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Meeting revenue cycle goals by simplifying the complexities of self-pay management

The cost of healthcare is quickly rising across the nation, and patients are shouldering the majority of the price increases through higher deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses as expenditures continue to shift from employers to patients. According to a TransUnion Healthcare report released during HFMA's 2016 National Institute in Las Vegas (www.marketwired.com/press-release/-2137926.htm), patients experienced a 13% increase in medical costs between 2014 and 2015.

A rise in self-pay patients usually signifies an increase in bad debt risk that can have a sharp and negative effect on revenue streams. As expected, healthcare organizations responded to this upward trend in patient financial responsibility by dedicating more attention and resources to managing their self-pay accounts. But are additional complications necessary? Can self-pay accounts be managed more effectively by actually taking fewer and more logical steps?

Recent work with pre-acute care providers, such as emergency medical services (EMS) and emergency medicine physician groups, reveals that most of these providers are struggling to address self-pay accounts. Hospitals and health systems report similar concerns. Addressing the rise in self-pay patients requires a shift change in revenue cycle management strategies and tactics.

Instead of raising the level of complexity required to manage self-pay receivables, providers should try to simplify efforts?work smarter, not harder. Determining patient propensity to pay is one of these practical steps. Using the pre-acute care sector as one example, qualification for accounts management can be radically simplified with significantly fewer steps.

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