Healthcare Reimbursement: How Modern Healthcare Technologies Help Boost Care Payments

The healthcare sector is a service-providing industry, where patients are at the epicenter. However, the revenue cycle forms an essential component of healthcare, where many providers struggle. Effective medical billing and reimbursement systems demand that healthcare leaders communicate well and work together to manage the revenue cycle. A poor reimbursement system can lead to loss of revenue, and this is the last thing any healthcare provider would want. When it comes to healthcare reimbursement technology, medical professionals are faced with a growing entanglement of government regulation and payer policies.

Digital and technological revolutions in healthcare have transformed healthcare reimbursement systems. Manual health insurance reimbursement is now automated, which reduces labor costs and avoids claim denials. Healthcare technology is much needed today to prevent errors in health equity reimbursement and promote better revenue generation.

How do Healthcare Reimbursement Plans Work?

Healthcare reimbursement plans vary in functionality, with some being formal arrangements subject to ERISA. On the other hand, others are informal health benefits. Formal reimbursement plan documents comply with federal regulations and include eligibility guidance, approval processes, payment distribution, and dispute resolution procedures. 

Health reimbursement software solutions are beneficial for organizations of all sizes as they allow employees to select their preferred health insurance plan. Group health plans may not provide access to preferred healthcare providers or systems because they might be out of network. Employees can choose individual health insurance claim reimbursement policies, including out-of-pocket expenses, providing more flexibility than other health benefits.

Top Challenges in Healthcare Reimbursement

1. Increasing Claim Denials

A survey revealed that 5-15% of health professionals report increased claims denials, with a third being denied by payers 10-15%. This results in billions of dollars in lost reimbursements. Internal challenges include a lack of resources, staff shortages, and growing backlogs. Without prevention strategies and addressing the root cause, providers face continuous challenges. The right tools, such as artificial intelligence and natural language processing, can help identify and fix these issues. Implementing these tools can help improve documentation and workflow optimization.

2. Low Collections Recovery Rates

The rising high-deductible health insurance coverage is causing patients to take on larger payments for care, with out-of-pocket healthcare costs expected to reach $491.6 billion by 2025. However, most patients struggle to pay their portion, with the average American household having $5,000 in medical debt. To overcome this reimbursement issue, providers should offer flexible payment options, transparent pricing, streamlined billing and payment processes, effective communication, and prompt patient follow-up.

3. Payer Underpayments

Underpayments and missed payments can strain providers’ revenue cycles, often due to payer contract issues. To address these issues, providers should analyze current contracts, review fee schedules, payment methodologies, and reimbursement rates, and identify areas of underpayment. If payment contracts are low, providers should negotiate with payers to improve terms and increase reimbursement rates.

4. Changes in Medical Codes

Medical and procedure coding is a complex process, but it’s crucial to stay updated to avoid claim denials. Key changes include new coding for remote cognitive behavior therapy monitoring, prolonged services, merging observation coding with inpatient, and a taxonomy-based appendix for AI applications. Providers must stay updated to prevent reimbursement denials or delays.

How to Improve Reimbursement Outcomes?

Providers can improve reimbursement outcomes in multiple ways. 

• Healthcare providers should stay informed about policy and industry changes.
• Organizations can use technology to optimize claim submission processes and establish reliable coding and billing procedures. 
• These reimbursement outcomes are also achieved through billing code search tools, direct communication with insurance companies, and training personnel overseeing patient billing.
• Re-negotiating reimbursement rates with insurance companies ensures appropriate compensation for services provided. 
• Staying informed about industry changes, value-based services, and patient-centered care can help physicians position themselves for successful reimbursement. 
• Investing in new technology streamlines administrative tasks, including document management, claim submission, and reimbursement follow-up.
• A thorough understanding of the compensation process is also crucial for successful healthcare reimbursement services. 
• Medical professionals can work with third-party outsourced entities to screen and standardize claims before processing. 
• By taking active steps to submit accurate claims, physicians can mitigate most challenges associated with insurance reimbursements.

Top Healthcare Technologies for Improving Reimbursement

Claims processing in reimbursement systems can speed up the medical billing process and the entire revenue cycle. These five technologies can help healthcare providers with healthcare insurance and reimbursement.

1. Healthcare Automation

Automating a reimbursement system in healthcare tracks and captures revenues associated with delivering services to patients. The revenue cycle consists of many areas, such as patient pre-registration, eligibility verification, clinical visits, claim coding, medical billing, denials management, and payment collections. Each of these processes includes tasks usually manually conducted by administrative staff, which can slow down the entire cycle. Healthcare automation fastens the entire billing cycle and can be applied even for integrated care services. Automation in healthcare begins when patients leave a clinic or hospital. Reimbursement in healthcare from insurance companies is dependent on the efficiency of billing automation.

2. Integration of Electronic Health Records with Clearing Houses

The introduction of digital technology in the reimbursement system in healthcare is a blessing when managing electronic health records. Healthcare reimbursement insurance models eliminate paperwork and loss of patient medical records. Electronic health records make it easier for clearinghouses to electronic exchange data and process the healthcare reimbursement system. Patient records can be accessed from anywhere and result in better health outcomes. EHRs integrated with clearinghouses can enable the smooth functioning of the billing and administrative departments. The billing department won’t have to stop working on one program and open another to find the specific data, and there is no need to enter data manually and repeatedly. It also increases the efficacy of a reimbursement system in healthcare to increase revenue. Due to EHRs, patient data is quickly accessible, making it easier for practice management software to obtain claims and submit them to the payers.

3. RCM in Medical billing  

Healthcare practices need to integrate revenue cycle management for reimbursement systems in healthcare to make sure they receive the payment for the care delivered. Managing denials, increasing collections, and resubmitting claims are accomplished by RCM in medical billing. However, to make the most out of a healthcare reimbursement plan, the RCM strategy must track key billing metrics and follow best practices for revenue success. Medical billing key performance indicators (KPIs) help healthcare practices keep track of financial health with healthcare payment reimbursement solutions. It is essential to identify the KPIs with healthcare reimbursement and payment systems to understand the financial performance, recognize any problem areas, determine healthcare revenue fluctuations, and implement population health management.  

4. Online Patient Portal

Medical billing reimbursement solutions can be enhanced with online patient portals that allow patients to access their accounts and make payments easily. Patients can pay bills online through patient portals, and physicians can track the payments. This decreases delays in a health care payment system. Online patient portals also improve patient-provider communication and increase patient satisfaction. When it comes to payment and billing, it saves time and improves the efficiency of value-based reimbursement models in healthcare. Value-based reimbursement through online patient portals is convenient and secure. If healthcare providers can encourage patients to use portals, they are likely to return for your services. Online patient portals support faster payments through a secure gateway. These portals can save both your time and money by automating administrative tasks.  

5. Real-time Claims Processing

Real-time claims processing is one of the reimbursement challenges in healthcare. Technology has made it possible to process claims in real-time and speed up eligibility checking. It is essential to know if or not a patient’s insurance covers a particular process in the treatment. This knowledge is crucial for reimbursement systems in healthcare. Advanced value-based models in healthcare make it possible to perform real-time claims processing. Real-time claims processing with a reimbursement system in healthcare reforms how healthcare claims are submitted, remitted, and paid to improve the billing cycle’s efficacy. Healthcare staff no longer need to go through tons of paperwork and wait for long durations to process claims.

6. Blockchain Technology

Smart contracts are blockchain-based programs that automatically execute agreements when predetermined conditions are met, ensuring immediate certainty for all participants without intermediaries or time loss. This is particularly useful in healthcare claims processing systems, where multiple parties execute numerous verifications and validations at different stages. Blockchain smart contracts can automatically validate and execute important terms and conditions without human intervention, thereby boosting efficiency by eliminating unnecessary time spent on manual tasks. This time-saving feature of blockchain smart contracts significantly improves the efficiency of the healthcare claims processing system.

7. Internet of Things

IoT, or Internet of Things, refers to physical objects with sensors, processing capabilities, and software that connect and exchange data over the Internet. Healthcare claims processing can leverage this network of intelligent devices, such as smartphones, smartwatches, home assistants, and manufacturing centers to expedite claim registration. This in turn will reduce stress for patients and their relatives, and streamline the caregiving process.

Role of AI in Healthcare Reimbursement

AI technology is expected to revolutionize custom healthcare reimbursement processes in the coming years. Predictive analytics will play a crucial role in forecasting patient care costs and payer behavior, enabling healthcare providers to manage resources more effectively. AI tools will also enhance patient engagement, personalizing communication and strategies to ensure compliance with care plans, reducing financial risks, and improving health outcomes. Blockchain integration with AI will enhance data security and transparency, ensuring compliance and audit trails in healthcare reimbursement solutions.

Overview of Medicare Value-Based Care Programs

The most dramatic shift in the healthcare reimbursement model is the transition towards value-based care. Value-based care sees quality over quantity. It also helps providers reduce the emergence of hospital-acquired infections and readmissions post-surgery.

Some of these Medicare value-based care programs include- 

• Hospital Readmission Reduction Program: This program incentivizes hospitals if they reduce readmissions and HAIs.   
• Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program: This program measures and scores hospitals on improving patient experience, reducing hospital errors, and implementing evidence-based care.   
• End-Stage Renal Disease Quality Incentive Program: This program is specifically for dialysis providers. It scores them and reduces their payment if quality requirements aren’t met.   
• Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing Program: This program is specific to nursing and nurse-based facilities. It rewards facilities that meet the CMS quality requirements.   
• Merit-Based Incentive Payment System: Under this program, CMS rewards physicians with a bonus for quality improvement and cost. And for poor performance, they’re penalized.

Key Trends in Healthcare Payment Systems

1. Prioritize Paperless Billing  

Paper bills will soon be outdated. As per a recent healthcare payment solutions survey, nearly 70% of consumers receive their medical bills via mail, but only 9% prefer to pay them by paper check. Almost 91% of them wanted electronic payment methods. Delivering patient bills electronically saves time and money compared to sending numerous bills before receiving payment.

Many industries employ and accept paperless billing, often known as electronic statements or eStatements. Although many medical practices provide eStatements as a billing option, adoption still needs to be improved. Making eStatements, the preferred or default billing option can encourage its adoption. Encouraging patients to sign up for eStatements by sending them via email or text message, even before appointments, will enable you to avoid mailing them a bill.

2. Contactless Registration and Payment Process  

Today’s consumers want to feel self-sufficient. And digital tools are the only way to make them feel that, and this includes healthcare reimbursements as well. However, there is a huge gap between provider and consumer attitudes toward digital options. A recent report highlighted this quite well. According to this report, nearly 40% of providers think billing and collection have zero impact on patient experience. On the contrary, 49% of consumers said they would prefer a provider who can provide a seamless payment experience.   

With digital health tools, this scenario can improve drastically. Encouraging providers to ensure registration and payment process via online channels can boost patient experience and attract more consumers. Providers must choose an IT vendor with a track record of introducing cutting-edge payment technology and be aware of the inherent complexity of the payments and healthcare industries.  

3. Optimization of Revenue Cycle  

Optimizing the revenue cycle from time to time can ensure that funds are available when required. The current trending way to optimize the revenue cycle is to adopt electronic registration and payment methods and offer diverse payment plans. These can generate revenue as per the point of service and even minimize the AR cycle.   

Another crucial factor is how quickly healthcare groups can access their funds. Funds received by an organization the same day or the following business day can be managed more effectively and provide real-time visibility into cash positions. Healthcare managers should assess their company’s revenue cycle to find strategies to increase cash flow and boost employee productivity.  

4. Payment Plans 

Medical costs can be overwhelming, and they will continue to be. According to a report, nearly 75% of people with health insurance worry about the financial hardship of their medical bills, and many others delay the care until they’ve money. Offering payment plans may remove this concern and allow people to pay over time. Payment plans provide visibility into future cash flows and some level of assurance regarding whose amounts will be paid. And this could be why more practices are presenting this choice.  

5. Strict vigilance on Security Risks

The Office of Civil Rights report reported over 700 healthcare breaches of more than 500 records. And that resulted in maligning the privacy and security of over 50 million patient records. With many potential entry points across software systems and valuable personal information that can be used to construct new identities, the healthcare industry remains a desirable target for cybercriminals.   

Millions of dollars in real and brand costs are lost due to a cyberattack. Medical practices must search for third-party service providers with certifications from compliance and payments security groups and healthcare standards organizations. 

6. Researching Healthcare Costs

Patients are now actively participating in researching costs and demanding price transparency. Several patients access the online pricing information from their hospitals or healthcare settings. This trend is fueled by the easier accessibility of information available online. This allows the patients to compare prices and make informed decisions about their expenses. Patients want to know their estimated costs of procedures, treatments, and medications in advance to seek out the most affordable options. By offering multiple payment options and providing price transparency, healthcare organizations empower patients to make the right decision after considering all the factors.

Conclusion  

Healthcare technology has transitioned many processes, including medical billing and payment processing. The integration of modern healthcare technology has led to significant improvements in healthcare reimbursement outcomes. Healthcare reimbursement forms a major component of care service delivery, and interoperable technological systems simplify this. The reimbursement system in healthcare manages claims quickly and without errors. From leveraging healthcare automation and artificial Intelligence to blockchain technology, these advancements help streamline operations, minimize errors, and improve patient satisfaction and engagement.  Additionally, as value-based care gains traction, healthcare professionals are now better equipped to meet industry standards and deliver the desired results.  OSP can help you choose the right healthcare technologies and create custom solutions as per your requirements.