Q: How can I get information from my IT system?
A: Most healthcare organizations are under utilizing their primary IT system because they are not getting the reports they need to do their job. Because systems come with a basic set of (”canned”) reports, they try to use them, yet find them inadequate and incomplete. [...]

Q: Can Patient Financial Services’ collection agency comments be streamlined to eliminate human intervention when posting to patient’s accounts?
A: MEDITECH can streamline posting collection agencies’ patient accounting comments with the setup of MIS inbox/outbox interfacing. Obtain specifications per MEDITECH’s requirements, and work diligently with collection agency to setup and streamline interfacing process. Once [...]

Q: How can my organization’s IT System assist in managing our denials?
A: By obtaining periodic computer generated reports showing your monthly denial rate and your monthly denial recovery rate. If your denials exceed 18% or your denial recovery rate is less than 80%, more effort should be spent on preventing and working denials.
Bruce Jacbos
Director, Financial [...]

The other day my boss sent me an interesting article titled, “Finance: Buoying the Bottom Line,” distributed by HealthLeaders Media. This article stated that the recession has caused a nationwide shift in priorities among Hospital CFO’s. Healthcare financial leaders ranked their top three priorities for the next three years. These in order are: Physician recruitment, [...]

According to the January 2008 issue of the Healthcare Financial Management Magazine Hospitals were losing anywhere from 8% to 14% of their managed care and commercial revenue because of improper payments. I am sure with inflation the figure has probably grown, and in this economy how many hospitals can really afford to write off 8-14% [...]

I still keep reading that Healthcare bad debts and charity care are rising due to our country’s economic status and the continuous increase in unemployment.  I believe hospitals have tried to cut costs especially in the area of reducing staff, another topic I keep reading about.  I also see that hospitals keep expanding as well [...]

I just read another article in the January/February issue of Healthcare Finance News entitled, “Healthcare hiring could boom in 2010,” by Richard Pizzi, the editor. According to this article the demand for healthcare professionals in 2009 was stronger than any other sectors. According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, healthcare has added over 600,000 [...]

I read an article in Healthcare Financial News dated October 26, 2009 titled “Americans waste up to $850 billion a year in healthcare”. According to his study the biggest causes of waste are:
* $250-$325 billion in unnecessary care defined as over use of antibiotics and diagnostic lab tests to protect against malpractice exposure.
* [...]