Support a successful healthcare revenue cycle with content on denials management, patient access and patient financial conversations.
Revenue Cycle
Article
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Revenue Cycle
Providing a positive patient experience requires attention at every encounter. With today’s staffing shortages, however, this can be challenging.
Case Study
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Revenue Cycle
Mercyhealth, a health system based in Rockford, Illinois, was prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic to transform its revenue management processes and pivot to an automated approach that would enable leadership to track effectiveness of staff ...
By Kimberly Scaccia, CRCR, and Geneva Schlabach
Article
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Revenue Cycle
Bots and other forms of automation are helping hospitals keep up with the revenue cycle at a time when resources are limited.
By Lisa A. Eramo, MA
Article
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Revenue Cycle
Health system executives say that they were already using automation before the pandemic, and the pandemic led them to speed up the adoption process.
By Lisa A. Eramo, MA
Column
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Revenue Cycle
Hospitals revenue cycles can all too often experience denied claims and delayed payment due to outdated manual processes and workflow inefficiencies. Hospital revenue cycle leaders can address these problems with a sharper strategic focus o...
News
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Revenue Cycle
Twenty-seven organizations received the 2022 MAP Award during the opening general session of HFMA’s Annual Conference.
By Nick Hut
Article
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Revenue Cycle
Hospital pricing and surprise billing remain hot topics, with Senior Editor Nick Hut outlining some recent reports on the subject. And Jonathan Blum, of CMS, describes how the industry is reacting to the agency’s new regulations of price di...
Article
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Revenue Cycle
No Surprises Act implementation continues. Though arbitration cases are expected to be addressed in a slow fashion at first, there may be some related regulatory changes that favor providers, Nick Hut reports.
Article
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Denials Management
In five years’ time, denial claims have shot up 20%. Learn about a decision support and claims management technology platform that stops claims before they get denied.
News
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Medical Debt
A monthly roundup of top news for healthcare finance professionals.
By Nick Hut
Article
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Denials Management
To be able to effectively handle disputes over healthcare claims, providers must be well-informed about the two basic types of alternative dispute resolution that can help them achieve favorable results: arbitration and mediation.
By Lawrence A. Laddaga, JD, FHFMA, and Julia Dandridge
News
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Revenue Cycle
5 takeaways from HFMA’s Revenue Cycle Conference
By Paul Barr
Blog
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Coding
The billing and coding practices of hospitalists may contribute to the rising cost of hospital care in the U.S., according to conclusions of a new study.
By Nick Hut
Column
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Revenue Cycle
HFMA President and CEO Joe Fifer offers perspectives on the revenue cycle workforce shortage.
By Joseph J. Fifer, FHFMA, CPA
Article
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Revenue Cycle
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.
By Paul Barr
News
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Revenue Cycle
Revenue cycle management is the process used by healthcare systems to track the revenue from patients, from their initial appointment or encounter with the healthcare system to their final payment of balance. The most effective revenue cycl...
By Jennifer Williams
Executive Roundtable
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Denials Management
“Several senior financial leaders discuss their organizations’ revenue cycle management (RCM) optimization initiatives, focusing on a variety of strategies, including eligibility checks, denials prevention programs and automation.”
Article
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Revenue Cycle
The pandemic-driven workforce shortage is leading to significant changes in revenue cycle management operations at many hospitals and health systems.
By Lisa Eramo, MA
Article
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Revenue Cycle
Executives for the non-urban focused health system wanted to get all of its hospitals using a single revenue cycle management approach.
By Jason Ross, MBA
Article
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Revenue Cycle
This month's issue leads off with the news that the federal government is taking a look at provider billing in the COVID era through audits by the Office of Inspector General.
Article
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Revenue Cycle
January's issue of Revenue Cycle Insights includes a lot on what's happening with the new surprise billing regulations.
News
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Patient Financial Communications
Providers have had a mere three months to implement the processes needed to comply with a new requirement to provide uninsured patients with good-faith estimates in advance of services.
By Nick Hut
Blog
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Patient Financial Communications
CMS has published templates and resources that can guide healthcare providers in implementing some of the surprise-billing requirements that take effect in January.
By Nick Hut
White Paper
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Revenue Cycle
This paper, published in collaboration with the Beryl Institute, explores how revenue cycle plays an integral role in a person’s experience well before and after a clinical engagement. It reinforces that if we are to ensure the best in expe...
News
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Patient Financial Communications
A newly issued federal rule on surprise billing includes regulations designed to improve price transparency for self-pay patients.
By Nick Hut
Article
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Patient Access
One company uses its patient financing program to address patient access to care and the rising cost of healthcare, two of healthcare’s biggest challenges.
Blog
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Coding
The new set features more than 400 CPT code changes from 2021.
By Nick Hut
News
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Patient Access
Healthcare News of Note for healthcare finance professionals is a roundup of recent news articles: Expectations for convenient access to care in the pandemic era, a look at ICU bed use across the U.S., and the cost of hospitalizations among...
By Deborah Filipek
News
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Revenue Cycle
Three winners of HFMA’s 2021 MAP Award share their innovative and effective strategies to build a strong revenue cycle amid uncertainty.
By Laura Hegwer
Article
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Patient Access
As provider organizations develop sophisticated automated systems, they should also make sure patients always have an opportunity to talk with a real person in the organization, because patients tend to be drawn to organizations where they ...
By Day Egusquiza
How To
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Patient Financial Communications
Creating the ideal patient billing experience not only improves revenue cycle performance, but also boosts patient satisfaction and quality scores.
News
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Revenue Cycle
Presented this year as part of HFMA’s Annual Conference Virtual Preview, the MAP Awards honored organizations that used innovative and effective strategies to achieve excellence in revenue cycle performance in 2020-21.
By Nick Hut
Article
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Financial Counseling
Learn how one company specializes in helping healthcare organizations of all sizes diagnose the root cause of poor revenue cycle performance and then make improvements.
How To
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Revenue Cycle
Health systems can reduce denials by using claims management tools, but their use must be supported by a commitment to ongoing process improvement within the organization.
By Eric Matson
Article
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Bad Debt
One company addresses the challenges of complex rules regulating Medicare bad debt processes and reporting, which makes payment recovery for hospitals difficult.
News
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Charity Care
Healthcare News of Note for healthcare finance professionals is a roundup of recent news articles, including a reduction in charity care in 2020 due to fewer patients, a review of physician burnout and moral injury data, and what early adop...
By Deborah Filipek
Research & Reports
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Denials Management
This HFMA Claim Integrity Task Force report standardizes definitions and categories for claim denials, which creates a common language to use across healthcare providers and plans and is critical to payment collection improvement efforts.
Article
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Revenue Cycle
A new task force is looking to improve the data and KPIs needed to further reduce denials.
By Erika Grotto, CHFP, CRCR
Trend
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Denials Management
Revenue cycle leaders share their perspectives on managing denials during the COVID-10 pandemic, including the need to keep up with new codes and evolving payment guidelines.
By Jeni Williams
Research & Reports
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Self-Payment Collection
See the key takeaways from hospital and health systems’ leaders, who share their perspectives on COVID-19 and its effect on the revenue cycle during the HFMA Digital Annual Conference.
Executive Roundtable
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Patient Access
Learn key takeaways from 15 revenue cycle leaders who shared performance at the HFMA Digital Annual Conference lessons learned around ways to strengthen and sustain revenue cycle.
Case Study
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Patient Financial Communications
Four companies presented 10-minute case studies at the HFMA Digital Annual Conference. Leaders from these organizations share the solutions of the case studies, which drive improved solutions in healthcare revenue cycle.
News
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Denials Management
HFMA’s Claim Integrity Task Force, in collaboration with business partners, set out to scope and define metrics that could be adopted industrywide for benchmarking.
By Chuck Alsdurf
Article
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Revenue Cycle
An initiative that incorporates HFMA’s MAP Keys has significantly reduced vendor management costs, enhanced net revenue and strengthened efficiency and performance among 11 collaborating health systems.
By Jeni Williams
Article
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Patient Financial Communications
Discover how a provider of patient financing company uses a patient-focused approach to ensure each patient receives the same care with their financial obligations as they do with their clinical care.
News
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Patient Financial Communications
HFMA recently updated its industry guidelines on billing dispute resolution practices in response to the financial challenges of the pandemic and public pressure.
By Rich Daly, HFMA Senior Writer and Editor
Blog
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Self-Payment Collection
HFMA's Chad Mulvany says healthcare organizations should ensure their self-pay revenue cycle process follows best practices as it’s likely with more people uninsured there will be increased scrutiny of these processes.
By Chad Mulvany, FHFMA
Trendsetter
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Self-Payment Collection
A forward-thinking bank talks about its accessible patient finance program, which gives patients a way to afford care while ensuring timely payment for healthcare organizations.
Article
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Patient Access
A revenue cycle management company talks about the importance of experience, versatility, and customer service when responding to current and emerging revenue cycle challenges.
Case Study
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Revenue Cycle
Strong change management played a key role in an HFMA MAP Award winner’s revenue cycle transformation.
By Amy Assenmacher, CHFP, FHFMA, and Matthew Cox, CHFP, CPA
Case Study
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Revenue Cycle
Intervention efforts pre- and post-treatment engaged patients at Northwestern Medicine's cancer treatment facilities and helped reduce bad debt by 65% per month from the baseline period to the intervention period.
By Sheetal Kircher, MD
News
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Revenue Cycle
HFMA's Digital Revenue Cycle Conference features 20 presenters during live sessions, the ability to earn CPE credits and time for networking and peer-engagement.
By Deborah Filipek
News
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KPIs
During Day 4 of the Digital Annual Conference, HFMA recognized the 23 winners of the 2020 MAP Awards.
By Nick Hut
News
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Revenue Cycle
Responding to workplace challenges posed by the COVID-19, Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Mich., transformed its work-from-home policy approach into one that worked for all aspects of the revenue cycle — back, middle and front end — while ...
By Eric C. Reese, PhD
Article
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Revenue Cycle
HFMA's Digital Annual Conference continues July 15 and July 17 with sessions to help healthcare finance professionals handle revenue cycle and clinical care challenges amid the pandemic.
By Deborah Filipek, HFMA Senior Editor
News
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Revenue Cycle
HFMA members are putting their work-from-home situations and downtime due to stay-at-home directives to good use: 2,171 members passed HFMA certification exams between March 13 and April 27, 2020.
By Deborah Filipek, HFMA Senior Editor
How To
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Coding
Providers should make sure they fully understand various COVID-19 codes that can enhance payment from CMS and serve as important claims data.
By Emmel Golden, MD, FCCP, CCDS, and Brandy Kline, RHIA, CCS, CDIP
Fact Sheet
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Patient Access
HFMA presents a summary of CMS's final rule on interoperability and patient access to health data.
Article
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Revenue Cycle
Healthcare finance professionals can learn to continue to support their health system’s financial viability and ensure use of consumer-centric strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic at HFMA's Virtual Conference April 30.
By Deborah Filipek, HFMA Senior Editor
Fact Sheet
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Patient Access
Blog
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Financial Counseling
Many of the recently unemployed will qualify for a special enrollment period through the federal or state exchanges if the federal exchange hasn’t reopened.
By Chad Mulvany, FHFMA
Blog
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Medical Debt
HFMA’s Chad Mulvany says 31,000 lawsuits may seem like a lot but adjusted to an annual basis and the population of the study’s geographic area, the actual number is much smaller than one would expect.
By Chad Mulvany, FHFMA
Blog
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Charity Care
Despite tax-exempt hospitals providing $95 billion in total benefits to their communities in 2016 alone, it's anticipated that hospitals' tax-exempt status will see additional scrutiny.
By Chad Mulvany, FHFMA
How To
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Denials Management
Distinguishing coding denials from clinical validation denials is an ongoing challenge, and a good place to review processes.
By Malissa Powers, RHIT, CCS, CDIP, CICA
Article
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Revenue Cycle
Idaho-based St. Luke’s Health System is allowing payers to access patient records directly through their EHR.
By Erika Grotto, CHFP, CRCR
News
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Revenue Cycle
HFMA conference in New Orleans focuses on achieving a consumer-focused revenue cycle.
By Erika Grotto, CHFP, CRCR
Trend
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Revenue Cycle
A portion of the wasteful spending in healthcare can be curbed by automating repetitive tasks.
By Dan Hillman
News
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Revenue Cycle
HFMA’s new Consumerism Maturity Model serves as the blueprint for this year’s Revenue Cycle Conference.
By Erika Grotto
News
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Revenue Cycle
A national consultancy found large disparities in what hospitals charge and in the revenue they garner for most common services.
By Rich Daly, HFMA senior writer and editor
Trend
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Revenue Cycle
The December 2019 issue of Revenue Cycle Strategist features articles on building a chargemaster, new coding changes for 2020, revenue integrity, evaluating and management charges and patient financing.
How To
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Coding
In 2021, major evaluation and management code changes will be implemented for new and established patient office visits.
By Jennifer Swindle
Trend
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Coding
The 2020 ICD-10 updates not as significant as expected but there are new codes for new medical devices and related procedures.
By Kim Felix, RHIA, CCS
Trend
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Charge Capture
A strong revenue integrity program can help revenue cycle departments preserve the margins that further the mission of delivering high-quality healthcare.
How To
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Chargemaster
Revenue integrity requires proper staffing and bring activities to the front end of the revenue cycle.
How To
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Chargemaster
Review, analysis and revision are key components of a successful chargemaster review.
By Caroline DeLaCruz, RHIT, CCS-P, CPC, and Joseph J. Gurrieri, RHIA, CHP
Trend
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Financial Counseling
An overwhelming majority of respondents to a survey patient payment experience say they need more than 12 months to repay their healthcare costs.
Executive Roundtable
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Patient Financial Communications
A roundtable of healthcare revenue cycle leaders examines the pressing need to keep patients at the center of revenue cycle activities to increase yield and patient satisfaction while lowering administrative costs.
How To
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Revenue Cycle
To ensure patient payment plans are working well for an organization, leaders must analyze the true cost of servicing those plans.
By Mark Huebner
News
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Revenue Cycle
HFMA Seminars are among the major healthcare finance events taking place the week of Dec. 2.
By Rich Daly, HFMA senior writer and editor
Blog
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Patient Financial Communications
While the proposed health plan price transparency rule will likely be challenged, if it survives those challenges, it will be far more impactful on health spending than the negotiated charge-posting requirement.
By Chad Mulvany
Trend
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Revenue Cycle
The November 2019 issue of Revenue Cycle Strategist newsletter features articles on patient experience, coding and denials management.
How To
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Denials Management
Root causes for denials should be defined operationally to determine the level of analysis required internally.
By Denise Wilson and Tracey A. Tomak
Trend
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Patient Access
As patients pay more out-of-pocket healthcare costs, financial services influence patient experience, perceptions and actions.
By David Shelton
Trend
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Coding
Many healthcare coders are not just coding; they are evaluating the integrity of the codes and abstracted data associated with each patient.
Research & Reports
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Billing and Collections
Important learnings from a June 2019 HFMA Annual Conference intercept survey about how hospitals and health systems are making strides in proactively collecting patient payments.
Article
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Chargemaster
A leading chargemaster company discusses how its technology helps hospitals operate more transparently, price strategically and confidently run a compliant and efficient revenue operation.
Column
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Medical Debt
HFMA President and CEO Joe Fifer discusses current issues surrounding medical debt.
By Joseph J. Fifer, FHFMA, CPA
Executive Roundtable
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Patient Access
A roundtable of healthcare financial leaders explores strategies for optimizing the revenue cycle to reduce cost-to-collect, limit revenue leakage and meet patient and payer expectations.
News
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Bad Debt
Congressional negotiators are said to be close to a compromise on legislation that aims to end surprise medical bills.
By Rich Daly, HFMA senior writer/editor
Blog
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Billing and Collections
As negative press about patient billing shows no sign of slowing down, hospitals and health systems should re-evaluate the way they engage patients to resolve medical accounts receivable.
By Chad Mulvany
Policies and Practices
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Patient Financial Communications
These measurement criteria are based on the Patient Financial Communications Best Practices.
Policies and Practices
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Patient Financial Communications
This section of the Patient Financial Communications Best Practices addresses communication for all settings.
Policies and Practices
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Patient Financial Communications
This section of the Patient Financial Communications Best Practices addresses communication in advance of service.
Policies and Practices
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Patient Financial Communications
This section of the Patient Financial Communications Best Practices addresses communication at the time of service outside the emergency department.
Policies and Practices
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Patient Financial Communications
This section of the Patient Financial Communications Best Practices addresses communication in the emergency department.
Policies and Practices
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Patient Financial Communications
View frequently asked questions about the Patient Financial Best Practices and the Adopter Recognition Program.
Policies and Practices
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Patient Financial Communications
Show that you've implemented best practices for patient financial communications. Let HFMA recognize your organization as a Patient Financial Communications Adopter.
News
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Revenue Cycle
Register now at hfma.org/seminars to learn about the most pressing issues in the industry today during a two-day focused education Dec. 5 and 6 in Chicago.
By Erika Grotto
Trend
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Billing and Collections
Best practices can help healthcare providers avoid some of the pitfalls of trying to collect on patient debt.
By Nick Hut
Trend
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Revenue Cycle
The October issue of Revenue Cycle Strategist features articles on medical debt, robotic process automation, consumerism, patient experience and denials management.