AMERICAN HEALTHCARE CONSULTING: Charge Capture Services, CDM

100% Charge Capture = Key To Revenue Cycle Success

We realize that hospitals face an environment of constant change. Federal and state healthcare rules and regulations can be altered on a daily basis. Staying informed and implementing necessary modifications to the chargemaster (CDM) and other revenue cycle tools can be very overwhelming for even the most diligent and efficient hospital personnel. Chief Financial Officers and Revenue Cycle Directors are looking more and more to software companies to assist in this process, unfortunately failing to realize that software can only manage a small portion of the necessary formula for 100% charge capture, charge reconciliation, and medical billing compliance.

Don't Fall Into The "Software Cure-All" Trap

Chargemaster software can be a valuable revenue cycle tool, but don't subscribe to the belief that it will be the solution to all your charge capture issues. Software will never replace the interaction and education that can take place between an experienced consultant and charge capture personnel. To correctly identify and correct charge capture and charge reconciliation issues, personal interviews need to occur with clinical department personnel related to charge capture operations. Policies and procedures need to be well-defined, and employees need to be aware of best practices in these areas. Supplies, procedures and medications need to be evaluated to determine whether or not they should be separately billable. Assessments of system interfaces and conversion factor tables should be performed, and charge capture tools must be analyzed and mapped to the current facility chargemaster in order to achieve and maintain 100% charge capture.