This year’s webinar was a moderated panel discussion that highlights the importance of effective collaboration and connections between the organization’s Compliance and Revenue Cycle departments. Over 80 professionals joined for the webinar as our experts shared their insights. Our expert panelists, Christine Rawnsley, Vice President of Patient Financial Services, Administration Chief Financial Officer at Lifespan, Donna Schneider, Vice President, Corporate Compliance & Internal Audit, Lifespan Chief Compliance & Privacy Officer, Mary Beth Remorenko, Vice President of Revenue Cycle Operations at Mass General Brigham and Robert Damiano, Vice President of Compliance, Audit & Business Integrity for Mass General Brigham, discussed how they worked together to form valuable and collaborative relationships with each other. The event was moderated by Dhara Satija, HFMA MA-RI Compliance Committee co-chair, Healthcare Consulting Leader at Paul Hastings LLP.
Here are some key takeaways discussed by the panel of experts:
- Many of the current and emerging risks/challenges faced by the healthcare industry present an opportunity for compliance and revenue cycle professionals to build a partnership and promote collaboration to effectively manage compliance risks and financial impacts.
- Organizations should be proactive about identifying potential future risks and determining a mitigation approach to risk and/or business continuity. Some of the emerging areas such as Price Transparency and No Surprise Act will continue to be a huge focus area for the next few years.
- It is important to bridge the gap between Revenue Cycle / Patient Financial Services (“PFS”) and Compliance departments, along with other relevant departments, through increased engagement and collaboration. Some ideas include meet and greets between both teams, regular meetings between the VPs of both departments, focused committees, and agreeing on future commitments.
- In another effort to work more collaboratively and increase communication, Lifespan created several new committees and meetings within the organization in key areas of PFS and Compliance that provided timely appropriate updates on what is going on in each area and what is needed. Some of the committees include: Revenue Cycle Committee, PEPPER workgroup, and No Surprise Billing Committee.
- Mass General Brigham emphasized how collaboration has helped the organization effectively track and manage issues to review at monthly RCO/Compliance meetings. Once issues are identified, a plan is developed for mitigating issues that considers both regulatory/legal requirements and impact to financial services.
- Continued sustained collaboration between Compliance and Revenue Cycle is critical to reducing risk, eliminating rework, improving efficiency, identifying leakage areas, and optimizing revenue integrity.
- Be sure to encourage staff in both the Compliance and Revenue Cycle departments to celebrate the successes of initiatives and work together to mitigate the risks
- A true partnership is enabled by breaking down the silos, encouraging open dialogue and communication, and creating a culture of compliance.
- The HFMA website has great resources listed on the website www.HFMA.org to assist you, such as the updates and guidance.
