Top 5 Reasons That You Have Problems With Your Charge Cycle
Hospital chargemasters are the documents that these establishments’ revenue revolves around. While this seems like something a hospital would want to take care of, they are often neglected. The result is lost revenue and other billing problems. Here are some of the most common reasons that hospitals have issues with their charge cycles.
- Code Errors
Codes for different services can change often. Therefore, codes on your chargemaster may be outdated, which will create an error resulting in lost income.
- Missed Services
There are plenty of players that participate in the charge cycle, so it is possible that anyone who doesn’t understand the process can miss a service provided to a patient. When a service is missed, a hospital will not receive payment for that treatment. This is often remedied by hiring a charge cycle solutions company that can explain the process to your employees and keep your chargemaster up-to-date, so you don’t experience any lost revenue.
- Internal Problems
While some of these problems occur because of external changes or neglectful employees, it is also possible that internal conflicts can cause problems with your charge cycle. For example, it is common for hospitals not to want to devote time, people, and resources to updating a chargemaster. This quickly results in outdated codes and lost revenue. If hospitals want to avoid this issue, their staff must understand the importance of the charge cycle for revenue collection.
- Time Lags
Time lags between when a hospital provided a service and when it was billed can be a problem. Often, this can make an insurance company have questions and delay the reimbursement process even more. Therefore, the charge cycle needs to be efficient so that there is no delay between when services are provided and when they are billed.
- Chargemaster Age
As mentioned, codes are constantly changing, as are billing and transparency practices. Therefore, any hospitals that want to stay on top of the game need to update their chargemasters regularly, so they’re never out of date and always comply with the most recent requirements.
Chargemasters are a crucial document for the billing department at a hospital. Without them, insurance companies would not pay these establishments for their services. That said, there are still many issues with chargemasters. These often stem from neglect. However, it can also occur due to other internal or external problems. The key is to identify these errors and remedy them to reduce your lost revenue.
