Revenue-cycle Management: Minimizing Denials and Maximizing Collections

November 28, 2011 | Feature

The best way to minimize denials is to prevent them in the first place, by making sure that medical claims meet the requirements for clean claims. A clean claim is defined as a claim that meets the standards required by insurance carriers for payment on first submission.

The Ultimate RSNA Wish List

November 28, 2011 | Priors

The annual meeting of the RSNA, already one of the largest medical conferences in the world, stands to reach new proportions this year. Total registrations for the 2011 meeting in Chicago, Illinois, which starts November 27, are up 7% over 2010’s total.

The massive 459,000–square-foot convention space at McCormick Place... Read More »

The Mystery of the Missing Collections

September 04, 2011 | Feature

How well do you really know your payors? A recent analysis for one practice turned up some very interesting revelations with operational ramifications for the provider, but this was possible only because the provider had access to the entire fee schedule of the insurance company.

The larger... Read More »

Better Business Intelligence: Enhanced CPT Code Analysis

July 16, 2011 | A Better Mousetrap

This article is the first in a two-part series about how radiology practices can derive superior business intelligence from their existing coding and payment data.

Historically, radiology practices have looked at CPT® code volume as a measure of work. As Greg Thomson, CPA, executive vice president of... Read More »

Performance Analytics: What Billing Can Tell You

July 04, 2011 | Feature

Medical billing is the process of translating a physician’s work into reimbursable language understood by governmental and private third-party payors. The billing process must start with the physician’s documentation of patient encounters, which forms the basis for billing. The physician’s documentation is then translated into a... Read More »

The Other Data Deluge: ICD-10

July 04, 2011 | Priors

In his preview¹ in Health Affairs of the impending data deluge scheduled to begin with the transition to ICD-10 on October 1, 2013, Harris Meyer explains that the international disease-classification system dates back to 1763, when—in an act of altruism toward his fellow physicians—Francois Boissier de Sauvages de Lacroix (1706–1767)... Read More »

Ten Questions to Ask in Comparing MRI Physics Services

February 16, 2011 | Priors

The looming deadline of January 1, 2012, is prompting many MRI scan providers to apply for accreditation. According to section 135 of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act, as of this date, any provider of advanced imaging services billing under Medicare Part B must be accredited to receive payment. Choosing... Read More »

Providers to Increase Purchases of Medical-imaging Technology in 2011

February 16, 2011 | Priors

In a promising sign of economic recovery, hospital-based radiology decision makers intend to spend 10% more overall on medical-imaging technology this year, according to a new report from KLAS (Orem, Utah). According to Diagnostic Imaging Purchases 2010: Spending Increases, Loyalty Is Tested, providers plan to meet or increase purchases in all... Read More »

Data-driven Strategy Delivers Relief From the Pain of Reimbursement Cuts

January 31, 2011 | Leading by Analytics

Reimbursement reductions—most recently, the 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule cuts—have had a significant impact on the radiology arena, with many practices and imaging-center companies taking sizeable hits to their bottom lines or being forced to close their doors. Some entities, however, refuse merely to accept the negative impact... Read More »

The Road to Actionable Information:Q & A with Robert J. Kebbekus

January 31, 2011 | MedAnalytx

Radiology practices interface with many disparate information systems that produce data, but generating meaningful reports that pull information from all of those systems—PACS, RIS, billing, and reporting—is too cumbersome to be done with any regularity. As payors begin to link reimbursement to outcomes and episodes of care... Read More »

Business Intelligence Packs A Punch With Payors

January 31, 2011 | Reporting Performance

Improvement of commercial-payor contracts can result in significant revenue gains and better contracts for medical groups, with radiology practices among them. Successfully negotiating such deals, however—and optimizing them to include financial dividends—necessitates that actionable business intelligence be brought to the bargaining table.

Douglas G. Smith,... Read More »

Unlocking the Business-intelligence Vaults in Radiology

November 28, 2010 | Feature

In the current climate of accountability, regulation, and continual improvement, radiology managers and administrators are called upon to make timely and informed decisions that affect the quality of their departments’ output (the radiology report) and the financial viability of their practices. Successful managers need a system of measurements (metrics)... Read More »

Strategic Technology Acquisition in the Era of Accountable Care

November 28, 2010 | Feature

With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the health-care community is preparing for a tidal shift in how all providers are expected to perform. Hospitals and physicians increasingly will be held more accountable for ensuring that the key pillars of health-care reform are satisfied:... Read More »

The ACR GRID Program: Ready for Its Close-up

November 15, 2010 | Imaging Futures

A relative newcomer amongst the ACR® data registries is the General Radiology Improvement Database (GRID) program. Part of the ACR’s National Radiology Data Registry, GRID’s focus is evidence-based health outcomes and process... Read More »

Physician-recruiting Strategies for Radiology

November 15, 2010 | Revenue Track

In spite of downturns in volumes and concerns about further reimbursement cuts, radiology physician recruiting remains a seller’s market, at least for the time being. More groups are looking for radiologists than there are qualified candidates, putting pressure on practices to optimize their recruiting techniques. While the recent... Read More »

$300,000 Leaner and 97% Happy

October 13, 2010 | NONE

At Portsmouth Regional Hospital in New Hampshire, a team that included members of the radiology department, centralized scheduling, a floor nurse, and the COO entered a room with the goal of improving the satisfaction of customers (including patients, physicians, and nurses). The team emerged, five days later, with a... Read More »

Getting Started

October 13, 2010 | NONE

Anne Daley, a senior consultant at Chi Solutions Inc, Ann Arbor, Michigan, offers a few examples of easy-to-implement lean activities that can lead to important process changes for radiology (while acclimating both leaders and staff to the new methods). “When you first start doing lean services, in my opinion,... Read More »

The Next Generation of Outsourced Billing

October 11, 2010 | Revenue Track

The decision to outsource billing is one faced with increasing regularity by radiology groups seeking to trim costs while maximizing reimbursement. Within this larger decision also lies another conundrum: how to select the outsourced-billing approach that best suits the practice. Kevin Shepherd is chief development officer for Read More »

Know the Market, Grow the Market: St Joseph Mercy Hospital

October 11, 2010 | Productivity

In today’s business environment, it is critical for health care organizations and their leaders to demonstrate a thorough understanding of their respective markets’ dynamics, needs and demands—and to make decisions accordingly, said Donna Wade in the “Know Your Market to Grow Your Market” session held on August 24... Read More »

Provider-based Restructuring: Approach With Caution

October 11, 2010 | Deal Scan

Freestanding imaging has come under fire in recent years, with a series of Medicare Physician Fee Schedule reimbursement cuts decimating revenue. Hospital-based imaging, on the other hand, has not absorbed as much impact, a reflection of the aligned-care model promoted by President Obama during the development and passage of... Read More »

The One With the Most Data Wins

October 11, 2010 | The Big Picture

Well, almost: Virtually every practice or hospital has tons of raw data. Getting data is not the issue. The real issue is having the knowledge and skill to interpret the data and develop strategies based on the stories told deep within data catacombs. This is what separates level 5 performers... Read More »

Imaging’s 21st-century Challenges: Decentralization, Digitization, and Distribution

September 15, 2010 | Imaging Futures

In many ways, the challenges facing imaging in the 21st century are similar to those facing other industries: decentralizing both staff and workplaces; digitizing data; and distributing those data in a way that is efficient, cost effective, and secure. Anthony Toppins, MD, musculoskeletal radiologist with Read More »

Users’ Guide: Due Diligence for Acquisitions

September 15, 2010 | Deal Scan

While there are many motivations to pursue an acquisition candidate, all acquirers share a common goal: increasing their net worth. The buyer evaluates opportunities to select acquisitions where the present value of the future economic benefits received is most likely to be greater than the purchase price. The goal... Read More »

Community Hospital Makes Strategic Post-reform Decision

September 15, 2010 | Productivity

In the aftermath of imaging reimbursement cuts and health care reform, provider organizations are looking at how to do more with less, and making purchasing decisions that position them to be able to accommodate the widest range of patients. That’s why Brian Wetzel, RT, CNMT, radiology administrator at 26... Read More »

MIPPA Accreditation Countdown: ACR, IAC, or Joint Commission?

September 03, 2010 | Feature

In 2008, when Congress passed the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA), the January 2012 accreditation deadline for providers of advanced imaging seemed distant, but it’s near enough to call for action now. For those advanced diagnostic imaging services (ADIS) providers still unaccredited, the choices available in accrediting... Read More »