Paul Barr, MS, MBA
About the Author
Paul Barr, MS, MBA
Latest Work
Moody’s sees potential positive RCM impact from AI
Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service has joined other industry players in identifying ways artificial intelligence can create efficiencies in revenue cycle management. The growing use of the technology potentially could bring accounts receivable balances down and minimize write-offs of past-due balances, according to the three authors of a report published in the company’s “Healthcare Quarterly”…
A crisis of faith regarding value-based care
As the movement to reduce or eliminate fee-for-service payment in favor of value-based payment plods along, some in the industry are voicing doubts that it is ever going to happen or that it is even necessary. An HFMA survey conducted in February and March for the “Healthcare 2030” series of special reports finds some of…
Annual Conference: Keynote speaker Thomas Fisher tells a disturbing story about denial of care
Thomas Fisher, MD, MPH, author and emergency room physician for University of Chicago Medicine, might have made some members of the audience uncomfortable Tuesday at HFMA’s Annual Conference as he described a scenario that reflects poorly on at least one hospital. The situation boiled down to this: A man with a broken jaw and without…
Annual Conference: Joe Fifer says goodbye
In the 11 years that Joseph J. Fifer led HFMA, he successfully guided the Association through some difficult events. The COVID-19 pandemic, the social unrest related to racial issues and enduring political divisiveness were among the challenges experienced by HFMA under his watch. But Fifer never gave up on promoting the benefits of personal connections…
Annual Conference: HFMA MAP Award winners for High Performance in Revenue Cycle unveiled
At a time when healthcare executives must balance intensely competing priorities, 15 healthcare organizations have shown they can address revenue and patient engagement challenges successfully and, as a result, have earned a 2023 HFMA MAP Award for High Performance in Revenue Cycle. This year’s group of winners, announced June 25 in Nashville at the HFMA…
How the CEO of Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. aims to upend the PBM model
W hen Alexander Oshmyansky, MD, PhD, pitched the idea of a not-for-profit drug company that would undercut drugmakers’ excessively priced pharmaceuticals, he was soundly rejected by potential backers, attracting no outside money. But on the advice to try to create a for-profit company instead, and with the later backing of Mark Cuban, things started to happen.…
Revenue Cycle Insights newsletter: Medicare outpatient payment bump less than first appears
On the surface, CMS is granting Medicare outpatient care a 3.8% payment increase, but a variety of negative adjustments that will vary by provider are going to cut into the net gain. Senior Editor Nick Hut breaks it all down. Also, Vanderbilt Health is reaping gains from its earlier adoption of automation technology in revenue…
Staff, patients, benchmarks have the attention of rev cycle leaders
5 takeaways from HFMA’s Revenue Cycle Conference
Revenue Cycle Insights: March 2022
Workforce shortages are affecting revenue cycle functions, and you can learn how executives from Spectrum Health and Stanford Health Care are limiting the damage in the lead story of March's Revenue Cycle Insights.
Annual Conference Day 2: Culture of healthcare slows needed change, says keynoter Robert Pearl, MD
Recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of healthcare’s culture is key to implementing needed industry changes, according to Robert Pearl, MD, former CEO of Permanente Medical Group.