Ambulatory surgery centers face ongoing challenges to maintaining an efficient revenue cycle — from staffing shortages and variable caseload volumes to healthcare coverage changes and payment delays. The COVID-19 pandemic has only added to these difficulties, as a large percentage of elective and non-emergent procedures were canceled or delayed in the last year.
Anesthesia is an important element of patient care, and it can either help or hinder an ASC’s financial stability. Here are three important ways that anesthesia departments can contribute to an efficient revenue cycle.
Minimize Canceled Cases
Anesthesia scheduling is one of the most persistent pain points in ASCs. If your center is experiencing frequent anesthesia cancellations or rescheduled cases, your revenue cycle likely suffers negative consequences, including long backlogs, wasted staff time, and decreased patient satisfaction.
Decrease cancellations by working with an anesthesia management company that specializes in staffing and can provide reliable and flexible staffing coverage tailored to your needs. Anesthesia providers who can adjust to your surgery schedules, even at the last minute, allow you to grow your case volume and improve your cash flow.
Create Patient-Centric Billing Practices
When the billing process for a surgical procedure is unclear, it can lead to patient confusion and late payments, slowing your center’s revenue cycle. Anesthesia billing is often especially difficult for patients to understand.
To minimize miscommunications and improve transparency, incorporate a patient education component in your billing system. Provide information that answers patients’ frequently asked questions before a procedure, and make billing experts available for fielding further concerns. A patient-centric process of anesthesia billing will lead to higher revenue and patient satisfaction scores for your center.
Professionalize Anesthesia Management
Working with a professional anesthesia management partner helps your center eliminate common revenue cycle problems and achieve greater operational and financial efficiency. When you solve staffing problems, increase daily caseloads, boost patient satisfaction, and accelerate billing and collections, you will see measurable improvements to your center’s bottom line.
Learn how CarePlus’ expert anesthesia services can help your ASC.