Tech Med Solutions

Healthcare revenue cycle management

The healthcare industry is undergoing a radical change marked by the aftermath of the global pandemic, the AI revolution, increasing patient expectations, and a workforce shortage.

Revenue cycle management (RCM), which ensures financial sustainability and revenue optimization for healthcare providers, is at the center of this transformation.

To gain a strong footing in the industry, every healthcare provider must strive to stay on top of the emerging trends and integrate them into their practice.

Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Trends to Watch Out for in 2024

  1. Artificial intelligence adoption:

Automation and artificial intelligence are leading a revolution across the industry, offering vast improvements in the areas of billing, coding, claims processing, denial management, and administrative work.

The future of the healthcare industry is reliant on navigating advanced AI-driven technology along with the existing systems to streamline your workflow, deliver high-quality patient care, and optimize revenue strategies.

Despite providing an excellent healthcare experience to your patients, if your practice’s financial and administrative sides fall short, it can leave an unfavorable impression on them.

If you embrace AI-powered RCM solutions in your practice, you increase work efficiency by reducing repetitive tasks, improving your financial standing, and minimizing revenue leakage.

  1. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A):

65% of participants in a HealthLeaders survey predicted an increase in M&A activity over the next three years.

Healthcare organizations target acquisition opportunities to expand into new geographical areas, add clinical specializations, and reduce financial distress.

When two companies decide to merge, they likely exert significant effort to supplement their revenue cycles with appropriate technology. Such mergers have now become a promising way for healthcare firms to achieve scale and boost their revenue cycle.

  1. Patient financial experience and affordability:

Profitability directly correlates with the patient’s financial experience.

As patients become increasingly empowered to make healthcare decisions and educate themselves more about their healthcare choices, they take on greater financial responsibility for their care and seek more price transparency.

However, according to the fifth edition of Jarrard Inc.’s National Consumer Healthcare Survey, over 50% of customers believe that hospitals prioritize their profits over providing affordable quality care, and nearly one-third of consumers cite holding back on treatment over financial concerns.

In another survey by El Studios on behalf of Cedar, a whopping 93% of consumers said that a bad billing experience could discourage them from going back to a specific care provider.

Simplify the medical billing process and ease patients’ financial burden by giving out timely reminders, implementing digital payment methods, and offering electronic versions of their medical bills.

Giving patients the price transparency they want promotes responsible consumer healthcare planning and builds trust and loyalty.

It’s also more important than ever to make care affordable.

  1. Staff shortage:

The American College of Healthcare Executives surveyed CEOs and found that workforce challenges ranked as the top concern.

This category also includes the staff shortage, which emerged as the top issue in 2021.

Healthcare professionals are under immense stress, according to a survey by HealthDay, which revealed that over 63% of physicians and nurses experience moderate or high levels of burnout at work.

Understaffing is the top factor contributing to this data, with 66% of primary care physicians and 75% of nurses citing the same in the survey.

The main causes of this severe staff shortage include the following:

  • Medical staff experience burnout and fatigue.
  • Finding and hiring qualified and adequate staff is a challenging task.
  • Poor compensation and working conditions lead to low job satisfaction and a struggle to meet high-quality patient care.
  • The disparity in the ratio between healthcare workers and patients has been caused by a growing number of medical professionals reaching retirement age and not enough people choosing to enter the medical field.

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