A look back at 2021 Revenue Cycle Trends
The protocols and standards of the healthcare industry have changed significantly following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the waves of the variants. Some changes were necessary for the public’s safety, while the rest were inevitable under unusual circumstances. For instance, acceptance of telehealth billing due to the Public Healthcare Emergency (PHE). The influx of patients infected with the coronavirus was overwhelming for healthcare providers worldwide. While most businesses closed off and people were bound to stay home during the lockdown, medical professionals had no choice but to work overtime and expose themselves to high-risk environments.
2021 has become the year that defeated coronavirus, but its remnants still linger. While life is getting back to normal and physical businesses are restoring their operations, many changes are here to stay.
The impact on the healthcare RCM (Revenue Cycle Management) is one of the things that is not expected to reverse any time soon or ever. The following changes in the healthcare system have posed the biggest challenges to RCM:
Shift to Automation
The idea of automated medical care looks great and sounds simple at first, though the reality is far from theory. There is no doubt that automation can save us time and minimize the need for in-person interactions, though there are cautions. Automated systems promise punctuality and accuracy but require supervision and maintenance. Hence, automation of business processes is gaining traction across industries while automated healthcare delivery will take some more time.
Computers can efficiently handle multiple repetitive tasks, though they cannot truly replace a human being. Most decisions in the healthcare industry require thought and intellect; standard automation does not have such characteristics.
Automated billing and online transactions seem convenient to those familiar with the technology. The majority of patients require customer support provided by a real person; robots and applications are often disappointing or infuriating. Automation is, therefore, getting adopted in varying degrees across the revenue cycle’s front-end, mid-cycle, and back-end processes.
The Patient as a Payer
The rising consumerism has led to increased acceptance of High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs). Patients are increasingly responsible for payments either in whole as self-pay or in parts by way of HDHP memberships. The ‘patient as payer’ routine has affected the healthcare RCM to the greatest degree. While the pandemic was on the rise, insurers were hit by an uncontrollable amount of personal injury claims, particularly worker’s compensation and medical malpractice claims. For this reason, several companies canceled their medical insurance policies. Therefore, the public was forced to pay out of pocket for covering their healthcare expenses, the growing number of indebted patients did not do any favors to the revenue cycle.
One might assume that private healthcare institutions are still minting money in the form of surprise billing and hidden costs, but that’s not the case. The latest amendments to consumer collection laws stress accommodating the patients. Fair billing practices are being imposed to protect the rights and interests of the consumer.
Remote Work
Remote work has proven beneficial for many businesses, but healthcare isn’t one of them. Electronic communication between patients and medical experts isn’t as effective as face-to-face interaction. Diagnosing and treating a patient over a call might sound futuristic, but hardly practical. When everything is handled and exchanged online, we cannot ignore the risk of data breaches. Where remote work has seen the most significant traction is in the revenue cycle. Many healthcare providers invested in moving their revenue cycle workforce to secure work from home environment and we believe that this trend is here to stay.
Conclusion
The alteration of the healthcare revenue cycle structure has indeed raised issues for healthcare providers and receivers, but it might be laying a better foundation for the future. It will take time for everyone to get accustomed to the changes and most setbacks are temporary (unless we witness a new pandemic in the near future). The overpowering medical debt is of great concern. The pandemic was more of an excuse to uncover everything that was wrong with the healthcare RCM and fix it.
Author Bio
John Adams is a paralegal who writes about widespread legal and social issues. He helps readers overcome challenges and solve many personal problems the smart way, rather than the hard way. He is also a technology enthusiast, eager to learn new things in the niche and share his understanding with the world.
