Razor-thin operational margins coupled with substantial and ongoing losses related to COVID-19 are culminating in a perfect storm of bottom-line issues for U.S. hospitals and health systems. A study commissioned by the American Hospital Association (AHA) found that the median hospital margin overall was just 3.5% pre-pandemic, and projected margins will stay in the red for at least half of the nation’s hospitals for the remainder of 2020.
The reality is that an increase in
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Revenue Cycle Management | News, Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
M&A: Medsphere Systems Corporation Acquires Micro-Office Systems
What You Should Know:
- Medsphere acquires Micro-Office Systems (MOS),
developer of systems integration and communication tools. MOS will retain its
name and will serve as a division of Medsphere moving forward.
Medsphere Systems
Corporation today announced the acquisition
of Micro-Office Systems (MOS)
in a move that will even further enhance the value and usability of Medsphere’s
affordable healthcare IT solutions and services. With over 30 years of healthcare
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Nuance Sells Off Transcription and EHR-Go-Live Businesses to DeliverHealth
What You Should Know:
- Nuance announced that it’s planning to sell two sections of its healthcare business – Health Information Management (HIM) and Electronic Health Record (EHR) Go-Live Services to a new independent company, called DeliverHealth, in early 2021.
- Nuance will be a minority shareholder of DeliverHealth
and continue to provide its technology to the company.
Nuance
Communications, Inc., today announced the planned sale
of the Health Information Management (HIM)
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AMA Unveils 2 Vaccine-Specific CPT Codes for Coronavirus Immunizations
What You Should Know:
- The American Medical Association (AMA) published an
update to the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) code set that includes new
vaccine-specific codes to report immunizations for the novel coronavirus
(SARS-CoV-2).
- The new Category I CPT codes and long descriptors for the vaccine products 91300 and 91301 for better tracking, reporting, and analysis that supports data-driven planning and allocation.
The American Medical Association (AMA) today published an
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How Yale-New Haven Uses IPA in Revenue Cycle to Tackle Inefficiency
As the pandemic heads toward a second year with no further financial stimulus guaranteed, hospitals and health systems are seeking ways to reduce costs and improve revenue cycle performance. Intelligent process automation (IPA) is an emerging solution designed to optimize operations and increase productivity through a combination of process modeling, process automation, and artificial intelligence.
IPA in the revenue cycle enables healthcare organizations to shift manual, repetitive work to
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Humana Taps Cohere Health to Modernize Prior Authorizations for Musculoskeletal Treatment
What You Should Know:
- Cohere Health partners with health insurer Humana to modernize
the prior authorization process for musculoskeletal treatment across 12 states.
- In addition, the company has closed an additional $10M
in funding led by Flare Capital Partners and Define Venture, bringing the
company’s total funding to $20M.
Health insurer Humana has signed an agreement with healthcare collaboration company Cohere Health to improve the prior authorization process for
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Impact of COVID-19: 2020 State of Healthcare Performance Improvement Report
What You Should Know:
- Nearly three-quarters of hospital leaders are either
moderately (52%) or extremely (22%) concerned about the financial viability of
their organizations without an effective treatment or vaccine for COVID-19,
according to a new report from Kaufman Hall entitled, “2020 State of Healthcare
Performance Improvement Report: The Impact of COVID-19”
- One-third of respondents saw operating margin declines
in excess of 100% in the second quarter of 2020 compared with the
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The Future of Patient Access: From Appointment Reminders to Automated Patient Journeys
The concept of 'Patient Access' has evolved significantly. We all remember the good old days when patient access was an inbound responsive model – patients dialed into a call center phone number and were connected "round-robin" to the next available staff member with their call script. Then outbound voice and email messages and patient appointment reminders became common, and now access centers have begun to deploy more advanced communication channels such as natural language voice response,
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Cedar Joins Epic App Orchard to Enable Patient-First Billing Experience in MyChart
What You Should Know:
- Patient financial engagement platform Cedar announced the
availability of its patient billing solution, Cedar Pay in the Epic App Orchard
marketplace.
- Cedar engages patients through a frictionless billing
experience that is embedded in MyChart using single sign-on. By tailoring
in-app messaging and balance resolution workflows.
Cedar, a leading
patient financial engagement platform, today announced that Cedar Pay, its
flagship patient billing solution, is
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Clearwave Acquires Digital Patient Access Solutions Odoro
What You Should Know:
- Clearwave acquires Odoro, a provider of digital
patient-access solutions that makes the scheduling process easier and more
efficient for both healthcare providers and patients.
- Clearwave, a pioneer in digital check-in is poised to deliver the industry’s most comprehensive patient-engagement platform with the addition of Odoro’s rich, multi-channel scheduling capabilities.
Clearwave, a
healthcare industry leader in digital check-in and eligibility
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