About Revenue Cycle Management

Revenue cycle management, also known as RCM, involves the steps taken to bill clients and their insurers. In the behavioral health and medical industry, providers must follow a specific procedure to charge payments. When completing this process, they have to comply with every relevant regulation. In this blog post, we’ll explain the revenue cycle and the benefits of outsourcing behavioral health/medical billing.

What Is Revenue Cycle Management?
In revenue cycle management, a provider or company uses behavioral health/medical billing software to record and process payments. RCM covers the entire revenue cycle, which includes the following steps:

• Charge Capture: Converting a provider service into a billable charge

• Claim Submission: Sending a claim to a health insurance company

• Coding: Assigning an ICD code to each diagnosis and service

• Collections: Calculating the total bill and receiving the client’s payment

• Preregistration: Collecting the client’s insurance and payment information before their appointment

• Registration: Obtaining further client information to assign them a medical record number

• Remittance Processing: Posting or rejecting the client’s payment

• Third-Party Follow-Up: Collecting payments from third-party insurance providers

• Utilization Review: Reviewing the use of behavioral health/medical facilities and services in relation to their costs

Benefits of Outsourcing Revenue Cycle Management
As you can see, RCM involves many functions that need expert management to do correctly. If you make a mistake early on in the cycle, it can carry on to the next steps. Small medical and behavioral health practices often don’t have the resources to handle this process. In some cases, even larger providers can’t take on the work effectively.

That’s where outsourced billing services come in. They help healthcare providers by:

• Increasing Profits: RCM professionals understand how to enhance your billing efficiency. They also save you the costs associated with RCM training.

• Improving Security: A good RCM provider will offer full transparency about their process. They will also take every measure necessary to keep your clients’ personal information safe.

• Enhancing Customer Service: With someone else focusing on the complicated task of RCM, your staff can use more resources to serve clients. They have the extra time and energy to offer them premium care.