Ending the Year on a Higher Note: 5 ASC Revenue Cycle Tips

The end of the year is fast approaching. Angela Mattioda, senior vice president of RCM Solutions and Client Experience for Surgical Notes, shares the following five revenue cycle tips that can help your ASC finish the year strong and set itself up for success in the new year.

1. Review your accounts receivable (AR). The final quarter of the year often brings increased surgical volumefor ASCs. "While I recommend reviewing AR throughout the year, it is even more important to do so when your volume grows," Mattioda says. "Document current issues that may be inflating your AR, and determine if you can initiate steps to fast-track resolutions."

2. Get your books in order. As you are approaching year's end, cleanup efforts are very important, Mattioda says. These can include reviewing and cleaning up your small balances and credit balances, determining whether your revenue cycle team has taken the appropriate steps for those credit balances, and determining whether those balances can be brought into AR.

3. Give credit balances extra attention. All states have a statute concerning the period when payers can request a refund and try to recoup payment if they believe they overpaid an ASC. Before the end of the year, go through your credit balances and determine whether the statute timeframe has passed for any of them, Mattioda advises. "If it has, bring the balance into revenue. This way, you are going into the new year with only credit balances that are potentially going to be recouped. It's recommended to utilize specific journals codes to track the 'unclaimed overpayments.'"

4. Conduct a patient account review. When performing this review, verify that all patient refunds are current and do a cash push. "Let's say a collections agency charges 30% when an account is referred to them," Mattioda says. "When we do a cash push, we'll usually offer the patient that same discount or maybe a little less to pay off the account in full." This method can help your ASC collect as many patient payments as possible while reducing AR volume before going into the new year. "By the time you get into the new year, you will have a clean or much cleaner patient AR," she adds.

5. Perform bad debt review. Look at your bad debt to determine what is and is not likely to be collectible. If you find that some bad debt is not collectible, get it off the books, Mattioda recommends. "This is yet another step to cleaning your AR."

Use caution when writing off revenue, Mattioda says. "Be sure it's not collectible and understand the reasons why to avoid having the same issues in the next year."

Note: Looking for more guidance and best practices to improve your ASC revenue cycle performance? Request your copy of the Surgical Notes "ASC Revenue Cycle Key Performance Indicators to Monitor" e-book here.