David Matyas, a Member of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences Practice in the Washington, DC office, was quoted on how artificial divisions between revenue and compliance departments that can hamper the effectiveness of hospital operations.
The article, "Cooperation Is Needed Between Compliance and Revenue Cycle Departments," quoted remarks Matyas made during a recent Health Care Compliance Association audio conference. Though both revenue and compliance have their roles in an organization, there is "maximum impact and benefit" if compliance and revenue cycle work together, he said.
Issues where compliance and revenue cycles intersect include balance billing, EMTALA, MS-DRGs, hospital-acquired conditions, patient identity/medical identity theft and HIPAA. They have in common front-end processes that can be improved to reduce risks of regulatory violations and revenue losses. Patient identity theft, for example, is becoming a big issue, noted Matyas. It can "impact care provided to a patient."