BY KELLY PRICE

(L-R): Bill Siren, president/partner of LBMC Healthcare Group, LLC, Donna Gilley, director of Revenue Cycle & Regulatory Compliance at LBMC Healthcare Group, LLC , and Brian Peoples, vice president of Physician Practice Support at Community Health Systems

Nearly 200 guests attended a recent Nashville Health Care Council seminar focusing on "Revenue Cycle Management — Key Challenges, Successes and New Applications."

The breakfast and panel discussion meeting was co-sponsored by Fifth Third Bank and The Nashville Technology Council on the morning of Nov. 17.

The panel's discussion focused on major issues in revenue cycle management from both the healthcare providers' and the technology vendors' point of view.

The topic included an overview of challenges posed by the growing self-pay responsibility and key processes and best practices in revenue cycle management, as well as a look at emerging technologies that will help providers respond more efficiently to this issue. Representatives from the healthcare provider segment outlined the challenges and opportunities that face providers as they deal with revenue cycles and unique obstacles that they see on the horizon.

Technology vendor representatives discussed new and emerging technologies that will benefit the system as they come online and how providers can use technology to offer new solutions and systems to respond to specific processing needs in the business office.

There was agreement among panel members that with the trend of high deductible health plans growing, the ability for the healthcare provider to accurately estimate the patient portion of billable charges becomes more important than ever. Providers need to make use of available technology to verify charges and train staff to collect payment up front and at the time of service in order to reduce the number of days an account will spend in accounts receivable (AR), urged panelists.

The panel was moderated by Donna Gilley, director of revenue cycle and regulatory compliance for LBMC Healthcare Group, LLC, and represented a mix of healthcare provider organizations and technology consultants and innovators.

Panelists on the program included Dale Kennedy, senior vice president of management services for Symbion Healthcare; Harriett Flowers, CEO of IMaCS; Brian People, vice president for physician practice support for Community Health Systems, Inc.; Jim Lackey, chairman and CEO of Passport Health Communications; Inc.; Eric Ward of ECO Financial Services Division of HCA, Inc.; and Gregg Rotenberg, managing partner of Revenue Cycle Solutions, Inc.

Rotenberg, who is based in Chicago, said at the meeting he was impressed with the breadth of local healthcare talent in Nashville.

"The number of leaders in the industry who attended, both on the panel and in the audience, and the scope of their knowledge of the industry … were proof that Nashville really is the 'center of the healthcare universe,'" he commented. He said there seemed to be a real concern shared among the users of new and emerging technologies designed to manage revenue cycles that the technology needs to be "right the first time," and providers do not have to spend time fixing technologies that fail to do the task required.

"Everybody is at different places in the evolution of revenue cycle management and it was interesting to hear from both the providers and the technology vendors about this process," commented panelist Ward.

Becky Sargent, product marketing director for Passport Health Communications, who attended the seminar, felt that one of topics stressed most in the discussion was the importance of accurately estimating the patient portion of charges. "The provider needs to use (and the vendor needs to design) new processes to reduce the number of AR days," she said.

Kennedy said he thought the seminar was a very good forum to exchange ideas and, in an informal way, discuss different aspects of the topic.

"Things I heard from other panel members who were able to share experiences in other parts of the country gave us a heads-up for issues that might be coming," he added.

Next on the calendar the Nashville Health Care Council will sponsor the annual analyst program, an opportunity for well-respected healthcare analysts to offer insights on the industry for the coming year. The date for the program is set for Jan. 18, 2007.

The Nashville Health Care Council is an association of healthcare industry leaders working together to further establish Nashville's position as the nation's healthcare industry capital.







January 2007