Key Revenue Cycle Management Trends to Monitor in 2024: Navigating the Future

In the rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem, revenue cycle management (RCM) remains an important component of sustainability and productivity for health providers. As 2024 unfolds, Velan Healthcare Billing Services stands poised to spearhead the translation and support of emerging RCM trends, potentially influencing a whole new industry.

This step-by-step investigative exploration offers deeper insight into these trends, as well as tactics and best practices for effectively tapping their power.

 Greater Investment in Managed Services

Rapid investment in revenue-cycle-managed services is one of the major trends out there. With labor shortages, payer complexities and increasing process complexities, healthcare organizations are employing these services to maintain competitive advantages.

Within the next five years, based on our research, over half of organizations will dedicate more than 50% of their RCM budgets to managed services, and this is statistically significant. We understand that strategic partnerships based on performance and results, rather than just price, will define the future of RCM.

Effects of the Customized Resolution

Customizable end-to-end solutions are essential for improving recovery rate management. Through seamless integration within existing workflows, healthcare providers can better manage payer claims and drive down administrative costs to accelerate cash flow.

These capabilities embody a revenue cycle management healthcare model that supports financial goals and patient care objectives, not just operational efficiency.

The game-changer: RCM technology

The year 2024 is an inflection point for RCM technology. Scalable and flexible end-to-end revenue cycle management healthcare technologies are enhancing billing, resulting in accurate coding and driving the highest levels of efficiency.

 These technologies, AI and machine learning in particular, are not just tools; they are strategic weapons that help improve financial outcomes for practitioners by decreasing compliance risks as well as coding accuracy.

 Costly Medical Billing Errors

Medical billing errors that affect finances are virtually hemorrhage-inducing. These errors, especially those caused by coding mistakes and typos, cost the U.S. healthcare system about $935 million per week! The repercussions of this extend deeply, as errors that went undetected resulted in 35% of late bills, and missed diagnosis information caused 44% inaccuracies.

Rectifying these errors will not only save you a ton of money but also improve the credibility and dependability of healthcare services.

Personnel shortages and the revised pay-for-performance model

Personnel shortages remain substantial in the revenue cycle management healthcare sector. Almost half of the hospital executives surveyed said ongoing remote work has further intensified an already significant outsourced revenue cycle management professional shortage. The shortages also make patient communication management much harder, slowing down invoicing process efficiencies.

Additionally, the growth of high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) calls for a more offensive payment collection process that involves new remedies for patient engagement and bill settlements.

Evolution of a Patient-Centric Approach

 That financial burden extends to patients as well, who are bearing a greater portion of their healthcare costs across the board, which in turn is driving providers towards more patient-centric strategies. This shift represents the growing appeal for a customer-oriented, retail-like experience in healthcare.

If your providers offer online scheduling, mobile intake and price transparency, you are more likely to get insight into what will improve patient engagement. These tools greatly enhance the patient experience, drive revenue, and increase retention.

 Various Payment Options and Financial Clearings

This fall, financial clearance tools (seen as a component of sophistication) became all the rage with hospitals and clinics looking to determine patients’ ability to pay for services. These types of tools include eligibility verification and price estimation, which are the underlying changes needed to help defend against administrative rework or uncollectible debt.

In addition to this convenient way of billing, other inherent qualities can all be considered when matching healthcare services over the counter, such as being able to make payments using online bill-pay or merchant service payment processing (in ways similar to how retailers accept deposits) and phone pay methods. This helps with better payment collections and a happier patient experience.

Revenue Cycle Segmentation: Unique Challenges at Each Segment

The sources of bottlenecks in the revenue cycle are varied, as the revenue cycle is composed to be a behemoth composite of interdependent pieces each with its own set of hurdles. On the front end, they deal with things like patient acquisition, getting paid, and keeping down denials. The second cycle goes deep into value-based care, staff training, and revenue leakage intricacies.

Back Office: The process involves submitting clean claims within specified time frames, handling denials, and following up on payment. To address these segment-specific challenges, you need a bespoke approach that combines strategic insight with process optimization and technology.

Technological progress in RCM

Key technologies are reshaping revenue cycle management practices. AI-driven solutions improve clinical documentation and billing categorization, allowing for better accuracy and efficiency. Because of the complexity of charging rules, web-based infusion and injection coding tools help to minimize audit risks by providing clarity and consistency.

These BI tools also optimize workflow for healthcare providers, assisting them in maintaining their bottom line and adherence to regulations.

Omnichannel Platforms and Financial Participation

Financial engagement solutions are more prevalent than ever and, as such, have become the modern-day equivalent of the 1908 ‘tin lizzie,’ creating omnichannel platforms that can work in harmony within hospitals or clinics interactively with any patient’s financial life cycle.

These end-to-end solutions encompass various functions, such as document management systems and digital notifications, to help your practice facilitate the collection of patient payments, ultimately enhancing the overall patient experience.

 Impact of Custom Solutions

Tailored end-to-end solutions are key to optimizing claim reimbursement management. At the core of Change Healthcare’s open architecture with over 300 APIs are a set of broader, next-generation solutions, including a claims lifecycle manager, that help healthcare organizations automate and manage payer claims for reduced costs and faster payments by fitting within existing workflows.

These options are the cornerstone of a revenue cycle management strategy and reflect a broader alignment of financial goals on the provider side with patient-care priorities instead of merely focusing on operational effectiveness.

The Function of Strategic Partnerships

 However, when it comes to strategic partnerships in RCM, they are not just about outsourcing services alone but also involve setting up an ecosystem where payers and providers can collaborate effortlessly.

These partnerships allow automated offerings to be integrated into existing workflows for streamlined availability of operational and clinical facts. This creates synergy for healthcare providers to better handle payer claims, giving them more resources to allocate towards high-quality patient care.

Things to keep in mind

The Future of Dental RCM in 2024: A landscape of dorm chaos and promises Velan HealthCare Services comprehends the obstacles that concern these trends and is dedicated to being your qualified guide through this transformative journey. And our approach is all-encompassing: uniting the strategic with technological innovation to enhance RCM outcomes!

Our non-negotiable goal as we address these dynamics is to create a health system rooted in patient-centeredness and value, connecting financial well-being with the care of patients. Velan stands out as a guiding light in the constantly transforming landscape of revenue cycle management and shines brightly upon where healthcare management is headed next on an efficient note, full of hope.