The November event for the CNFL Chapter of HIMSS was hosted at Lake-Sumter State College’s (LSSC) Clermont Campus on November 12, 2015. In addition to our host sponsor, the other sponsors were the Central Florida Chapter of FHIMA and the LSSC HIT Advisory Committee. During the light meal and networking time, LSSC HIT students exhibited posters on hot topics in the industry.

The speaker was Ms. Stacy Boyle, Revenue Cycle Executive from the Cerner Corp. She presented: “The Importance of Integrated Revenue Cycle Management and the Impact to Your Bottom Line.”

Several highlights from her talk include:

• There are various market pressures that are shifting more risk to providers, such as physician quality reporting systems, meaningful use requirements, value-based payment models and the ICD-10 transition. As a result it is even more important for providers to fully understand and manage their revenue cycle and to make smarter use of Information Technology (IT) or in other words to use it efficiently and to optimize its capabilities as they relate to each user’s role.
• Using technology, the industry is moving from the traditional manual revenue cycle to a programmable network in which the system handles as much of the routine revenue cycle tasks as possible, leaving the flexibility to manage the exceptions that inevitably occur.
• Organizations can start by analyzing the current state of the revenue cycle, including the workflow and the cost of collecting payment. Once that is understood, the next step is to engage all the participants in the process including front office, provider/clinician, and back office billing personnel. At this point, it becomes important that all parties adopt and embrace changes to the procedures. Based on the capabilities of the IT system and the individual requirements, changes are made and the outcomes are monitored and measured in order to determine what is working and what does not.
• After the optimal process is in place, further analysis of the information (or data) is essential because it helps providers make data-driven decisions about which payers are most beneficial to them and where to expend resources to cultivate and improve relationships, a key success factor for revenue cycle management.

The audience had a wonderful opportunity to better understand the opportunities for integrating IT and maximizing reimbursement. The information provided is beneficial for individual providers and facilities as we move into a whole new world in providing quality healthcare for patients which is the ultimate goal.

Deborah Running, Lake-Sumter State College

Deborah is a Medical Information Coder/Biller student who will graduate with her Certificate in December, 2015. Her certification contains courses required for legal, coding and revenue cycle competencies from the full HIT Associates Degree at Lake-Sumter State College, Clermont, FL.