5 KEY Strategies to Maintain Healthcare Revenue Amid Covid-19
Becker’s: Hospital CFO Report (Kelly Gooch)
As hospitals and healthcare systems see their revenue radically decline by reduced procedures and other factors, there are key strategies to help organizations’ to manage the reimbursement effects of the pandemic and maintain revenue cycle business continuity in the long term.
During an April 28th webinar hosted by Becker’s Hospital Review and sponsored by Change Healthcare, industry leaders discussed these key strategies, including the shift to digital transformation.
The speakers were:
Kelley Blair, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Health Systems, Technology Enabled Services, Change Healthcare
Bill Krause, Vice President and General Manager, Connected Consumer Health, Change Healthcare
To maintain revenue cycle business continuity amid the pandemic, hospitals should focus on 5 key strategies, according to the speakers.
They are:
An effective workforce management strategy as patient volumes and payer rules continue to evolve. Three components of this strategy are health and safety of employees, managing patient volume fluctuations and cross-training staff to work in different areas of the organization.
A well-defined patient access strategy as patient seek to connect more often and in multiple ways. This involves supporting a boost in uninsured patients and managing the future surge for rescheduling elective care.
A regulatory task force to help ensure compliance with regulatory changes and operational efficiency. Regulatory requirements are updated daily. It is important to have a group focused on how to operationalize and understand the meaning of these daily changes within your organization.
Leverage analytics to drive cash collections. Cash flow is one of the biggest risk to healthcare organizations’ financial viability. Ms. Blair encouraged hospitals and health systems to leverage analytics to drive cash collections in the short term and manage cost to collect as patient volume fluctuations continue.
Connect digital access capabilities to all areas related to attracting and retaining patients. To create a more connected digital experience for patience in the next 12 months and beyond. Mr. Krause recommended hospitals evaluate their digital access and digital acquisition capabilities using a standard marketing acquisition and e-commerce framework. “Digital marketing and e-commerce has figured out how to shorten the process from initial consumer awareness through purchase and loyalty and how to maximize the number of consumers that go through the process…without losing consumers due to unnecessary friction points, he said.” This involves alleviating patient financial worries through discounts and payment flexibilities, as well as enabling a touchless experience for patients such as remote check-in from the organization parking lot.