Survey: Five Ways COVID-19 is Impacting Revenue Cycle Operations
Alpha Health recently released results of a national survey designed to examine and assess the impact of COVID-19 on revenue cycle operations at health systems and hospitals across the U.S.
The survey was fielded between May 19, 2020 and June 22, 2020 among 587 chief financial officers and revenue cycle leaders at hospitals and health systems across the United States. The survey has a confidence level of 95 percent with a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.
(PRNewsfoto/Alpha Health)
Survey results (see specific percentages above) show that revenue cycle teams at healthcare organizations face a number of challenges, including:
- Erratic and unpredictable claim volumes
- Increased workloads due to confusion over codes and requirements for COVID-19 claims
- Overstaffing due to decreased claim volumes
- Staff productivity falling due to a rapid and unplanned shift to remote work
- Decrease in staff capacity due to lay-offs, furloughs and other staff reductions
This is not to mention the fact that, as reported here earlier, hospital and outpatient visits have plummeted during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
As noted by Malinka Walaliyadde, co-founder and CEO of Alpha Health:
"COVID-19 has disrupted all facets of life and work, and health systems and hospitals have had to adjust quickly to new realities. As health systems continue to experience volatility in claims volume, they will need to take quick action to identify gaps in claims-handling capacity, and update operational and staffing practices accordingly. Many revenue cycle leaders may look to automation to build in greater resiliency and flexibility to their revenue cycle operations going forward. These efforts will be critical to ensure the short- and long-term health of their organizations, their employees, and the communities they serve."
When healthcare leaders are investigating options on automation revenue cycle processes and functions, it is important to understand the technologies and their capabilities. Recently on Modernizing RCM with AI, we took a deep dive into two technologies: Robotics Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), to provide a detailed understanding of the technologies and how each can be deployed in RCM.
When healthcare leaders are investigating options on automation revenue cycle processes and functions, it is important to understand the technologies and their capabilities. Recently on Modernizing RCM with AI, we took a deep dive into two technologies: Robotics Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), to provide a detailed understanding of the technologies and how each can be deployed in RCM.