The Back Office of your hospital’s Patient Financial Services department might hold the key to your organization’s financial success. While there is general consensus that Revenue Cycle Management begins at Patient Access and continues through final collections, it just may be that the heart and soul of the Revenue Cycle lives in the Back Office. How your hospital’s Patient Financial Services department handles the day-to-day functions of billing, re-billing and integration with all your other financial systems can have a positive (or negative) impact on your cash flow and bottom line.
When seeking improvements in the financial aspects of hospitals management, healthcare executives should place the same level of scrutiny and importance in the processes and personnel that drive the Back Office functions as they do in selection the right clinical systems. When operating at peak efficiency, first-time claim pass-through rates, the Days in A/R, self-pay and third party collections, as well as overall cash flow should all see improvements. But how can busy healthcare executives find and manage right individuals, while at the same time monitor the key performance indicators for these Back Office functions?
The correct answer could be by utilizing a partner that can deliver outsourced business process best practices, based on industry leading key performance indicators. But where can you find the best partner based on your hospitals individual needs? Here are some tips on what to look for and how to sort through all of your options.
Seek a partner with specialized healthcare back office experience. And don’t settle for a vendor who doesn’t have both specialization and many years of industry experience. Your extended office services should be an extension of your business office, matching your company culture and mission.
Size and scale – Your selected back office partner should have enough size and scale to handle all your billing, re-billing and follow-up now and be flexible enough to handle your growing or changing needs.
Management experience and credentialed staff are key factors you should examine, so you don’t have to worry about the day to day management of this vital operation. While you will be managing the relationship with your preferred vendor partner, you should not have to deal with daily staff management issues.
Workflows and processes to optimize those critical performance indicators should be a routine part of the chosen vendor’s policy, which you should see prior to implementation.
Technology – a critical requirement for fast efficient business processing, should be up to date and capable of seamlessly implementing the latest advances.
Customizable – while you’ll need to look for size and strength, you should not have to accept a solution or service that cannot be customized to your specific needs.
TSI provides an Extended Office Service (EOS) that acts as an extension of your business office to handle all your back office functions or just a portion of your receivables. This integrated billing and follow-up service ensures rapid recovery of outstanding accounts.
Whatever the condition of your organizations revenue cycle, TSI is uniquely qualified to provide:
- Value-based account segmentation which analyzes data and predicts account repayment probability
- Customized answers that combine both offsite and onsite staff to ensure maximum cash recovery and accelerated account resolution
- Long-term partnerships that offer cost savings, results, and risk sharing
- Access to state-of-the-art revenue cycle technology for enhanced performance
- High returns on investments as a result of one of the highest recovery rates in the industry
- Measurable and sustainable improvements with key performance indicators
- Best practice processes and metrics for lasting improvements
TSI is the business partner of choice for 15 of the nation’s top 20 largest hospitals, a top 10 provider of business process outsourcing and financially stable with annual revenue of over $1.6 billion.
When considering a back office service provider, look to TSI for the management expertise, specialized staff, workflows, technology and work standards in a flexible scalable solution, customized to meet your individual needs.
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