Benefits of Hiring an A/R Swat Team
It happens. Sometimes hospital receivables go awry, at time a lot awry!
You may never have considered hiring an A/R Swat team, but there are several revenue cycle situations where it is an ideal solution. The most obvious scenario is when hospitals do not have sufficient "revenue cycle horsepower" to reach your cash and AR objectives.
Revenue cycle operations must go on, despite hiccups with accounts receivable.
But there are many other reasons why hospitals bring in experienced interim AR resolution specialists. One of the main reasons they do so is because accounts receivable (AR) days have increased and cash flow problems loom. Hospitals can benefit in multiple ways when you hire experienced interim revenue cycle consultants. Here are four of them.
In some cases, new technology may have problems that need to be worked out, while at the same time bills need to be sent out and collected. When problems with revenue cycle technology accumulate, or when a hospital is implementing a new system, it is not uncommon for accounts receivable days to climb by at least 10. Those prolonged AR days can account for significant reduction in cash flow.
But by bringing in an A/R Swat team to work alongside your existing staff, hospitals can identify, document and fix billing snags to communicate to vendors, pursue more aggressive follow-up with all payers, and even implement accounts receivable monitoring procedures which can unblock stalled cash flow and prevent similar problems from happening later.
2. By Reducing Accounts Receivable Days
Sometimes a number of factors come together and cause accounts receivable days to increase. The key to turning it around is identifying all the contributing factors and addressing them. In situations like these, providers may temporarily bring in AR Resolution Specialists to cope with the backlog to get the problem under control.
Within a matter of 60 days or so, you could see a significant reduction in accounts receivable days and a corresponding increase in cash flow.
Recommended by LinkedIn
3. By Reversing Long Term Revenue Loses
Hospitals are essential to communities, but when they post revenue losses year after year, keeping the doors open may eventually become impossible. Slowing, stopping, and reversing revenue losses is a big job, but with the right revenue cycle horsepower, it can be done. In these cases, a facility may request interim revenue cycle specialists to turn things around.
With the right revenue cycle expertise, even long-term losses can be corrected.
By bringing in onsite accelerated recovery professionals, struggling hospitals can get an honest assessment of what is causing annual losses and begin addressing those causes. When problems are identified and addressed, and the right staffing mix is in place, losses can turn around, and struggling hospitals can start posting profits once again.
4. By Filling Interim Positions Successfully
When essential revenue cycle employees goes on leave, or when a facility needs interim professionals to fill in until a permanent employees can be hired, experience is absolutely critical. You need revenue cycle consultants who can step in and get to work right away, to minimize the effects of an unfilled positions and to make things as smooth as possible when employees are on leave returns or when a permanent employees are eventually hired.
Being able to request experienced revenue cycle professionals and being confident that they will be able to be productive from the start makes it much easier for hospitals to cope with interim staffing difficulties.
Conclusion
When hospitals are struggling with their revenue cycle, they often turn to outside help. Outsiders can bring a new perspective that allows them to address problems within revenue cycle department. Often the best solution is to bring in revenue cycle consultants that can bring a new perspective to get receivables under control.