Managing administrative staff is a time consuming task with the constant changes in compliance, coding updates and insurance regulations; adding in sick time, maternity/paternity leave, retirement or any other unexpected absences can put a stop to your operations if you're not prepared to pick up the slack. Like most private and ambulatory practices your staff members presumably wear multiple different hats which can make coverage for their absence next to impossible.
I spent a good amount of my career in an ambulatory surgical practice with on average 25 employees plus 8 providers, 8 of those employees were administrative support staff members the rest were clinical staff. Those 8 employees were responsible for all administrative duties; check in/out, billing, coding, revenue cycle operations and reporting, in/outgoing referrals and follow up, full phone service, scheduling, fax
management, daily operations management and anything else in their scope that would help support the clinical staff and patients. Which means that on any given day your certified coder could be querying you on surgical documentation, helping a patient with a scheduling conflict, uploading outside medical records to a patient's chart to be viewable by a provider and trying to obtain a prior authorization all in the same hour.
When a staff member is unexpectedly out of the office for a day or two you are possibly able to have other staff members absorb the responsibilities of the missing employee. However when you're missing an employee for a week or more you run the risk of burning out the employees that are showing up everyday, interrupting normal processes providers rely on to treat patients efficiently and bringing pieces of your operation to a halt. Hunkering down and praying you make it out alive is not the solution yet many practice managers choose this route. Why? Because they haven't been informed of the cost effective options available to them.
What about maternity/paternity leave, short term disability time off or retirement? How do you plan for a short term full time needs, by the time you fully train a new employee it will be time for them to leave. If you use a temp agency is the employee going to care enough about the success of the business to give it their all for the allotted amount of time? How do you reposition staff or find an outside hire that can take the place of a senior employee?
Mistakes with various downstream effects are guaranteed to happen when you overload staff and assign tasks they are not proficient in. Patients get frustrated when they don't feel like they are getting the expert help they expect from your clinic, payment posting errors occur, coding and claim submission comes to a stop and normal support operations that providers rely on to care for patients properly are interrupted. Money is lost and normal patient treatment courses are obstructed,
So how do you circumvent operational slow down and patient treatment interruptions? Bridge The Gap by outsourcing to a revenue cycle management company like Sloan Medical Revenue Cycle Management for a specified amount of time. I am a HUGE advocate for outsourcing your medical revenue cycle to a qualified company for purposes of cost, compliance and efficiency however I do understand that not every practice feels this is the right road for them. That doesn't mean that you can't utilize a RCM company to bridge the gap for a specified amount of time. Do you know your billing/coding specialist is going on maternity leave? Outsource the work for 3 months so your operations dont stop. Let your employee enjoy their family time without the stress of how much work is building up waiting for them to return. Did an employee unexpectedly leave your practice? Outsource those tasks and take your time hiring the right professional instead of feeling rushed to get a body in the seat. Is a senior employee retiring and you haven't found the right fit to replace them yet? Outsource it!!! Don't rush to hire your next investment.
In addition to how a RCM company can help in short term circumstances, a common misconception about utilizing a RCM company is that if you agree to work with them you have to turn over your complete revenue operations. This is not the case with Sloan Medical, they want to work with you in any capacity you need. It's perfectly acceptable to keep pieces of your revenue cycle in house and outsource specific portions. If you are satisfied with your coding and payment posting but need assistance with prior authorizations and denials that's ok.
Find a revenue cycle management company that fits your company mission and structure not just the big name brand. Don't use the "sink or swim" formula as your plan for professional gap coverage when there are companies like Sloan Medical waiting to help you succeed. Call them today 913-228-1918.
Follow me on LinkedIn for more Revenue Cycle Management resources or email me questions you have about your clinic alex.nedzelskiy@sloanmed.com
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