RSMUS.comFor healthcare providers, the time between when they provide a patient service and when they receive the payment can be long, complex and uncertain. Known as the revenue cycle, this process requires careful management to ensure that payments are received without delays, denials or disruptions. However, issues such as a complex payer mix, manual processes, disconnected systems, and staffing shortages make the revenue cycle inefficient and costly.
Sage Intacct can be a solution for many organizations who are experiencing these disruptions. By systematically addressing the challenges that make healthcare revenue cycle management difficult, this financial management platform transforms a complex process into a strategic asset.
Common revenue cycle pain points for healthcare organizations
The revenue cycle varies widely depending on the provider and the service, yet the problems that arise are all too common.
Revenue teams must rely on fragmented financial and billing systems, creating a disconnect between the EMR/EHR, the billing system and the general ledger. Spreadsheets are used to fill the gaps, which leads to slow reconciliations and shallow reporting.
Another consequence of disconnected systems is poor visibility. It’s difficult to track key metrics like days in A/R, denials and write-offs, and cash collections by payer or service line. The lack of real-time visibility only makes it more difficult to anticipate problems or diagnose systemic obstacles.
Manual processes drive much of the revenue cycle, relying on a mouse and keyboard to record journal entries, allocations, reconciliations and more. The result is that all of these processes are at higher risk of errors and inefficiencies that lead to extensive corrections and lengthy delays.
When all these issues combine, it leads to a cycle that takes longer than necessary and loses more revenue than acceptable. Just as bad, it undermines audit readiness and jeopardizes compliance, putting the provider at risk of expensive fines and other penalties.
Sage Intacct solves these problems by making the revenue cycle precise, predictable and powerful.
How Sage Intacct supports a more efficient revenue cycle
Sage Intacct provides the comprehensive platform and healthcare-specific toolkit necessary to optimize the revenue cycle—and with it the financial position of any healthcare provider. Take advantage of these key features:
- Centralized financial data: Replace multiple disconnected systems with a single source of truth for all financial data: revenue, accounts receivable, cash, adjustments, and beyond. Sage Intacct also fully integrates with billing and EHR systems to facilitate the seamless flow of data and eliminate the need to move information manually.
- Dimensional accounting for healthcare: Instead of using cumbersome and confusing accounting codes, Sage Intacct uses dimensions to tag transactions with information related to the location, provider, service line, payer or anything else deemed important. Dimensions enable deeper insight into profitability and reimbursement trends through a process that’s faster and easier than what came before.
- Real-time dashboards and reporting: Sage Intacct comes standard with pre-built and configurable dashboards to track days in A/R, cash collections, revenue trends and denials and adjustments, with the ability to quickly and easily create custom reports and dashboards. These tools give revenue teams real-time visibility into the revenue cycle and an on-demand understanding of financial performance.
- Revenue cycle automation: Perhaps most impactful of all are automations for invoicing and cash applications, as well as revenue posting and allocations. Teams save huge amounts of time, prevent errors and omissions, collect revenue faster and accelerate the month-end close, all while being able to apply their attention and energy elsewhere.
The bigger impact of Sage Intacct
Streamlining revenue cycle management is just the start of what Sage Intacct can do.
Built-in audit trails and approval workflows make a provider ready for internal or external audits at all times. And with role-based access controls and support for SOC 1 and SOC 2, everything’s in place to get compliant and stay compliant.
Expediting the month-end close, forecasting cash flow and improving visibility into payer performance give revenue teams the insight to increase revenues and fortify financial performance. The teams have more time to spend on strategic analysis rather than transactional work once manual workflows are eliminated or automated.
More than just a solution to the struggles of revenue cycle management, Sage Intacct can be the key to unlocking the full financial potential of any healthcare provider.
Explore Sage Intacct with RSM
The best way to see how Sage Intacct can improve efficiency, extend visibility, and strengthen financial performance is with the help of a partner with equal expertise in this software and in healthcare accounting and finance. The RSM team has extensive experience on both sides of the equation, and we’ve helped countless providers use Sage Intacct to transform revenue cycle management, turning a billing function into a powerful financial strategy.
Explore how Sage Intacct can support your healthcare revenue cycle. Contact RSM.
Sam Starnes
Sam is an associate in the Sage Intacct Practice and supports Sage Intacct implementations across healthcare and nonprofit organizations. Sam works closely with clients throughout the implementation lifecycle, assisting with requirements documentation, system configuration, testing, training and third-party integrations. He is focused on helping organizations streamline financial processes while building strong, collaborative relationships with project teams and stakeholders.
