As health care organizations aim to tighten their business processes to drive revenue and increase cash flow, specialty practices sometimes find themselves behind the curve, unsure of where to begin to improve performance. Part of the reason is there are some common misconceptions about the revenue cycle and the best ways to optimize it.

Many specialty providers wrestle with denials. For example, ophthalmology practices have one of the highest denial rates—weighing in at nearly 13 percent. If left unaddressed, denials can translate to significant money, and the financial fallout for a practice can be severe. As mentioned in a previous blog, providers should consider creating a denials prevention program as a sound strategy for improving revenue cycle performance. Here are three elements to keep in mind when designing such a program.

Re-tooling your revenue cycle to make it more efficient can go a long way in improving your specialty practices’ financial performance. As mentioned in the previous blog, a key area of opportunity is patient collections. The growth in high-deductible health plans is pushing patients to pay more out-of-pocket for their health care. In response, practices should be implementing processes and various technology to consistently collect these payments. Otherwise, money will be left on the table. Here are three strategies for improving the patient collections process.

There are numerous external factors that can impact a specialty practice’s ability to remain financially strong—shrinking payer reimbursements, evolving regulatory requirements and the exploding number of high deductible health plans, just to name a few. A key to navigating these evolving dynamics is a high-performing revenue cycle—one that is not only efficient but also effective at capturing all the revenue that a practice has earned.

A solid reputation is a key part of any sound marketing strategy. Favorable impressions and positive word of mouth can go a long way in attracting new patients and driving referrals—particularly for specialty practices. One method for boosting a practice’s reputation is to cultivate happy patients. Engaging in your patients’ care, along with positive clinical and financial experiences, they are more likely to return and even share opinions with friends and family.

Conference optimizes use of health care technology built by Nextech and powered by specialty providers

For years, dermatologists, like all physicians, have been hammered with mandates, such as meaningful use and now value-based care. Trying to keep up with the constantly changing regulations may at times seem like a distraction away from the patients for which these policies were intended to benefit.

Everyone has some ideal of freedom in their life—liberation from restrictions, stress, work, hardships, barriers, financial burdens, etc.—and what that might feel or look like. For most, it’s a deep sigh of relief, a greater lightness of being or a better way of living. Freedom is at the heart of most New Year’s resolutions. There is some desire to free ourselves from one way of life and attain another, whether, for instance, it’s to get in better shape, spend more time with family, build better relationships, create more adventure, travel or produce more income.