Q&A: Communicating chargemaster updates

Q. How can chargemaster coordinators communicate updates to managers and directors?

A. Regardless of whether department managers and directors receive the information on updates directly in their email, not all of them will understand the dense regulatory language and the resulting operational and/or compliance implications of the information. Translating the information is often a responsibility of the chargemaster coordinator. That is, he or she will be a liaison between the billing and regulatory requirements and the clinical departments. The chargemaster coordinator may want to schedule standing 30-minute quarterly meetings with the department managers. If there is nothing new to share with the department managers at the time of the meeting, the coordinator can easily cancel it. However, even if there is no new information from quarterly transmittals or proposed or final rules, it may be a good time to give positive reinforcement to the departments about what they are doing well. Keeping the lines of communication open between department managers is very important for effective chargemaster management.

For more information, see The Chargemaster Essentials Toolkit.

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