunities and Dangers
With social media, healthcare providers have many tools at their disposal to help build their businesses. Social network sites can be a powerful tool in the hands of persons who know how to leverage it to its full potential. When social media is misunderstood or misapplied, it can turn into a time sink where many hours that could have been spent more productively in other ways to build your business. Since social media is easily misunderstood, it will help to clarify some of those areas.
One of the things that makes it confusing is that social media uses terms that people often assume they understand, like ‘networking’, yet in the realm of social media, it has very different meanings.
Social Media and Meetings
With 128 million people using the internet in the US, the way of reaching people and being relevant to their needs has changed. This means that the way of doing business has changed as well. The public now consults their phone for the best buys on products and services. They are also using their phones to purchase items. The changes in the way business is conducted also impacts healthcare.
Social Media offers many tools that you as