Worried About Your Revenue Cycle Clients Not Renewing? You Should Be.

Your clients don’t understand their revenue cycle options.

This is true to the point that many have turned to outsourcing simply because they don’t grasp which vendors offer the best RCM platforms. This is most fundamentally a communication issue, and it’s happening at two levels.

 

First, healthcare organizations don’t fully understand the benefits or features of their current revenue cycle solutions.

“Fully” is an important term here, because when it comes to RCM, we’re looking at multiple areas of misunderstanding.

It’s highly likely that the people who are most engaged with their RCM solutions aren’t the same as the ones who made the decisions. This means that all the great features that may have incentivized one of your clients to sign may not even be registering with the most important users of your software and services…so your amazing reporting and data analytics capabilities? Your denials management solutions? The groundbreaking claims management functions of your software? They’re not being used to their fullest.

When this happens, it means your clients are missing out on benefits — benefits that keep them renewing their contracts.

If there was one consistent trait of the revenue cycle clients I worked with, it’s that I ended up serving as a sort of liaison in regularly communicating the possibilities and intentions of CFOs and managed care directors to the billing managers, coders, and other staff I was in contact with on an ongoing basis.

They knew I was around to help them improve their productivity, but they didn’t fully understand why or how. For example, a CFO might know that there’s a problem with coding for their system’s heart group, but the coding manager might not fully understand the implications of small habits their coders had picked up over the years. That’s a communication problem (and in that example, one that will have an even bigger impact under ICD-10.)

Fortunately, it’s not that difficult to address and can be changed with thoughtful informational initiatives including bulletins (BCBS makes great use of these), alerts, and online libraries and product guides.

 

Second, they don’t understand, and likely aren’t even aware of their revenue cycle options.

Have you ever researched revenue management solutions?

Without a referral (from someone at one of those organizations who probably doesn’t fully understand their existing solutions), most organizations are left in the dark to sort through vendors and service providers who may or may not fit their specific needs.

Does vendor A understand large healthcare systems better than vendor B? Do they have any experience with Medicaid heavy patient mixes? Are they up to date (or honestly forward-thinking) on the implications of ICD-10 on organizational cash flows?

Judging by most RCM companies and software vendors, the answer (after digging through their websites and social media) is “I don’t know…they look like every other option I’ve seen.”

Revenue cycle is coming out of an age where marketing and branding wasn’t an important concern, but as the revenue space in healthcare becomes more challenging and organizational needs more specialized, RCM organizations who want to survive and flourish will find it absolutely necessary to be clear on their branding, core competencies, and experiences…not to mention active in relating those to the healthcare community.

Getting going can be difficult though, and I’m here to help launch your informational presence in healthcare. Contact me at growth@locutushealth.com to request a sample case study, or give me a call at (530) 346-3244 to discuss your goals over the next year.

 

Megan Williams

B2B Content Strategy Consultant, MBA