Hospital billing serves the role of invoicing for the medical services delivered by hospitals or healthcare organizations, both for in-patient and out-patient care. Hospitals, which hitherto could evade the backlash of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) fix, face an imminent 27.4% reduction to their Medicare fees starting this January unless the Federal Government decides otherwise. Although slightly lower than the initially projected percentage of 29.5, the eventual reduction will have a devastating effect on the clinical and operational sustenance and growth of a majority of healthcare institutions across the U.S.
Hospitals would not have been so serious about this had Medicare been a negligible entity with marginal stake-holding in the nation’s health insurance sector. But, with Medicare accounting for almost half of the U.S. health insurance covering more people than any other private insurance carrier, the fears are quite natural. Optimize your Hospital Billing Services to beat Medicare fee reductions of 27.4%. Learn how to navigate the SGR fix with these expert tips.
While Hospitals search ways for to off-setting the imminent erosion of revenues and bottom lines, the Private Insurance Sector seems less likely to complement their cause as most of the private carriers themselves are into cost-optimization exercises. Whereas the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) concept might present a ray of hope at the end of a dark tunnel, it can only expected to reap benefits after a considerable realignment and gestation period, which is yet again a matter of resource and time expenditure. Efficient hospital billing is essential for medical service delivery.
Standing at the crossroads, hospitals will have to make some crucial policy decisions, in terms of:
- Balancing Medicare patients with non-Medicare patients: Although Hospitals can look to solicit non-Medicare patients, they cannot altogether abandon addressing Medicare beneficiaries as they are bound by the Federal Health Department’s obligation to serve Medicare beneficiaries on priority. Further, the volume that Medicare beneficiaries provide cannot be matched. Therefore, at the most, hospitals can look to find an amicable balance between Medicare and non-Medicare beneficiaries.
- Overhauling clinical and operational efficiency: Another way of countering the situation is bringing in novel clinical and operational processes, based on efficient human and technology fusion. Being open to automated clinical and operational technology, hospitals can substantially reduce operational overheads, resulting in the optimization of expenditure and maximization of revenue or profits.
- Phasing out non-profitable lines through cost-benefit analysis: Last but not least is the phasing out of non-profitable lines through proven cost-benefit analysis can become vital in ensuring a sustainable growth rate as dictated by the pulls and push of the healthcare industry.
Maximize cost-efficiency with Hospital Billing and beat the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) fix. While these operational strategies seem to be indispensable to hospitals’ countering the impact of the eventual Medicare cuts, expecting them to be single-handedly managed by the physicians alone could be foolhardy. Hospitals, whose prime focus has always been uncompromised quality in medical care, may be ill-equipped to address such turnaround actions. This is where competent Medical Billing advisors can be of indispensable value to the hospitals seeking to ride over the imminent ghost of Medicare cuts.
MedicalBillersandCoders – reputed for being able to revive a majority of practices on the path of sustenance and growth – pride themselves on the proven credentials that can specifically address clinical and operational issues. Its ingenious suite of Revenue Cycle Management – complete with Patient Scheduling and Reminders, Patient enrollment, Insurance Enrollment, Insurance verification, Insurance Authorizations, Coding and audits, Billing and Reconciling of Accounts, Account Analysis and Denial Management, AR Management, and Financial Management Reporting – should effectively and efficiently counter the impact of the imminent ghost of Medicare cuts.
MBC is known for its commitment to delivering high-quality services that are tailored to meet the unique needs of each client. To know more about our Hospital Billing Services, email us at: info@medicalbillersandcoders.com or call us at 888-357-3226.
