Great article in Becker’s Hospital Review by Dawn Crump of HealthPort, shares ideas on how to reduce audit management costs. Similar to our own experience with credentialing and vendor contract management, it’s all about centralized focus on continuous improvements in process and technology.
Written by Dawn Crump, VP, Audit Management Solutions, HealthPort | October 28, 2014
According to the American Hospital Association’s RAC Trac survey for the fourth quarter of 2013, 68 percent of hospitals reported spending more than $10,000 managing the RAC process, while 50 percent spent more than $25,000 and 12 percent spent more than $100,000. It doesn’t stop there.
Beyond RACs, Medicare, Medicaid, third-party payers and health plans continually conduct other retrospective review audits, taxing staff resources and raising revenue cycle concerns.
For Donna Brock, RHIT, System HIM Audit & Privacy Coordinator at Lee Memorial Health System, audit requests come from multiple directions, including three different RACs, three MACs, CERT, PERM, ZPIC, MIC, SMRC, MP QAI, HEDIS and more. “While the RACs took a summer break, CMS did not!” Brock says.
With more than 1,420 beds, and over one million patient contacts each year, Lee Memorial Health System is Florida’s largest public health system, receiving no direct tax support.
At Lee Memorial, Brock says, the key to keeping audit management costs under control is threefold:
