Are Your Healthcare IT Clients Ready To Drop Your Revenue Cycle Services?

By Megan Williams, contributing writer

The healthcare industry is busy wringing its hands watching the not-so-big disaster of ICD-10 implementation. Things are quiet so far, but the question of revenue over the long term is one that’s on everyone’s minds. Smart VARs will be paying attention to revenue trends and the solutions that stakeholders are using to address them.

HealthcareFinance News reports on the overwhelming support the industry is seeing for revenue cycle outsourcing, with much of that enthusiasm being fueled by uncertainty over which providers offer the best solutions to their revenue cycle problems. According to Doug Brown, managing partner of BlackBook, “As hospitals and physician practices grapple with intense pressure to optimize revenue cycle management processes, outsourcing has emerged as a powerful solution to the challenges of a rapidly changing healthcare model.”

The survey also revealed:

• 83 percent of hospitals currently outsource some of their collections and AR
• 58 percent outsource contract management
• 55 percent outsource denials management
• Among physician groups with more than 10 practitioners, 68 percent outsource a combination of collections and claims management

For VARs who are creating the platforms that hospitals and providers are so uncertain about, this means an opportunity to really play off differentiation as well as past successes and client testimonials in their branding and sales processes.

Claims Management And ICD-10

Decision-makers are under increased pressure because of ICD-10 to take an opportunity to evaluate solutions provider effectiveness. According to the article, 79 percent of CFOs at health organizations surveyed said that in 2016 they plan to eliminate financial and coding technology vendors who haven’t proven a positive ROI. Another half believe that outsourcing RCM processes will improve efficiency and organizational financial health.

Among larger systems, there is even more enthusiasm. The survey revealed that 93 percent of hospitals over 200 beds believe they will be supplementing their current revenue cycle software with outsourcing services as soon as the first quarter of next year — again, in response to the expected impact of ICD-10 on cash flows.

Whether VARs are looking to obtain new clients or hold on to existing ones, communication will be key in understanding the kind of information, products, and services that will be most effective in meeting your goals.