Richter ShareSource Blog

Revenue cycle management (RCM) is so much more than just a financial process. It is about the procedures that enable your long-term post-acute care (LTPAC) organization to maintain a positive financial picture and, in turn, allow you to focus on day-to-day operations and optimal outcomes. It sounds cliché, but that is why communication is key throughout the RCM process. Poor communication at any point can cause a complete breakdown.

With a new year underway, it’s important for accounting and finance professionals in all long-term post-acute care (LTPAC) settings to be aware of reporting updates that may have slipped your mind while getting through year end. In 2016, The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a previously proposed update (ASU 2016-14) that will affect nonprofit entities. The time has now come to get familiar with the details of this update, as it is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 2017.

If your long-term post-acute care (LTPAC) organization’s strategic approach to revenue cycle management doesn’t marry business performance with customer service and outcomes, you could be headed for divorce court.

Accounting and finance professionals are currently in high demand across a wide range of industries, and the long-term post-acute care (LTPAC) industry is no exception. As a result, this makes it difficult for LTPAC providers to attract and retain qualified in-house controllers.

The experience, insights and expertise of a qualified controller are essential to maintaining current quality levels, ensuring profitability, and enabling future growth. So, how do you know if your LTPAC organization is in need of a contract controller? Ask yourself these questions:

The long-term post-acute care (LTPAC) industry is bracing itself for yet another major change in 2018: Resident Classification System-1 (RCS-1). This new Medicare payment model is only months away, with an estimated start date of October 1, 2018. RCS-1 has the potential to turn things upside down for providers that are not sufficiently prepared.

Revenue cycle management (RCM) lies at the heart of a long-term post-acute care (LTPAC) provider’s operation.  Without the proper processes in place, cash flow slows down, bad debt increases and customer satisfaction declines. So how can your LTPAC organization optimize its RCM function? We recommend starting with the five strategies outlined below.

When it comes to billing for your skilled nursing facility (SNF) services, you want your bills to be submitted with no errors and to be paid in a timely manner. In order for that to consistently happen, it is imperative that your facility complete a triple check prior to submitting claims. 

Triple check is an internal audit process to ensure billing accuracy and compliance with regulatory guidelines prior to submission of claims to Medicare/Managed Care Providers for review and payment. It is a multi-level process requiring a group effort of interdisciplinary team (IDT) members while providing a check and balance to the entire admissions process for new Medicare A/Managed Care residents.

For a free downloadable Triple Check Checklist for Medicare A, Medicare B, and Managed Care, click here.

It is that time of year for you to review your PEPPER!

Every year at this time we look forward to the release of The Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER). PEPPER is a Microsoft Excel file summarizing provider-specific Medicare data statistics for target areas often associated with Medicare improper payments due to billing, diagnosis-related group (DRG) coding and/or admission necessity issues. Target areas are determined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).