Is Cash Flow a Problem? It Might be Time to Enlist an Outpatient Therapy RCM

When you’re managing a business, sufficient cash flow is needed to pay bills and employees, and run daily operations. The concept is simple—yet easier said than done. According to a U.S. Bank study, 82% of business failures are due to poor cash management.

For outpatient therapy practices, having a consistent flow of cash can be challenging  given the complexities of managing billing with an entire ecosystem of patients, physicians and insurance companies. Staying on top of regulations, coding changes and insurance requirements is time-consuming and requires therapy billing expertise.

Instead of managing billing in-house, many practices have turned to outsourced RCM services to help evaluate their billing process and take their revenue cycle to the next level. This has the added benefit of freeing staff to focus on patient care, instead of managing all the administration and staffing associated with in-house billing.

RCM case study: Montana practice

Take, for example, a Montana-based multi-provider practice that was grappling with cash-flow issues thanks to delayed claims and non-payment of Medicaid claims. To get control over billing, they outsourced their RCM function to Optima RCM for Therapy. Optima’s RCM team quickly pinpointed the issues and got their billing back on track. With the ability to focus on business growth, the practice was able to open a second location. Key results included:

Accelerated claims: Claim submissions went from two weeks on average to 1.5 days.

Improved collections: 80% of outstanding claims were paid within 90 days.

Medicaid resolution: 100% of Medicaid claims were reprocessed and paid, recovering thousands of dollars.

This type of billing transformation is not uncommon. When considering an RCM service, make sure there are experienced therapy billing experts on staff who understand the unique regulatory, payer and billing requirements of outpatient therapy. They should be well equipped to handle every part of the billing cycle—from patient collections to claims submissions to payment processing and more.

Key outpatient therapy RCM resources:

• Tip sheet: Should You Outsource Your Therapy Billing?
• Tip sheet: 5 Revenue Metrics Your Outpatient Therapy Practice Should Be Hitting ‘Out of the Park’
• Overview of Optima RCM for Thearpy