Service Documentation Monthly Journal
Source: The Academy of Healthcare Revenue

Participate in Revenue Cycle Steering Committees to Optimize HIM Processes

The HIM department plays a pivotal, but often behind-the-scenes, role in the revenue cycle at many healthcare organizations.  Since the HIM department is directly affected by the quality of many patient access processes and also directly affects processes in hospitals’ business office, it is essential that HIM leaders engage with their hospitals’ revenue cycle steering committees and task forces in order to ensure that revenue cycle improvement initiatives take into consideration the concerns and needs of the HIM department.  Without strong coordination between all departments affecting the overall performance of the revenue cycle, processes can become inefficient and lead to negative financial repercussions. 

Organizations may have several different committees depending on their size.  For instance, some providers may have a revenue cycle steering committee assigned to assess issues and concerns across multiple revenue cycle departments.  Smaller committees may also be created, such as a discharge-not-final-billed task force whose purpose is to examine accounts being held up and assess process breakdowns occurring between the HIM and PFS departments.  Other committees or task forces can be formed to address issues relating to denials and underpayments, chargemaster review, compliance, physician relations, and more. 

In order for steering committees and task forces to be effective in achieving their ultimate goals, optimizing revenue cycle processes and enhancing facilities’ financial health, leaders from each department must devote necessary time and resources.  HIM leaders should delegate committee and task force assignments to key players in their respective departments.  Leaders should consider including experienced coding staff members in committee meetings, enabling these staff members to gain more insight into other key revenue cycle processes outside of HIM. 

Although forming cross-departmental committees and task forces can be an effective method for identifying process breakdowns and enhancing revenue cycle processes, committees have the potential to run aground due to disorganization and wasted time.  It can be easy for committee members to get off track during discussions and decision-making may be inconsistent.  Therefore, committee meetings must be well organized and all members must have a clear understanding of the committee’s purpose and their assigned responsibilities for ensuring that committee objectives are achieved. 

For example, the following table presents a comparison between a more formalized committee versus an informal committee organization format.1  

Each committee meeting should have a clear agenda set with assigned speakers and reports to be presented to the group.  Ideally, each committee will have an assigned chair to help direct committee priorities and to delegate assignments to members so that committee work is fairly and evenly assigned.  Furthermore, committee discussions should be recorded and meeting minutes published for members to refer to for future reference, while members take key information back to their respective departments. 

Participating on steering committees and task forces can be a great way for HIM leaders, as well as other coding staff members, to ensure prominent issues facing the HIM department are addressed, and to coordinate with other revenue cycle department leaders to identify areas in need of improvement and develop initiatives to optimize revenue cycle performance.

1 Scott Warner, “So You’re on a Committee,” Advance for Health Information Professionals, 12 March 2007.

The Academy of Healthcare Revenue
The Academy of Healthcare Revenue is a membership-based community that provides healthcare leaders with objective research focused specifically on the healthcare revenue cycle. Members receive an unlimited supply of all research--including benchmarking and best practice reports, implementation tools, monthly journals, attendance to virtual conferences, and more--designed to enable them to improve their revenue cycle processes and financial health from within. Furthermore, The Academy's membership offering is tailored to team members throughout the revenue cycle, from executive leadership to patient access, coding, billing and collections, and clinical staff, helping to drive process improvement efforts revenue cycle-wide. Service Documentation Monthly is one of four journals written by The Academy of Healthcare Revenue monthly.

To learn more about the benefits of membership with The Academy of Healthcare Revenue, contact us today.

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