The No Surprise Act continues to make waves ahead of its adoption. We've reported updates recently related to the challenges ahead for the healthcare industry in complying with the proposed rules, including advanced EOBS. More specifics of the No Surprise Act are now coming into focus. Revcycle Intelligence reports: The NPRM titled “Reporting Requirements Regarding Air Ambulance Services, Agent and Broker Disclosures, and Provider Enforcement” seeks to codify existing penalties in the Public Health Service (PHS) Act for violations of Part E of title XXVII.

Daily Host News takes a look at a topic we consider integral to the future of the healthcare industry, and that is INTEROPERABILITY. As important as it was previous to the COVID emergency, interoperability is now absolutely crucial in a pandemic environment. Their definition of INTEROPERABILITY is as follows:

According to an AKASA-commissioned survey that included 400 chief financial officers and revenue cycle leaders at hospitals and health systems in the United States, with responses collected between May 27 and June 28, 2021, the number of health systems using revenue cycle automation has increased by 12% since last year. RevCycleIntelligence.com reports that the COVID…

In case you missed it, over the past month, we have published incredible content on our OrboNation Blog and Modernizing RCM with AI. Review the latest OrboNation Newsletter online or via PDF download.

As noted here previously, the No Surprises Act -- which is part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act introduced earlier this year -- presents some formidable challenges to the healthcare industry. The No Surprises Act is so named because it is designed eliminate some of the surprises that group health plan participants encounter from unexpected charges, which most people will agree is certainly a needed solution. However, as reported at HealthcareDive.com, payers and hospitals are asking for more time to get their "ducks in a row" in preparation to meet the new requirements:

A recent PYMNTS.COM Deep Dive examines how virtual patient experiences and contactless payments — boosted by the realities of the pandemic — are changing the healthcare landscape. Two significant metrics: More than half of patients are willing to contemplate switching providers if doing so created improved payment experiences 31% of customers claim that they pay their medical bills faster…

Managing a pandemic was and is a challenge in any industry. Medical Economics recently examined the pressure COVID-19 put on medical practices and their administrative staff. Before COVID-19 struck, many healthcare providers were already nearing a breaking point from the stress of their jobs. Faced with a number of demands – evolving laws, regulations and standards; healthcare reform and changing payment policies; too many administrative tasks; balancing increased patient expectations as healthcare consumers with limited time for patient interactions – providers and their staff were already suffering burnout at record levels.

Over the past year, our R&D team has delivered many enhancements to our OrboAccess and our Healthcare Payments Automation Center (HPAC) technology. One of the major enhancements offers the ability for users/clients to custom categorize correspondence letters -- improving the efficiency of working denials.

In case you missed it, over the past month, we have published incredible content on our OrboNation Blog and Modernizing RCM with AI. Review the latest OrboNation Newsletter online or via PDF download.

The problem, to be specific, is unexpected bills and the ability of patients — now responsible for so much more out-of-pocket medical expenses — to pay. Physicians are finding themselves with a pile of unpaid bills that is growing by the month. To begin attacking this challenge, Mr. Colabella suggests “front-loading” expectations as much as…

Some of the adjustments we’ve made in the era of COVID-19 have become familiar. It’s hard to imagine at this point, for instance, that there was a time when we didn’t know what a ZOOM call was. In fact, it’s now a fairly ubiquitous executive conceit to “prep” the home-office (or rec room) background when…

Sheetal Nariani is an expert on blockchain technology who has worked for over a decade in the financial management sector within the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, including pharmaceutical giants like Cipla and Novartis, and has advised multiple renowned companies in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector on how to plan, develop, and execute their financial strategies.

We've reported recently on the No Surprises Act and the necessity for taking steps to prepare for the resultant advanced EOBs. This is advice that nears repeating, as the deadline for implementation approaches. The Kaiser Family Foundation has a comprehensive overview of the No Surprises Act available here.

Inside Marketer at eMarketer reports on a new survey from US Bank that was conducted on 1,113 US adults. The survey revealed that the pandemic spurred a surge in digital medical payments. Some of the figures they cited that in the last year, 44% of consumers paid their bill at the doctor’s office, 28% paid through an online portal, and 23% paid via a mobile app—but still, over 32%paid by mail, and 21% paid via phone.

In case you missed it, over the past month, we have published incredible content on our OrboNation Blog and Modernizing RCM with AI. Review the latest OrboNation Newsletter online or via PDF download.

Tucson Gastroenterology seemed to have their billing system well in hand, staffed with professionals that had long association with the organization and deep knowledge of their methodology and procedures. What could go wrong? Well, as examined at RevCycleIntelligence, those experienced in-house professionals eventually had to retire, handing a complex (and somewhat intuitive) set of instructions…

The No Surprises Act -- which is part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act introduced earlier this year -- is a pretty straightforward proposition: It is designed eliminate some of the surprises that group health plan participants encounter from unexpected charges. Health Affairs This Week Podcast provides a tidy summary of the act. An initiative that affects revenue cycle needs further discussion : Advanced EOBs.

This comes as no surprise to anyone in the industry: The COVID-19 pandemic did a number on the healthcare economy, ravaging volumes, revenues, and other financial metrics. We may be on our way to recovery, however. Kaufman Hall’s latest Hospital Flash Report paints an optimistic picture, reporting increases across hospital volumes, revenues, and margins last month compared…

In case you missed it, over the past month, we have published incredible content on our OrboNation Blog and Modernizing Omnichannel Check Fraud Detection. Review the latest OrboNation Newsletter online or via PDF download.

RevCycleIntelligence reports on a new survey that shows about three-quarters of hospitals and health systems in the US deployed revenue cycle management (RCM) technology or underwent active technology deployments during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey polled over 350 CFOs and revenue cycle leaders at hospitals and health systems between December 17, 2020, and Feb 5, 2021, using…

Already picking up steam pre-pandemic, healthcare consumerism has been hastened by the COVID-19 crisis. RevCycle Intelligence spoke to Kathy LeBrew, chief system revenue cycle officer at University Hospitals in Ohio, about how best to address this new state of the industry. “We need to recognize what’s important to the patient as a consumer, caring about…

It's no secret to anyone who's read previous posts here that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are a boon for revenue cycle management -- probably one of the strongest use cases for this type of technology, in fact, as reported by RevCycle Intelligence. “Integrating artificial intelligence into an RCM solution allows us to have data driven approaches to automate each step in the process, whether it's when that first letter is going out, that first contact is happening, or that payment is going into a payment plan. Each step, there's a model supporting that decision which helps a person to take the right action at the right time,” says Greg Allen, senior director of data science and product management at Ontario Systems.

Stanford University's 2021 AI Index Report is now available, and it goes into significant detail regarding Computer Vision, which is integral to the sorts of recognition tasks important in fraud detection and EOB processing.

Hindsight is 20/20, but it turns out that many medical practices and providers didn’t put into motion much digital preparation pre-pandemic, and that places them in a current payments predicament. This is according to Colin Mellon, senior vice president of Healthcare and Insurance Solutions at Fiserv. During a PYMNTS TV Trend Talk, Mellon noted that “the pandemic…

For healthcare providers, the decision of whether to handle revenue cycle management internally vs. outsourcing the function is not something be taken lightly. While there are pros and cons for each choice, the COVID-19 pandemic has complicated the decision even further. Medical Economics features an in-depth conversation with Anurag Mehta, president and co-founder of Omega Healthcare, about various impacts of COVID and how medical practices should adapt and rise to the challenge.

BusinessWire.com notes that what was once simply good, forward-looking policy and practice has now become essential in the age of COVID-19 -- "adoption of digital and accelerating the existing trend among providers and payers seeking to enhance operations, cut costs and better engage with stakeholders," according to a new report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm (Customized versions of the report are available from NTT DATA, Persistent Systems and UST.)

Earlier this week Dr. Bob Wachter, the Chair of Medicine at UCSF and author of New York Times bestseller The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age, shared a discussion with Dr. Muthu Alagappan, Medical Director at , to explore tested strategies for using AI and automation to get the most out of your EHR data and, as a result, thrive in the post-EHR era. A recording of the discussion can be viewed here.

UnitedHealth's information and technology-enabled health services subsidiary Optum -- a nonprofit physician group that operates 30 medical practices offering primary care, more than 50 specialties, plus imaging, lab, and pharmacy services to the Boston area -- is set to acquire Massachusetts-based Atrius Health, according to The Boston Globe and reported at HealthcareFinancenews.com. Meanwhile, Ensemble Health Partners announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted three additional patents to the company for its innovative automation technology -- that brings the total of Ensemble-approved patents to five.

Brandon Sim, the chief technology officer and chief operating officer at, a tech-powered healthcare management company, says the time to fully implement artificial intelligence and machine learning is now. From Healthcare Finance: "Especially because recent CMS regulations are going to force electronic health record companies to share their data in a more reasonably accessible fashion," Sim said. "Just the sheer amount of data that is being collected – the rise of alternative sources of data like remote patient monitoring and wearable devices – make it a very natural fit for using machine learning and AI methods in healthcare."

An excellent article by Giri Rajaiah, Executive Leader and Vice President for Global Healthcare and Life Sciences at DISYS, takes a look at how automation is absolutely essential to any healthcare organization that wants to remain relevant in today's -- and tomorrow's -- healthcare ecosystem. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought the immense pressure the U.S. healthcare system is under into sharp focus. Recent dynamics are compounded by the industry’s efforts to adopt newer ways of working and digitizing patient records, while implementing automation throughout their business processes to increase overall efficiency and productivity.

Are you ready for the wave of changes coming to healthcare? As is to be expected when a new administration takes over in Washington, the first 100 days of President Biden’s presidency are likely to bring a number of changes for employer-sponsored health and welfare plans, says Debra Hoffman and Stephanie B. Vasconcellos of Mayer Brown in their blog at Lexology.com.

Without a doubt, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, and other technologies are streamlining the revenue cycle management and healthcare payments industries in many different ways. Roni Boker, OrboGraph product manager notes: "Market need still exists, and organizations are now having to move faster than ever with new work environments as a means to implement greater controls on their data and assist with compliance and resiliency."

We have receive a tremendous amount of positive feedback from our recent #OrboZone launch, with a countless number of clients, partners, and industry experts raving about their "experience." But what is #OrboZone? It's dynamic content that combines high-impact videos, visual galleries, energizing music, and entertaining activities for your WFH environment.

No one has to tell you the revenue cycle automation process is complex, and getting more so every year. That's why it'll come as no surprise that Healthcare Finance News is reporting that about 30% of health systems and hospitals are unable to manage their revenue cycle automation efforts without at least two vendors. The numbers were gathered via the Healthcare Financial Management Association's Pulse Survey program, fielded between May 19, 2020 and June 22, 2020 among 587 chief financial officers and revenue cycle leaders at various health systems.

Artificial intelligence is already playing a significant role in worldwide healthcare, but Michael Spencer, editor in chief at The Last Futurist, is here to assure you that we haven't seen anything yet: The complexity and rise of data in healthcare means that artificial intelligence will increasingly be applied within the field. Several types of AI are already being employed by payers and providers of care and life sciences companies. AI is also starting to be used in pharma drug combinations and exploratory combinations and will drive a new era of biotechnology.

With COVID-19 vaccines being administered across the globe, the healthcare payments industry -- like the world population in general -- is feeling cautiously optimistic as 2021 begins. The industry faced many challenges throughout 2020, but healthcare technology companies stepped up and transformed the pandemic into an opportunity to innovate, calling the pandemic a "catalyst" to accelerate the digital transformation for healthcare. Matt Hawkins, CEO of Waystar, provides predictions for healthcare payments in the new year in an article posted on Modern Healthcare.

We have seen the banking and payments industries recover from the challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic with a resurgence of checks and sustained volumes of other payments. With this recovery, banks and financial institutions can now refocus on automation and fraud prevention projects which have been delayed while the economy recovers.

To say 2020 will long be remembered as a challenging year for the healthcare industry is almost comical in its understatement. The strain put on all levels of the system, from front-line care all the way through collection and revenue cycle, has been incredible. Then comes this news out of Virginia via Healthcare Finance News: Newport News, Virginia-based Riverside Health System is coming out of 2020 able to say that it had one of its most improved collection, performance and revenue cycle years to date.

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the ways healthcare organizations -- in particular healthcare RCM -- operate, as many businesses shut down office locations and move to remote environments to ensure employee safety and to slow the spread of the virus. While this has altered the way RCM operates from a physical location standpoint, the pandemic has also had an interesting effect when it comes to technology.

PatientEngagementHIT.com examines the growth of patients consumerism and its impact on the healthcare industry. "Consumerism in healthcare regularly tops the list of C-suite priorities, with most organizations knowing they need to adapt to new patient behaviors to survive in a competitive industry. Health IT developers, healthcare payers, and policymakers alike are also working to acclimate to a world where the patient is also the medical consumer."

With healthcare organizations seeing lower volumes of patients for routine and elective procedures, the industry is having to withstand massive losses. While healthcare revenue for each organization depends on many factors, the American Hospital Association (AHA) reports that hospital operating margins are still down 28% year-to-date compared to 2019.

As we noted in our Check & Fraud recap earlier this week, the ORBOIMPACT VIRTUAL CONFERENCE, our two-day online event -- which covered Healthcare Payments on Thursday, October 29, and Banking & Payments on Friday, October 30 -- was a huge success! Industry speakers coupled with OrboGraph experts focused on AI innovation and payment strategy helped drive strong attendance, while innovative polling encouraged attendee participation and interaction.

The healthcare market anticipated some turbulent times, speculating about what uncertain future was in store while the Coronavirus was "spinning up." For example, John Talaga, executive vice president and general manager, healthcare at Flywire, predicted that at least some of Flywire’s healthcare clients might face a 30 percent revenue shortfall this year. In a story at pymts.com, Mr Talaga was happy to admit he was a bit too pessimistic.

Group, and Studer Education, recently released research results that reveal how COVID-19 is shifting the priorities of Healthcare industry executives (you can download their study here without having to provide any information).

Hopefully you've already registered for the ORBOIMPACT VIRTUAL CONFERENCE scheduled for October 29th and 30th. If not, what are you waiting for? ORBOIMPACT will explore AI innovation in the fields of check payments, check fraud, and healthcare remittance automation. The event is FREE and is accepting a limited number of virtual attendees , so register today if you haven't already! Check out our star-studded lineup of speakers!