Chargemaster Optimization Review
Many healthcare organizations are not fully aware of the impact that an inaccurate/outdated Chargemaster can have on their bottom lines. Failure to maintain accurate chargemaster data can dramatically decrease reimbursement and also can increase the amount of manual intervention required at the time of billing.
Quality’s Chargemaster Services
Quality will provide experienced consultants in revenue cycle operations with hands-on chargemaster/revenue integrity experience to conduct chargemaster reviews at client sites. Quality consultants will complete a full chargemaster review by performing the following activities:
- Conducting interviews and workflow observations with client staff whose work responsibilities require optimally functioning chargemaster systems (e.g., PFS, HIM, Case Management, Clinical Charging Areas, etc.). These investigations will allow Quality consultants to identify areas of concern and opportunities for improvements.
- Performing an analysis of the data currently contained in the organization’s Chargemaster system(s) involves extracting Chargemaster data and submitting the data as input to the analysis software. The analysis will be performed using analytical software designed to assess the completeness/accuracy/standardization of the data and to identify problematic areas with the current set up. Quality will examine the analytical results to determine the seriousness of the gaps, trends, and inaccuracies. In addition, Quality will recommend a procedure for efficiently updating missing, inaccurate, and misleading data. The analysis can be performed on a yearly and quarterly basis.
- Quality’s consultants will determine the client’s operational baseline and will make recommendations for process improvements and other best practices. In addition, if requested, Quality’s consultants will make corrections to the charge description master and draft changes to the organization’s standards and procedures.
Quality will provide interim briefings of its findings as it proceeds with the data analysis. Quality will also deliver a final report with the details describing its findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
Quality’s Credentials and Client Experiences
Quality’s Chargemaster and revenue integrity specialists have years of successful healthcare management experience working for acute care hospitals, critical access hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, clinics, and physician practices. They also possess operational experience in revenue cycle management, patient access, charge capture, charge master integration, medical chart auditing, and reimbursement optimization.
Project examples include:
- Managing Chargemaster consolidation and standardization for hospital organizations
- Standardizing consolidating client hospital’s charge description master for Interventional Radiology into the corporate charge description master
- Validating new hospital charges for an acquired hospital to optimize revenue capture
- Cross walking pharmacy CDM, pharmacy system and pricing tool for standardization
- Review bill scrubber edits to correct Rev Cycle/CPT mismatch, deleted CPT codes, new CPT codes, correct profee rendering clinician identification to improve flow and speed up bill processing
- Review and correct charge related denials
- Created and updated corporate policy and procedures for the revenue cycle department
- Implementing EPIC, Oracle Health/Cerner, QuadraMed hospital and professional billing systems including expertise with charge description masters
Benefits to Your Organization
- Improved financial results
- Lower number days in A/R
- Reduced denials
- Reductions in regular-time and over-time labor hours
- Quarterly updates processed more efficiently and effectively