How To Start A Healthcare Revenue Cycle Blog Series

I can say with quite a bit of confidence that about in just a few years if the Internet continues the way it’s known to do, we’re going to see a lot of revenue cycle companies playing catch-up in terms of online content.

Rev cycle has been slow to jump on content in relation to the rest of B2B healthcare, which is baffling — the subject is highly complex and the Internet presents an amazing opportunity to deliver knowledge and establish thought leadership in multiple areas including

• Denials management
• Charge capture and coding
• Billing and claims submission
• Self-pay collections
• Registration
• Contract management

Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are in desperate need of help in these areas, especially as they’re working to navigate an environment of ACOs, value-based care, and a constantly shifting payor landscape. Unfortunately, it’s entirely too easy to put off starting an online revenue cycle process, and I believe one of the main reasons is the challenge of finding a starting point.

With so many subjects and approaches to consider, the sheer investment required in producing more involved content (a whitepaper, webinar, etc.) could deter anyone from launching their revenue cycle presence. This though, is exactly why you should start small, and the easiest way to start small online is with a blog.

Since revenue cycle addresses more sophisticated concepts than most people think when they hear the word “blog”, it’s probably best to view your start into the world of online content in the form of articles. These articles will serve the purpose of

• Presenting your organization’s long-term commitment to revenue cycle education
• Establishing awareness of your brand
• Testing out which topics resonate most strongly with your audience (with minimal investment)

How To Use Your Revenue Cycle Blogs

Articles are extremely flexible pieces of content. They can be created by multiple people in your organization and can be repurposed on platforms including your leadership’s LinkedIn profiles, distributed on social media, and even serve as springboards to deeper, thought-leadership pieces in larger publications.

If you are using your blog to build out an email subscriber list (you likely should be…it’s easy and very inexpensive) the articles you create can also serve as newsletter content that prompt your readers to open and stay engaged with your company.

As you build out into more established content, you will also be building and priming an audience that is eager to receive white papers, case studies, and product and service launches you have coming down the line.

Deciding On Your Revenue Cycle Topics

Figuring out the topics that resonate with the revenue cycle environment can take time, but chances are that you already have some ideas.

If you’re like most revenue cycle companies, you specialize at some level — that might be by factors including hospital size, location, payor mix, or any number of factors. Regardless use your blog to elaborate on that specialization as well as to explain why it matters in a modern healthcare environment. Posts like these feed well into future pieces on successful projects and difficult challenges you were able to address. Don’t forget to tie to any existing materials you might have such as case studies and product and service descriptions.

It’s also likely that your clients and their employees have presented you with questions both about the industry and about your organization — use your blog presence to answer these and speak directly to CFOs, managed care directors, billing managers, and other decision-makers.

Your revenue cycle blog is also an excellent place to preview the experience your clients have working with you — discuss the tech and services you offer and take the opportunity to give an overview of your implementation process as well as what a client can expect to experience once they hit the maintenance stage.

Planning Your Revenue Cycle Blog

When it comes to planning, simple is best to get started, especially if you’re new to online content. As good as a hugely detailed content plan can sound, B2B healthcare is a developing space and you want to take some time to see the results of your work before you pour too much time and money into an intricate plan.

I generally recommend starting on a weekly posting schedule to establish a presence, with leadership engaged in re-posting articles under their personal accounts using the LinkedIn post function. Since LinkedIn is working toward becoming a specialized business content platform, establishing a reputation early here is extremely valuable.

Since most healthcare leaders are not Googling revenue cycle questions, you cannot rely on SEO alone. You have to promote your work and ideas, and that means using platforms like Twitter and again, LinkedIn, to promote, engage and connect with the users who are most interested in what you’re discussing.

To make sure someone is monitoring the impact of your content, it is best to have one person dedicated to at least managing content and promotion (even if they are not responsible for all of the creation). You don’t have to hire anyone full time, but your online content presence shouldn’t be left to “just happen” on its own.

I would love to see a world of revenue cycle companies with rich, online content libraries and I believe we’ll get there one day. Until then, it’s going to be interesting to see who rises to the top to dominate the revenue cycle content space.