Impact of EHR on Revenue Cycle Management

The innovation of electronic claims processing has raised the benchmark on what can be done to improve patient care, reduce costs, increase productivity, and reduce the time between reimbursements. Revenue cycle management has evolved to bridge the gap between the clinical side of electronic medical records and the billing side. Some electronic medical record software has integrated this process for a seamless patient flow - making the revenue cycle management process start as soon as a patient is registered. For physician services, revenue cycle management is one of the biggest parts of how a practice is paid. The revenue cycle begins when the patient is scheduled for an encounter and ends when payment for all services and procedures provided during the encounter is received.

Most practices understand the importance of ensuring third party payment is appropriate and that the full amount due is received in a timely fashion. Practices understand that failure to ensure that insurance payments are appropriate and accurate can negatively impact the total payment received as well as the amount the patient will ultimately pay. With revenue cycle management designed to work with the EMR seamlessly, practices are able to streamline and automate many of the processes that occur. Additionally, revenue cycle management integrated with an EMR eliminates many of the common issues which affects physician offices on a daily basis.

Daily reconciliation is handled with a click of a button for office staff to monitor the flow of patients to payouts. Physician offices which outsource their billing also have the option to allow their billing company to utilize their software - maintaining a transparent view of the work performed by the billing vendor. As the delivery of patient care changes, so will the technology that enhances it.

Practices which use an electronic medical record understand that revenue cycle management and clinical information need to work smoothly in order for a practice to run efficiently. Physicians shouldn't have to worry about the business side of practicing medicine so they can have more time to spend delivering the best care to their patients.