Opening the lines of communication with your revenue cycle vendor
At the heart of every symbiotic relationship? Communication. This is true in life, and it’s also true in terms of the rapport you build with your revenue cycle outsourcing company. Opening the lines of communication with your healthcare revenue cycle outsourcing partner can ultimately help you increase profitability, mitigate compliance risk, and meet strategic goals. Here are six ways to strengthen this relationship over time.
1. Talk about your goals. Does your revenue cycle management outsourcing partner understand the role it plays in your short- and long-term aspirations? For example, if you’re interested in joining an Accountable Care Organization, does your healthcare revenue cycle outsourcing partner understand how the coded data it reports might affect quality metrics? If you’re adding a new service line (e.g., chronic care management or telehealth), can the vendor ensure accurate coding and billing for revenue integrity? What if you’re acquiring one or more medical practices? Can the vendor support you in that effort as well? What other revenue cycle services can it provide?
Meeting regularly to talk about goals can strengthen the relationship with your revenue cycle outsourcing vendor. If your revenue cycle outsourcing vendor provides a dedicated team and account manager, leverage those relationships to ensure your medical practice receives the revenue cycle services it needs to be successful.
2. Narrow your focus. When medical practices work with multiple revenue cycle management-related vendors (e.g., an EHR vendor, a different coding outsource vendor, and a third collections vendor), it becomes harder to focus on building strong relationships. Choosing one vendor that can do it all means you can devote your time and effort to one relationship, thus increasing the likelihood your needs will be met.
3. Share data. Data transparency helps build a foundation for trust that is essential for any solid working relationship. Does your healthcare revenue cycle outsourcing vendor provide metrics and benchmarks that help you understand performance in real-time? Do you talk about the data and how to improve it? For example, can the vendor help you drill down into the root causes of denials? Likewise, does your medical practice share information the revenue cycle management outsourcing vendor might need to be successful?
4. Define expectations. Having clear expectations makes both parties feel at ease in the relationship. Have you and your revenue cycle outsourcing vendor taken the time to clearly define key performance indicators as well as expectations around response time, coverage, and more?
5. Provide feedback. A solid working relationship is one in which both parties can express what’s working well and what isn’t. For example, do you need your revenue cycle outsourcing vendor to focus on a particular payer? Type of denial? Likewise, ask your vendor what you can do to improve the relationship. These types of open-ended questions can work wonders for developing revenue cycle management best practices. Also don’t forget: A little praise goes a long way in terms of strengthening the relationship. Tell your vendor what you like about its revenue cycle services and what’s it doing well.
6. Treat your vendor as an extension of your team. The most successful medical practices are those that view their revenue cycle management outsourcing vendor as a critical team member. They collaborate, communicate, and work together to ensure revenue integrity. Invite the vendor to strategic meetings about revenue cycle services and loop them into important conversations.
Conclusion
Finding the right revenue cycle management partner is only half the battle. You’ve also got to nurture that relationship over time. A strong relationship with your vendor can help your medical practice meet its strategic goals for revenue integrity and growth. Building this relationship takes time and effort, but it’s well worth it in the end. Learn how edgeMED can help and be sure to visit the Healthy Snacks Blog for more expert insights, best practices and industry trends.
