It seems that 2015 will go down in the history books as the year of radical healthcare changes. Many believe, 2015 will be particularly remembered for the great uncertainties it brought for physicians. This is because they were crippled by different reimbursement challenges that had an impact on their income at various levels. And in fact as per a recent report, this year offered very few income opportunities for healthcare delivery professionals, pushing them to work harder in order to get paid on time.
With this in mind let us take a look at some of the challenges that made physicians’ grasp for air this year:
1. Complex ICD-10 Implementation
The complex ICD-10 implementations have simply caused more harm than good with regards to returns for physicians. This is because their out of the pocket expenditure has increased by multiple folds with the extra training requirements for handling new medical billing system.
In fact as per a physician’s survey conducted last year, more than half of the respondents have confessed that the new coding system would significantly add to their managerial and auxiliary costs, thus affecting their overall returns. Whereas, 38% have revealed that ICD-10 would ultimately lead them towards more penalties and liabilities.
2. Mandatory EHR Transition
As per a recent report, the annual cost of maintaining an EHR system is roughly around $9600. And these are auxiliary costs that are in addition to the productivity losses many healthcare delivery professionals claim to be confronting today.
A Medical Economics survey revealed that a staggering 70% of physicians are not happy with the mandatory EHR implementation. As per the reports, an overwhelming majority of the physicians believe that EHR is too expensive to prove helpful to their business and that they would rather prefer the traditional system of filing; particularly in the light of the fact that they are facing numerous accuracy and productivity issues with the new system.
3. Stringent ACA Requirements
The transition from fee-based reimbursement model to today’s value-based payment model continues to pose threat to a large portion of medical practitioners and many even risk not getting remunerated for their services in due time. If reports are to be believed nearly 49% of doctors in the country are facing steep cuts in their overall returns, thanks largely due to the stringent ACA requirements.
The Way Out:
In case you are a victim of the above challenges and have been experiencing a substantial dip in your overall returns, then maybe it is time for you to outsource your revenue management services. This move will help you make accurate claims and secure timely reimbursements.
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