Healthcare Pendulum, Has It Swung Too Far?

Home

About My Blog

Phil C. Solomon Revealed

Healthcare News Networks

Speaker Profile

Whitepapers

Subscribe

REVENUE CYCLE NEWS

Phil C. Solomon's Blog - Healthcare Financial Performance, Revenue Cycle Optimization and Healthcare Industry Trends

by Phil C. Solomon on February 14, 2013

in Revenue Cycle Management

If the pendulum swings too much in either direction, the viability of the healthcare organization is at stake. We are just now dipping our toes in the water as we begin to experience the changes that healthcare reform has brought to us. In 2013, hospital executives and CFOs must be more vigilant than ever in their efforts to reduce hospital costs and capture every dollar of reimbursement possible.

Becker’s Hospital Review highlighted an article sharing the insights from a very successful CFO at the Boston Academic Medical Center. Chibueze Okey Agba, who as CFO has been instrumental in improving the financial outlook of the Medical Center by orchestrating an impressive financial turnaround.

While flat volume growth spanned across the city, net income at the Medical Center increased by 46 percent, or $25.3 million. The organization achieved a reasonable margin by focusing on cost containment, Agba explains.

Agba highlights two ways to reduce hospital costs and improve a hospital’s financial foundation.

Focus on what you can measure : To reduce hospital costs and improve revenue, CFOs need to focus on areas they can measure and affect. Leaders must be able to measure to know that they’ve succeeded. For Agba, he focused on working with clinical leaders to provide care at the most efficient cost.

Improve cash flow : The medical center Agba works at achieved 85 days cash on hand in 2012. It’s a sign that the hospital is receiving money faster and paying money slower, but still on time. That’s what increases your days with cash on hand.

Cost cutting and expense reduction are key buzz words when hospital CFO’s talk about building a solid financial foundation for their organization. That said, in order to operate in today’s era of healthcare reform, hospital executives and CFOs must also consider the revenue generation side of the business. CFO’s need to look toward new technologies that focus on identifying missed revenue capture dollars.

Stretching the envelope and leveraging every untapped source to increase revenue collection hasn’t been a healthcare finance and revenue cycle executives first priority. Now, with our current economic environment, identifying every possible missed collection opportunity is critical. Often, reducing costs is as easy figuring out which numbers on the P&L to eliminate. Identifying hidden revenue sources is not as clear cut.

Agba’s perspective on healthcare’s future – the most challenging time is yet to come.”I believe 2013 is just the beginning of an even more challenging period for healthcare. The impact of the Affordable Care Act and the fiscal cliff-related measures Congress enacted will be significant to AMCs”. Today’s hospital CFOs are going to have to continue to focus on measurable efficiency in order to meet those the financial challenges in the coming years.

Source: Becker’s Hospital Review , January 2013

Name

Email Not published

Website

Comment

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

Previous post: Don’t Worry, Be Happy | How A Positive Attitude Improves Performance

Next post: Medicaid Expansion Leaves Physicians in A Lurch

Phil C. Solomon BPO Outsourcing | Revenue Cycle Optimization | Financial Performance Improvement | Author | Blogger | Speaker

Blogger Networks

Recent Blog Posts Unless You Are The Lead Dog On The Sled, The Scenery Never Changes January 9, 2014 Will You Surpass the 63% Coding Accuracy Rate During Your ICD-10 Transition? January 3, 2014 3 Positive Ways to Have New Beginnings Everyday ~ Happy New Year! December 31, 2013 Top 10 Healthcare Predictions for 2014 December 30, 2013 Quote du jour December 28, 2013

Unless You Are The Lead Dog On The Sled, The Scenery Never Changes January 9, 2014

Will You Surpass the 63% Coding Accuracy Rate During Your ICD-10 Transition? January 3, 2014

3 Positive Ways to Have New Beginnings Everyday ~ Happy New Year! December 31, 2013

Top 10 Healthcare Predictions for 2014 December 30, 2013

Quote du jour December 28, 2013

TAGS Best Practices BPO Business processing outsourcing Collecting self pay deductibles and co pays Consumerism and transparency Generation II IT solutions for hospitals Healthcare Compliance Healthcare Reform Healthcare Revenue Cycle Healthcare Security Healthcare Social Media Healthcare Software Healthcare Technology HFMA ANI Hospital Charity Care Hospital Legislation Hospital Patient Data Security Hospital Performance Improvement Hospital Revenue Cycle Hospital Revenue Cycle Improvement Hospital revenue cycle leading practices Hospitals and health systems Hospital Software Medical Bills Medical Collection Agency Medicare Medicare - Medicaid Non-Profit Hospitals Patient Access Registration Physician Revenue Cycle Management Positive Attitude Red Flag Rule revenue-cycle systems revenue cycle cost savings Revenue Cycle Management Revenue Cycle Outsourcing SaaS cloud technology platforms Self Pay Collections

Subscribe Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Follow Me On Twitter My Tweets

Scoop.it Revenue Cycle News

Search my blog

Hospital – Healthcare Topics Healthcare Compliance (15) Healthcare Reform (37) Consumerism and transparency (4) Hospital Legislation (15) Healthcare Security (6) Hospital Patient Data Security (4) Red Flag Rule (1) Healthcare Social Media (1) Healthcare Technology (9) Generation II IT solutions for hospitals (1) Healthcare Software (2) Hospital Software (3) revenue-cycle systems (3) SaaS cloud technology platforms (3) HFMA ANI (1) Hospital Revenue Cycle (136) Healthcare Revenue Cycle (129) Best Practices (4) BPO (7) Business processing outsourcing (6) Collecting self pay deductibles and co pays (13) Hospitals and health systems (5) Non-Profit Hospitals (2) Physician Revenue Cycle Management (1) Revenue Cycle Management (105) Revenue Cycle Outsourcing (6) Hospital Charity Care (8) Hospital Performance Improvement (20) Hospital Revenue Cycle Improvement (21) Hospital revenue cycle leading practices (4) Medical Bills (1) Patient Access Registration (2) revenue cycle cost savings (2) Self Pay Collections (10) Medical Collection Agency (1) Medicare (1) Medicare – Medicaid (3) Positive Attitude (13)

Healthcare Compliance (15)

Healthcare Reform (37) Consumerism and transparency (4) Hospital Legislation (15)

Consumerism and transparency (4)

Hospital Legislation (15)

Healthcare Security (6) Hospital Patient Data Security (4) Red Flag Rule (1)

Hospital Patient Data Security (4)

Red Flag Rule (1)

Healthcare Social Media (1)

Healthcare Technology (9) Generation II IT solutions for hospitals (1) Healthcare Software (2) Hospital Software (3) revenue-cycle systems (3) SaaS cloud technology platforms (3)

Generation II IT solutions for hospitals (1)

Healthcare Software (2)

Hospital Software (3)

revenue-cycle systems (3)

SaaS cloud technology platforms (3)

HFMA ANI (1)

Hospital Revenue Cycle (136) Healthcare Revenue Cycle (129) Best Practices (4) BPO (7) Business processing outsourcing (6) Collecting self pay deductibles and co pays (13) Hospitals and health systems (5) Non-Profit Hospitals (2) Physician Revenue Cycle Management (1) Revenue Cycle Management (105) Revenue Cycle Outsourcing (6) Hospital Charity Care (8) Hospital Performance Improvement (20) Hospital Revenue Cycle Improvement (21) Hospital revenue cycle leading practices (4) Medical Bills (1) Patient Access Registration (2) revenue cycle cost savings (2) Self Pay Collections (10)

Healthcare Revenue Cycle (129) Best Practices (4) BPO (7) Business processing outsourcing (6) Collecting self pay deductibles and co pays (13) Hospitals and health systems (5) Non-Profit Hospitals (2) Physician Revenue Cycle Management (1) Revenue Cycle Management (105) Revenue Cycle Outsourcing (6)

Best Practices (4)

BPO (7)

Business processing outsourcing (6)

Collecting self pay deductibles and co pays (13)

Hospitals and health systems (5)

Non-Profit Hospitals (2)

Physician Revenue Cycle Management (1)

Revenue Cycle Management (105)

Revenue Cycle Outsourcing (6)

Hospital Charity Care (8)

Hospital Performance Improvement (20)

Hospital Revenue Cycle Improvement (21)

Hospital revenue cycle leading practices (4)

Medical Bills (1)

Patient Access Registration (2)

revenue cycle cost savings (2)

Self Pay Collections (10)

Medical Collection Agency (1)

Medicare (1)

Medicare – Medicaid (3)

Positive Attitude (13)

Get smart with the Thesis WordPress Theme from DIYthemes.

WordPress Admin