Note from the speaker: Education for acute and long-term care
by Becky W. Cook, CPA, MHA
The Revenue Integrity Symposium (RIS) brings together so many aspects of revenue cycle management, compliance, and payer policies. It is a great opportunity to gain knowledge in many areas. This year’s symposium will be held October 15–16 in Orlando.
By popular demand, RIS is introducing a long-term care (LTC) track this year. While the LTC track is the ideal fit for professionals in this setting, it can also prove useful for acute care professionals to sit in on LTC sessions so they can gain a better understanding of the billing and reimbursement challenges faced by the facilities some acute care patients are transitioned to. Additionally, this track offers a session on revenue and billing integrity testing during LTC mergers and acquisitions, which can offer guidance for leadership in large health systems.
Many of the other tracks offer guidance on approaching revenue cycle challenges in an analytical manner. Analytics are often underutilized by revenue cycle departments, so it is exciting to see an event where speakers can demonstrate best practices for using analytics to improve revenue cycle processes. In fact, I am presenting the session “Managing Denials Processes: An Analytical Approach” on day two of RIS. I will discuss the management of denials processes using analytics to identify and track essential data about denials and recoveries.
Looking at the rest of the agenda, I am particularly looking forward to the session “The ABCs of HCCs” presented by Rose T. Dunn, MBA, RHIA, CPA, CHPS, FACHE, FHFMA, chief operating officer of St. Louis-based First Class Solutions, Inc. I am also excited for the fun and inspiring general session “Great Balls of Fire! How To Stay Motivated No Matter What” with Denise Ryan, a motivational speaker based out of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Since this year’s RIS is in Orlando, during my downtime I am looking forward to visiting Universal Studios to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! RIS attendees can take advantage of special Disney park rates to enjoy some downtime after valuable learning and networking.
See you there!
Editor’s Note: Cook is a former CFO for a large multispecialty group who was responsible for revenue cycle outcomes. Since changing careers, she has consulted on using analytics to improve performance of revenue cycle processes. This article originally appeared on nahri.org.
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