Mobile charge capture might not be the first thing on the minds of healthcare providers as they focus on the health and well-being of their patients and practices. Missing charges, a lack of data insights and uncompensated tasks all prevent physician groups and health systems from meeting their quality and financial goals and delivering healthcare services. Many types of organizations consider revenue cycle management (RCM) a cornerstone of doing business. There are several ways healthcare leaders can improve the quality and quantity of tracking and billing practices. Mobile charge capture should be the centerpiece of their efforts.
What is charge capture?
Timely, accurate charge capture ensures that healthcare providers receive payment for all of the services they provide to a patient. The process can be as simple as a provider jotting down notes during or after a patient visit. In fact, according to a study conducted by Ingenious Med, one quarter of healthcare organizations still use paper records as part of their charge capture. But paper records are often unreliable due to lost charge slips and illegible documentation. Using an electronic health record system (EHR) for charge capture can also miss fully capturing chargeable services, especially when complex procedures are performed or when patients have multiple diagnoses.
For their practices to thrive, it is essential for providers to record and be compensated for 100 percent of their services. That is the promise of an effective charge capture system.
Why mobile charge capture?
Unlike EHRs or paper, a standalone mobile charge capture system is built specifically for capturing, recording and cross-referencing every charge – and for making charge capture easier for the provider at the point of care. That’s why point-of-care charge capture is the best opportunity to maximize revenues.
Even though providers spend nearly 40 percent of their clinical time in front of computers, they still miss charges. The further a clinician gets from the site of patient care, the greater the risk for error or omission. A standalone mobile charge capture platform follows the provider to multiple care delivery locations and works from anywhere.
When physicians don’t accurately capture charges, it takes additional staff time to track down the missing information and delays billing. Over half of coding departments spend between 10 percent and 25 percent of their time filling in the documentation gaps, according to Ingenious Med’s research study. The study benchmarked the top-performing organizations, finding that they captured charges within 24 hours, sent bills within one day to three days and had a denial rate less than 3 percent – all while employing fewer coders.
EHRs and mobile charge capture
Health systems and hospitals are under incredible pressures to improve their operating margins, for reasons ranging from shrinking Medicare rates to the shift from inpatient care to outpatient settings.
More than three quarters of healthcare organizations rely partially or entirely on their EHR systems for charge capture. While EHRs can perform basic charge capture, they can be difficult to use, don’t capture complex charges and are not available to physicians on the go.
When applied using best practices, mobile charge capture not only delivers a demonstrable increase in the number of charges captured, but also a more accurate representation of what has actually occurred. An ROI study of 36 Ingenious Med clients found that the mean number of charges per patient increased 7 percent.
Why Ingenious Med?
Ingenious Med tools are used by 70 percent of the largest health systems and physician management groups in the United States. Our mobile charge capture solution optimizes physician productivity and hospital performance, featuring easily implemented point-of-care tools that help healthcare organizations gain more insights from data, simplify workflows and increase revenues. “From a managerial and documentation standpoint, it just makes life easier and helps run a practice,” said Dr. Tim Capstack, partner and director of clinical integration at Adfinitas Health, the Mid-Atlantic’s largest private hospitalist group who has used IM since 2008.
Our charge capture tools deliver an average ROI of 13–15x, with an annual revenue increase of $30,000 per physician. They are HIPAA-compliant, compatible with all EHRs (including Epic and Cerner) and enable hospitals and practices to thrive in both fee-for-service and value-based models.
To learn more about opportunities for optimizing your revenue cycle, contact an Ingenious Med representative at 770.799.0909 or visit ingeniousmed.com/demo.