A few months back I attended a user group meeting for a large EHR vendor. While waiting for the opening keynote speech I was talking with the EHR vendor’s PR person. During our conversation they made a really interesting comment that stuck with me. I can’t remember the exact context of the conversation, but they said something to the effect of, “We also do a lot of work in revenue cycle management (RCM) and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), but that’s not the sexy things that people like to write about even though that’s where a lot of the money is in our business.”
It begs the question, “Is Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) sexy?”
Her comment really has had me thinking about revenue cycle management and particularly her final point about that being where the money is in their business. I’ve always believed in business that it’s a smart thing to follow the money, whether its sexy or not. On that note, I plan to do a series of posts related to revenue cycle management here on EMR and EHR. As for ACOs, I already started a series of ACO posts on EMR and HIPAA starting with my post “ACO Model Risks and Rewards.”
While I might not try and achieve the lofty goal of making revenue cycle management sexy, I do hope to be able to dig into many of the dynamics around revenue cycle management. I hope to look at reasons why revenue cycle management is so popular and doing so well. Why do so many doctors and hospital CIO/CFOs turn to revenue cycle management for their practice and hospitals? Are all RCM options created equal? What separates the various RCM options? What will be the future of revenue cycle management going forward?
In the past week, a number of online discussions have kicked up around a post I did on EMR and HIPAA around Streamlining Revenue Cycle Automation. The discussion shows there’s a real interest in discussing this topic.
I’m also interested to hear your thoughts on revenue cycle management. Are there areas you’d like me to cover? Are there important trends in RCM that more people should know about? No, this isn’t an open invitation for revenue cycle management companies to pitch me. I’m interested in good information about what’s happening with revenue cycle management.
No doubt that managing the revenue of a hospital of physician practice is incredibly important. Hopefully we can add to that knowledge base. Plus, I think it’s likely worth exploring how adoption of EHR is impacting revenue cycle management as well. Will there be less of a need for revenue cycle management with more EHR software or more of a need for RCM?
Let’s hear your thoughts, suggestions and ideas about RCM in the comments. Hopefully I can build on them in future posts.
You’re making a really important point with this story and it’s a topic we’ve discussed at length in my company. The availability of incentive funds is causing so much thought and energy to be focused on EHRs, but if a practice or hospital’s RCM is a mess, they’re losing far more money than the Meaningful Use dollars could ever reimburse them for.
John, you might be interested in this blog post – http://bit.ly/A7DhJq. I think EHR/RCM/PM integration is going to be super important in the coming years and (personally) I’d love to read articles about healthcare orgs having success or failures with their operations in RCM related to the interoperability of their technology platforms.
Madelyn,
Great point. I agree that many are falling into the trap that you describe. It’s a sad thing when people start chasing after what they think is “free government money” when in fact they don’t understand or plan for the costs associated with it.
[…] a previous post, I asked the really important question: Is Revenue Cycle Management Sexy? I was amazed and impressed by the discussion that spurred out of that post. People were talking […]
[…] Of course, his description of the current healthcare IT landscape also reminds me of two posts I did previously: EHR is the Database of Healthcare and Is Revenue Cycle Management Sexy? […]
[…] post was inspired by a comment Madelyn made on my Is Revenue Cycle Management Sexy? post: You’re making a really important […]
[…] Warehouse and Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) has tremendous value. RCM is not really sexy, but after attending a conference like ANI you can see how much money is on the table if you deal […]