CareMedic Systems

Milestone n. An important event, as in a person’s career, the progress of a project, or the advancement of knowledge in a field; a turning point.

Few people would disagree that today’s healthcare revenue cycle is extremely complex. In many cases, the complexity of the reimbursement process has outstripped the ability of legacy billing systems to accurately report the exact status of patient accounts as they move through the revenue cycle. While virtually every billing system can report the number of accounts and dollars by age and financial class, maximizing effectiveness and efficiency in cash collection requires far more sophisticated capabilities.

Milestones, or user-defined stages of the revenue cycle, exist in some form in every organization, regardless of how they are identified or monitored. Standardizing and maximizing the usefulness of each milestone can actually increase the effectiveness of cash collections. CareMedic’s eFR builds on the foundation of revenue cycle milestones so users can pinpoint the exact status of each account as it progresses through the revenue cycle. By reviewing claim data at each milestone, the patient accounting department can identify the exact number of dollars at each stage of the cycle to optimize cash collections. We’ve defined standard milestones based on our experience with successful clients.

The advantage of milestone reporting is that it allows hospital and physician office management to assess revenue cycle status at a glance. Ballooning balances at a specific milestone pinpoint a potential problem. Managers can identify bottlenecks and broken processes, trace them to their root causes, and control outcomes. Instant reporting empowers you to monitor the status of your revenue cycle in real time.

We understand that you will need detailed information about accounts that are tied up at a certain milestone in order to improve outcomes. Our system allows you to drill down through six layers of detail—right now. You’ll be able to see who, what, where, when, why and how the account has evolved.

• We break down the Aged Trial Balance report into milestones to show you exactly how much A/R resides in each stage of the revenue cycle at any given time. We also provide the ability to drill down into the details of the transactions assigned to each milestone.
• In our work list report, you can view an event history for each claim that details its progression through each milestone in your system. Every event related to a claim is reflected permanently in the event history, including any amounts applied or adjusted.

Using consistent milestones is a fundamental component of CareMedic’s best practices implementation model. Using what we’ve learned, we’ll help you build on a logical foundation to develop the most efficient and effective solution for your organization, so you can increase collections and decrease costs.

For more information about how CareMedic products can help you, please contact us by completing our information request form.