1. Positive.  Everything starts with a thought. Leaders choose their mindset. You must be positive, optimistic, and hopeful if you ever expect to effectively lead others.

2. Self-aware.  Being conscious of your character is important when leading others because you are leading them to be a better person and that will be difficult, if not impossible if you have low self-awareness. Emotional maturity helps you properly process constructive criticism. Leaders know who they are and lead others to be the who they want to be.  

3. Organized.  Leaders understand that organization is a key component of success. They know if they expect to achieve, sustain, and improve, it calls for order and structure.

4. Communicator. Leaders are communicators!  Good communication even builds relationships, the glue that makes many things stick together. Leaders will apply various ways of communicating when things need to get done.

5. Honest and Open. If your people don’t trust you, they’ll find someone else to follow. Subordinates who value their leader will make sacrifices and work harder because they trust in good leadership and appreciate transparency.

6. Flexible. Being flexibility is critical because very few things are predictable. Leaders who are flexible and able to adapt to changes have an advantage amongst their peers and are valued. Develop your ability to press forward through change!

7. Visionary.  Leaders are visionaries! Leaders can communicate their visions and beliefs to the affect that others are persuaded to be a part of that same vision.

8. Thinker.  Strategic thinking and planning will be vital for long-term success. Many dream, but few have made their dreams come true by putting their thoughts through proper planning, with intent to execute.

9. Decision Maker. Leaders know how to develop teams. They do not choose people they like or that think like they do but they base their decision on the needs of the team as whole. There is strength in diversity.

10. Delegator.  You can’t do it all by yourself. Many people on on-board for a common goal can get a lot done and sometimes even more than intended. “Sharing the workload and holding people accountable allows leaders to reach higher levels of success.”

 References

https://chiefexecutive.net/top-10-skills-needed-for-effective-leadership/

1)   Educate and work with the staff. Educating and continually training staff is essential in submitting claims properly, providing good customer service, and decreasing errors. All of which can improve an organization’s revenue cycle. 

2)   Form an efficient organizational structure. Structure and standardized processes will ensure best practices are consistent within an organization. Striving to achieve leaner processes can also reduce waste, increase patient satisfaction and prove to provide a positive effective on an organization’s revenue cycle.

3)   Set goals and monitor performance. As the saying goes, “What gets measured get done”. Setting goals and monitoring progress of achieving those goals increases probabilities of success. Incentivizing goal achievements can also help an organization achieve their goals and improve its revenue cycle. 

4)   Automate prior authorizations and eligibility. Submitting authorizations prior to delivered care is on the rise. But automated submissions which is more cost-efficient than the manual way has not become general practice yet. The 2016 CAQH Index shows electronic authorizations cost significantly less than manual authorizations. Providers and revenue cycle managers agree that automated prior authorizations can save time and money, yet another way to improve an organization’s revenue cycle. 

5)   Collect patient financial responsibility upfront. “Late and underpaid patient financial responsibility slows healthcare revenue cycles.” Considering patients responsibility to pay their medical expenses has increased, post care recovering payments, contacting, and collecting from patients can add to the already assumed burden of an organization. “Revenue cycle managers can optimize patient collections by implementing point of service collections and credit-card-on-file options. If organizations communicate costs to patients prior to service and utilize modern payment collection strategies, such as credit-card-on-file they can experience a reduced accounts receivable and an improved revenue cycle.

6)   Make sure claims are clean and systems are set up optimally. To reduce rejected claims an organization must ensure they are using current and correct codes, properly submitting claims, and monitoring their billing system. These efforts will reduce accounts receivable and improve the revenue cycle.

7)   Reduce denials and underpayments. Medical Necessity requirements for reimbursement seem to be ever changing. It is important that organizations have real-time information to comply and maximize recovery for services. If not, not only do they risk being underpaid but also risk spending more “money on the back-end trying to collect revenue (or contest denials) with a low probability of return if the front-end process was not handled correctly”. 

8)   Reduce out-of-network revenue leakage. It is important when developing a network, that you have a practice that offers many services. If an organization does not, it creates an opportunity for its patient to go out-of-network for needed services. Organizations that coordinate care and carefully integrate their network reduce their patients being sent out-of-network for care and improve their revenue cycle.

9)   Optimize revenue from physician referrals and orders. Facilities that can find a way to make themselves accessible, cheaper, and convenient to independent physicians to send their patients to them can capture revenue from the referred patient thereby increasing their revenue cycle by not having to “hire the physician or buy their practices”.

10) Establish processes and use tools that improve revenue cycle efficiency. Standardized processes reduce error potential. Less errors, mean more accurate data allows for better organizational forecasts. Less errors also reduces double work that increases operating costs and presents the opportunity for an organization to be proactive and not reactive. When accurate information is present, provided, and communicated, its ripple effect will be overall improvement.

  References

https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/blog/four-ways-improve-hospital-revenue

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/5-best-practices-for-improving-revenue-cycle.html

In Modern Healthcare Reporting webinar presenters discussed their unique and current best practices and time saving techniques. David Caiani shared how Exeter Hospital improved their reporting processes through automating financial reports and automated email distribution. Some of their software tools had limitations or were not a good fit for the company so they switched over to an excel-based automation solution. Their efforts affected both internal and external reporting. Exeter’s decision to use of this software “increased employee workload capacity by 25%” through automating reports which decreased time spent and mistakes from hand-keying.

Jodi Grzybowski shared how ProMedica modernized their reporting with Excel Add-In. Before, their previous software reporting tool was troublesome, and reports had to be adjusted to reflect desired information. Using Excel Add-in now “decreased re-keying errors by 100%”, took less time to generate reports, and is user friendly. Excel Add-in allows, Ms. Grzybowski and her company to run more reports, research transactions, review variances, along with many more options.

When a company desire to excel it must review and improve some of its processes. Sharing best practices and time saving techniques, saves time, money, and resources. Saving time is significant for facilities, it allows manpower to be reallocated to different areas of need. Sometimes you may have to upgrade or replace software for your facility to function better. This webinar shared how two entities found a solution to auto-generate needed reports, communicate those reports to the right people, save time and reduce errors. If an organization wants to improve they have to be willing take the time and to do what it takes.

 References

Grzybowski, J., Caiani, D., & Gibson, K. (2018, June 13). Modern Healthcare Reporting: Best Practices and Time Saving Techniques [Webinar]. Retrieved from http://hfma.mycrowdwisdom.com/diweb/catalog/launch/media/eid/2273213/pid/2208240

In Conquer the Top Five Workforce Management Challenges webinar presented by GE Healthcare the top three financial concerns that were found to keep healthcare executives up at night were managing labor costs, uncertainty around reimbursements, and staying competitive in the market. Since the workforce accounts for more than 50% of hospitals operating costs, it is vital to successfully manage and optimize it. A facility’s ability to be flexible with its staff based on volumes and patients needs was found to be the greatest workforce management challenge. Staffing is usually inconsistent in comparison to an organization’s constant budget. It is important that shift schedules are constructed in advance, accurately, and communicated in a timely manner.

GE examined ways to reduce overtime costs as well as identified some costs that are associated with staff working overtime, such as increased patient falls and medication errors. An additional challenge for workforce management was leveraging staff. GE’s case studies showed when consolidating facilities that creating and sustaining an internal resource pool was a key factor for long-term success. An internal pool of nursing staff prevented premium labor costs like sporadic overtime and agency use. Turnover also presents itself a challenge in workforce management.  Data shared showed nurses who work more than 13+ hours instead of 8-9 hours have a 2% general increase of being more likely to burn out, be dissatisfied with their job, and leave their job within the next year.

 Therefore, appropriate staffing based on the needs of the facility is important. Standardizing processes is also a good practice in reducing operating costs and training staff. As mentioned, when your staff is happy, the patient will be happy. Facilities must put honest effort towards cultivating a work environment of accountability, consistency, and transparency. All facilities are subject to workforce management challenges. GE’s outcomes-driven approach where they design, implement and optimize is a great starting point.

  References

Roman, R., Gerhart, G., & Christy, William (2017, November 7). Conquer the Top Five Workforce Management Challenges [Webinar]. Retrieved from http://hfma.mycrowdwisdom.com/diweb/catalog/launch/media/sid/48567846

In, Patient experience is a big opportunity for hospitals to drive revenue, Black Books says Jeff Lagasse writes that a survey from Black Book found that 92 percent respondents “said that improving customer experience should a be a top strategic priority”. It is important that organizations provide good service to their customers. After all, their business is what pays the bills. This percentage was a 21 percent increase from a survey conducted the year prior. Surveyors mentioned how certain technologies improve the experience such as online scheduling, online payment, and organizations providing price transparency. We live in an age where people like easy access, convenience, and transparency. Despite the demand, “only 9 percent of total providers reported the ability to offer these consumer demands successfully in a Black Book survey of hospitals and physicians.”

 It is important that the healthcare facilities understand the power of the patient. Organizations unable to deliver such advanced technologies, may be in jeopardy of losing their current and even future consumers. It is apparent that having advanced technologies, which improves today’s patient experience, can positively affect an organization’s financial experience. The law of supply and demands still applies. Organizations will either make appropriate accommodations to meet the demands of their customers or not; either way its decision will reflect in its financial performance. Mr. Lagasse presented a significant claim that organizations can impact their revenue by taking advantage of ensuring their patients have a satisfying experience. This claim was clearly communicated, effective, and accompanied by supporting data.

  References

https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/patient-experience-big-opportunity-hospitals-drive-revenue-black-book-says