Healthcare providers face special challenges with billing and payments. The revenue cycle includes many steps like patient registration, insurance checks, coding, claim submissions, dealing with denied claims, and following up on payments. This process is complicated because of payer rules and government laws, which often cause claim denials, payment delays, and higher administrative costs.
Efficient revenue cycle management (RCM) helps make sure payments are received on time and lowers the cost to collect payments. This cost shows how much it takes to get payments. Better RCM improves cash flow and profits for medical practices and healthcare places. When the revenue cycle works well, organizations can use extra funds to improve patient care, add more services, or buy better clinical equipment.
One recent example of new technology in RCM is the partnership between HST Pathways and SYNERGEN Health. They focus on ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and offer a combined solution. HST provides cloud-based software made for ASCs, and SYNERGEN uses AI-driven revenue cycle services.
SYNERGEN Health uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotic process automation to simplify tasks like claim processing and handling denied claims. This reduces the cost to collect by about 30%, which lowers revenue fees for clients. ASCs using SYNERGEN’s technology have seen revenue go up by 15% to 25%.
Mel Gunawardena, Co-Founder of SYNERGEN Health, says better financial results make patient experiences better because smoother billing lowers patient stress about payments. David Thawley, CEO of HST Pathways, adds that real-time financial data helps medical managers better handle money and operations.
SYNERGEN handles over two million claims each month and works with ASCs in more than 45 states. Their system can scale well and fits many healthcare providers who want to improve their revenue cycles.
Artificial intelligence and automation play a big role in changing revenue cycle work for healthcare providers in the U.S. A survey shows nearly half of hospitals use AI for revenue cycle tasks. About 74% have some form of automation like robotic process automation or AI.
These automated tools take over dull and repetitive tasks, saving time. AI helps with coding and billing by understanding clinical notes using natural language processing (NLP). Predictive tools can guess which claims might be denied so staff can fix them early. Automated claim checking finds mistakes before claims are sent, reducing rejections.
Generative AI is now creating appeal letters automatically to handle denials faster. This means less manual work and staff can focus on important financial duties. AI chatbots also make personalized payment plans for patients, helping get payments on time and increasing patient involvement.
Here are some examples of results from using AI:
These tools save staff 30 to 35 hours per week in some places without hiring more people.
AI tools also improve security by catching possible fraud and keeping up with coding and billing rules. Experts say human checks are still needed to avoid mistakes and bias in AI decisions.
Ambulatory Surgery Centers gain benefits from technology that supports both their operations and finances. HST Pathways’ cloud platform combined with AI-driven RCM speeds up billing and gives real-time financial views. This helps ASC managers track money flow, find hold-ups, and fix problems like claim denials quickly.
The HST Pathways and SYNERGEN Health partnership aims to lower costs and simplify revenue cycle management for ASCs. Over 1,600 ASCs use HST Pathways software, and SYNERGEN handles millions of claims monthly. This combined system fits today’s fast healthcare world.
Having accurate, real-time financial info helps manage cash flow and stop money losses. These systems automate many tasks in front and back offices, cutting errors from manual data entry. This lets ASC staff spend more time on patient care rather than paperwork.
MEDITECH offers a complete revenue cycle system for different healthcare settings like acute care, ambulatory, and long-term care. Their system improves patient access, clinical documentation, and financial back-office work. Some results include:
These improvements happen because of better patient financial communication combined with automated denial prevention and appeals systems.
R1 is a tech company that focuses on healthcare financial work. They use Palantir AI and years of healthcare knowledge to help providers cut costs and increase revenue. Their results include:
R1’s solutions work for hospitals and specialty clinics, showing that AI-powered revenue cycle tools can help many kinds of healthcare providers.
With more than 35 years of experience, Conifer Health uses automation and expertise to improve financial and clinical outcomes in many healthcare places. Their achievements include:
Money issues cause a lot of stress for patients during healthcare visits. Late bills, confusing statements, and denied claims hurt patient satisfaction and can cause lost revenue.
New revenue cycle technologies work not just on making operations efficient but also on helping patients understand bills better. Features like MEDITECH’s contactless check-in and real-time cost estimates give price information early to lower surprises and worry.
Automated reminders help reduce patient no-shows, which cost the healthcare industry about $150 billion every year. Platforms like DocResponse send payment reminders before visits, improving cash flow and cutting follow-up work.
Artificial intelligence and automation are changing revenue cycle management with faster and more accurate processing. Important AI uses include:
AI uses natural language processing to read clinical notes and make correct medical codes. This lowers errors and denied claims by matching patient records with billing needs.
AI studies past claims to guess which claims might be denied. Staff can fix claims early, saving time and improving payments.
Getting prior approval from payers usually causes delays. AI tools check payer rules and patient eligibility automatically to speed up approvals.
Generative AI writes appeal letters based on denial reasons. This cuts down manual work and speeds up appeals.
Chatbots and AI portals offer patients custom payment plans and clear information about bills. This improves payment rates and patient satisfaction.
Dashboards in the cloud give managers quick views of cash flow, denial trends, and staff work. This helps make better budget and staffing choices.
Automation lets revenue cycle teams focus on special cases and planning instead of repetitive tasks. Some systems show large time savings, which improve morale and output.
In the U.S. healthcare system, many payers, different reimbursement rates, and rules make revenue management tough. Technology-driven RCM provides clear benefits:
The partnership aims to enhance revenue cycle management services for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) by combining HST Pathways’ ASC-specific software with SYNERGEN Health’s end-to-end revenue cycle management services.
SYNERGEN Health employs AI, machine learning, and automation to optimize workflows, reduce costs, and improve financial performance within revenue cycle management.
ASCs benefit from faster payments, increased cash collections, and reduced bad debt through a fully integrated revenue cycle solution.
SYNERGEN Health achieves up to 30% lower cost-to-collect for its clients, passing savings through reduced revenue fees.
The collaboration aims to redesign standards for RCM, directly influencing financial outcomes and ultimately enhancing the overall patient experience.
Clients using SYNERGEN can see an average revenue increase of 15 to 25% after transitioning to their services.
The solution offers real-time financial data, error reduction, and a faster, more accurate billing process for ASCs.
SYNERGEN Health processes over 2 million claims per month, demonstrating its scalable model.
HST Pathways focuses on providing cloud-based software that streamlines operations, improves efficiency, and enhances patient care for ASCs.
SYNERGEN Health’s mission is to catalyze change by leveraging technology to lower collection costs and reimagining the revenue cycle management process.