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Wellesley, MA — November 3, 2023 — External payer audits quadrupled in volume in 2023, making timely responses more challenging than ever for resource-strapped healthcare organizations. Though patient volumes and surgeries have begun to recover from COVID-19 declines – with a 23% and 27% increase over 2022 – inflation, staffing shortages, reimbursement, and regulatory issues continue to jeopardize the financial health of healthcare organizations nationwide. These were among the key findings of the 2023 MDaudit Annual Benchmark Reportreleased today by MDaudit, an award-winning provider of technologies and analytic tools that enable the nation’s premier healthcare organizations to minimize billing risk and maximize revenues.

With artificial intelligence (AI) infiltrating nearly every aspect of modern life, the once-revolutionary Industry 4.0 concept centered on AI, automation, robotics, and other technological advances has given way to Industry 5.0 and its focus on resilience, sustainability, and societal versus economic value – including the human-centric nature of putting people at the center of the organization.

Instead of shareholder value, Industry 5.0 emphasizes internal and external stakeholder partnerships within an organization. Internally, this reflects workforce diversity and workflows wherein AI, automation, and other digital tools support rather than replace employees. Externally, it emphasizes the organization’s positive impact on society, its ability to serve rather than merely sell, and its capacity to enhance resilience while delivering sustainable outcomes.

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Autonomous coding can help streamline revenue cycle processes and reduce administrative burden, but over half of surveyed healthcare finance leaders are not familiar with it, while others do not fully trust the automated tool.

A survey from the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), commissioned by AGS Health, asked more than 450 healthcare finance professionals about their knowledge of and expectations for autonomous coding.

Among the key benefits of autonomous coding is its ability to eliminate the potential for human errors that result in missed reimbursement opportunities, backlogs, delays, and claims errors, and its ability to push accuracy levels to near-perfect percentages. All of which can be achieved in near real-time with the right integration pipelines. Autonomous coding is also faster than its human counterparts – it can complete charts in seconds – yet it also understands what it does not know, flagging it for human review.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – October 26, 2023 – Autonomous coding enjoys a high level of trust among healthcare finance professionals who use or plan to use the technology, with 45 percent indicating it often works well and 16 percent placing complete trust in it. Yet despite its emergence as a powerful tool for streamlining and improving error-prone manual coding processes, autonomous coding suffers from an awareness problem, with 52 percent saying they do not know what it is.

Those are the findings of a new survey from the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) on behalf of AGS Health, a leading provider of tech-enabled revenue cycle management (RCM) solutions and strategic growth partner to healthcare providers across the U.S. More than 450 healthcare finance professionals were surveyed during the 2023 HFMA Annual Conference on their knowledge of and value expectations for autonomous coding, including 60 percent that use or plan to use autonomous coding.

TAMPA, Fla. – October 23, 2023 – FutureRx® (FRx) today announced the launch of PlexxusAI, a ground-breaking Generative AI-enabled system that helps elevate medication adherence and ensure comprehensive pharmacy care management – addressing critical compliance pain points that are driving down Star ratings among Medicare Advantage Part D (MAPD) and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans. (PDP) PlexxusAI does this by leveraging the power of Generative AI, speech recognition, and mobile technology along with the scalability of the gig economy and on-demand access to thousands of credentialed providers to close gaps and lower costs without additional resource demands and often without the need for human intervention.

Healthcare organizations are in a precarious financial position. With operating margins still hovering near zero, revenues are at heightened risk because of a surge in third-party audits following the expiration of the public health emergency as well as increased scrutiny by federal and commercial payers alike to identify – and recover – billions in improper payments and penalties.

This sharp uptick in audit activity has many healthcare organizations – even those that have already adopted revenue cycle management (RCM) technologies to streamline workflows – struggling to comply with both the volume of incoming documentation requests (ADRs) and the timeframes within which they must reply.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released the ICD-10-CM code updates for the 2024 fiscal year (FY), which became effective on Oct. 1, 2023. The update includes over 433 diagnosis code changes, including 395 code additions, 25 code deletions, and 13 code revisions. This brings us to a total of 78,044 codes in the ICD-10-CM code set for FY 2024.

It is essential for coding professionals and all applicable team members to keep up-to-date with these annual code changes, understand how to apply them and recognize any new documentation requirements.

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TAMPA, Fla. – October 17, 2023 – FutureRx® (FRx) announced today that its innovative FRx cloud-based healthcare platform for health plans and pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) will be implemented by Imperial Health Plan of California, Inc. to enhance medication adherence among its Medicare Advantage population. The health plan will leverage the platform’s Part D Stars module to automate business processes, enhance medication adherence, and improve Part D Star ratings.

Niagara Falls, N.Y. – October 6, 2023 – Harris Data Integrity Solutions, the leading provider of best-in-class patient data integrity services and software, announced today that its vice president of professional services, Rachel Podczervinski, MS, RHIA, will participate in a panel discussion on AHIMA’s newly updated naming policy framework during AHIMA23. The discussion takes place on Oct. 10, 2023, beginning at 2 p.m. ET during the conference, which takes place Oct. 8-10 in Baltimore.

Podczervinski was involved in creating the AHIMA Naming Policy Framework 2023: Enhancing Person Matching with Essential Demographic Data Elements which provides everything health information management (HIM) professionals and healthcare organizations need to know about person matching in health IT. She joins a panel of experts representing provider and vendor organizations to discuss the critical need for standardized naming policies and how the framework addresses the issue.

Niagara Falls, N.Y. – October 5, 2023 – Harris Data Integrity Solutions, the leading provider of best-in-class patient data integrity services and software, announced today that its Director of Professional Services, Megan Pruente, MPH, RHIA, was honored by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) with its Community Service: Mentor Award. Part of AHIMA’s prestigious Triumph Awards, the Mentor Award honors those who have transformed the lives of new and emerging health information professionals and launched them toward new horizons.

“We are so proud of Megan, whose dedication to the HIM profession inspires all of us who are fortunate enough to work with and know her,” said Lora Hefton, Executive Vice President of Harris Data Integrity Solutions. “This recognition by AHIMA is well deserved and is testament to her tireless efforts to advance the next generation of HIM professionals and ensure the future of this profession.”

Recent upturns in operating revenues haven’t shifted hospital finance executives’ laser-focus on revenue growth and retention, part of which is putting a stop to revenue leakage. That includes rooting out what are often unexpected sources as part of a holistic revenue cycle management (RCM) strategy – like inaccurate patient identification and information.

Patient misidentification issues cost the average healthcare facility $17.4 million per year in denied claims and lost revenue and cost the U.S. healthcare system over $6 billion annually. According to the Ponemon Institute, about 35% of denied claims incurred by hospitals each year can be attributed to inaccurate patient identification or inaccurate/incomplete patient information, adversely affecting both cash flow and AR days.

The relationship between payers and providers has been typically viewed as adversarial, with the prices paid to physicians and hospitals being blamed for skyrocketing healthcare costs borne by the insured, while delays and denials by insurers are blamed for falling hospital revenues.

And while the arguments on both sides appear valid, the reality is that these supposed antagonists are closer than they would initially appear when it comes to revenue and payment integrity.

Sydney and Niagara Falls, N.Y. – 9-7-2023 – Hospital Products Australia (HPA), a prominent leader in delivering cutting-edge medical equipment and healthcare solutions, and Harris Data Integrity Solutions, the leading provider of best-in-class patient data integrity services and software, are excited to unveil a groundbreaking collaboration that marks a monumental leap in the realms of healthcare and technology.  Under the partnership, HPA assumes a pivotal role alongside Harris Data Integrity Solutions to tackle the challenge of duplicated patient records within Australia's evolving Electronic Health Records (EHRs) landscape.

Renowned for its unwavering dedication to excellence in providing top-notch medical products and services, HPA stands as a trusted ally for healthcare institutions across the region. This strategic partnership with Harris Data Integrity Solutions not only bolsters HPA’s commitment to excellence but also underscores its active role in incorporating advanced data management strategies that elevate patient care, streamline operations, and empower healthcare professionals with precise and timely information.

Financial clearance activities are critical to constructing a strong foundation for a high-performing revenue cycle. However, a provider organization’s ability to financially secure appointments in advance of a patient’s visit is often limited by a lack of staffing, technology, and operational processes.

These limitations result in initial denials – the average rate of which increased to almost 12% in the first half of 2022 compared to just 10% in 2020 and 9% in 2016 – as well as net revenue leakage via avoidable write-offs and impacts to patient experience scores.