5 Steps to Ensure Revenue Integrity After Implementing a New EHR

In the rush to implement EHRs for Meaningful Use incentives, many practices lost sight of what matters most for continued success—revenue integrity, says Joette Derricks, healthcare compliance and revenue integrity consultant in Baltimore, MD. Revenue integrity—the idea that practices must take proactive steps to capture and retain revenue—isn’t a novel concept. However, it’s becoming increasingly important for physician practices operating in a regulatory-driven environment, she adds. 

Revenue integrity is also an important part of ensuring smooth cashflow during and after the transition to a new EHR, says Derricks. This is a time when revenue opportunities are easily overlooked as practices adjust to new navigation, templates, and more, she adds. 

Revenue integrity is all about compliance, says Derricks. “It’s about taking a holistic approach to operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, and maximizing reimbursement,” she adds. “It’s about doing things the right way.”

Maximizing reimbursement isn’t about ‘gaming’ the system to upcode. Rather, it’s about implementing processes and procedures to ensure that practices are paid for all of the services they perform without leaving money on the table or generating revenue that payers will later recoup, she explains.

Derricks provides five simple steps practices can take to ensure revenue integrity following an EHR implementation:

1. Review EHR templates

Do templates include the most specific CPT and ICD-10-CM codes? And do physicians understand the importance of avoiding unspecified codes, when possible?

2. Examine the interface between the EHR and practice management system

Do the codes that physicians assign in the EHR feed correctly into the practice management system? For example, when a physician performs an E/M service in addition to a procedure, does the EHR map both codes to the practice management system for billing purposes? Does the practice management system correctly bundle and unbundle services, when appropriate?

3. Run your numbers frequently

Ideally, practices will perform a monthly data analysis to help gauge performance and identify potential missed revenue opportunities, says Derricks. For example, she suggests running a report of the practice’s top 20 billing codes in a particular month. Then, compare those codes with the top 20 codes the practice billed that same month in the previous year. What has changed, and why? And have these changes benefited or hurt the practice? For example, practices may see new codes in that list because they added chronic care or transitional care management, both of which provide additional revenue. Or practices may discover a system glitch that incorrectly bundled services that are separately payable, thus causing a revenue loss.

“Everybody can play the ‘I’m too busy’ game, but this is too important to fall into that trap,” says Derricks. “I applaud the office manager or practice administrator who recognizes the value of constantly being on the lookout for system-wide improvements and analyzing their own numbers.”

Some practice management systems provide robust billing analytics that can help practices identify the root cause of billing errors and omissions. Working with a consultant is another option, says Derricks. Consultants provide unbiased input regarding inefficiencies and vulnerabilities and can provide a ‘fresh set of eyes’ necessary to effect change. They also often have access to benchmarking tools and other resources that can help practices identify revenue gaps and delays, she adds.

For example, Derricks suggests performing an assessment for revenue gaps and roadblocks to reduce the workflow process errors that delay revenue.

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Revenue Roadblocks Assessment

4. Provide physician training

Physicians need thorough training on how to use the EHR properly so as to avoid data omissions, says Derricks. They also need annual training on new CPT and ICD-10-CM codes as well as new documentation requirements, she adds. 

5. Create an environment that promotes compliance

This requires a top-down approach from physicians and practice managers, says Derricks. “Everyone should have their eyes open and feel comfortable being able to address concerns. It should be an open-door policy in terms of looking at processes versus putting your head down.”

First published on emrandhipaa.com.