Accelerate Charge Capture Improvement with Health Catalyst VitalIntegrity™

August 25, 2021

Article Summary


Health systems leave millions of unrealized dollars on the table due to suboptimal charge capture processes that lead to compliance issues and charge capture leakage. To survive on diminishing operating margins and maximize revenue for services rendered, organizations can turn to the Health Catalyst VitalIntegrity™ application. VitalIntegrity is a comprehensive charge capture solution that empowers health systems to take control of their financial future with insight into compliance issues, under- or over-charging, late or missing coding, and any other charge master-related issues. With detailed data into charge capture performance, health systems can increase earned revenue by remediating problems at their root cause and proactively eliminating threats to the revenue cycle.

Healthcare organizations lose as much as one percent of net charges due to charge capture leakage, resulting in millions of unrealized dollars and missed revenue opportunities. As financial leaders consider new ways to survive on already-thin operating margins, they still rely on manual processes and poorly integrated workflows resulting in substandard revenue cycle results.

Instead, financial leaders can now turn to the Health Catalyst VitalIntegrity™ application to help them navigate the complexities of the revenue cycle. With access to granular data, flexible reporting tools, and tailored workflows, organizations can quickly identify daily threats to charge capture and remediate those issues at their root cause.

Suboptimal Charge Capture Performance Erodes Revenue

Regulatory issues and shifting reimbursement regulations threaten revenue cycle performance, making it difficult to capture revenue. Cumbersome manual processes, a lack of integrated workflows, and disparate IT systems are also common hurdles to effective charge capture.

Unfortunately, health systems often respond to these common revenue cycle pain points after it’s too late—the revenue is already lost, and the health system lacks detailed data to understand the root cause of the problem. This reactive approach and a lack of specific data results in missed charges, errors in coding, and under- or over-charges, leaving a portion of net revenue on the table. The revenue cycle performance also has downstream implications, negatively impacting budgeting and utilization, patient satisfaction, and compliance.

Decrease Denials and Increase Earnings with the Health Catalyst VitalIntegrity™ Application

Revenue cycle leaders can take control of their financial future and effectively respond to common charge capture obstacles with VitalIntegrity. This comprehensive charge capture solution efficiently manages hospital charge capture processes, detects compliance issues, and leads to more earned revenue. With its root cause analysis feature, VitalIntegrity empowers finance teams to minimize revenue leakage from under-and over-charging, late or missing coding, mismatched charges and supplies, and a wide range of chargemaster-related issues. With granular-level information, revenue cycle leaders can pinpoint charge capture problem areas and adapt workflows to immediately fix the problem and reverse charge loss.

Whether health systems choose to use VitalIntegrity before or after they bill payers and patients, this advanced charge capture solution is customizable to an organization’s charging protocol, meeting their specific charge capture needs.

The VitalIntegrity application enables users to do the following:

  • Identify more charge capture issues: Address the widest variety of hospital-based charge capture issues with a customizable rules engine that experts continuously update.
  • Pinpoint systemic problems and resolve targeted accounts: Quickly identify issues and compliance opportunities with a comprehensive set of charge capture details in one place, displayed in holistic or granular-level views (Figure 1).
vital integrity webinar
Figure 1: The VitalIntegrity account detail view highlights data that triggers an account for review.
  • Customize rules based on specific charging protocol: Tailor the adaptable solution to identify gaps and root causes.
  • Increase efficiency and productivity: Automate work assignments and standardize processes for analysts or teams with easy-to-use workflow management and streamlined work queues.
  • Analyze daily performance: Perform daily reviews of 100 percent of inpatient- and outpatient-itemized charges or claims with a full view of soft-coded, hard-coded, diagnosis, and root-cause information.
  • Optimize implementation: Partner with Health Catalyst consultants for retrospective analysis, initial rule refinement, and workflow routing to ensure successful implementation.

Increase Revenue with Optimal Charge Capture Management

With increasing pressure to grow profit margins amid withering resources, health systems can’t afford to leave unrealized dollars on the table. To maximize payment and full reimbursement for services rendered, financial leaders can turn to VitalIntegrity to understand a complete picture of the charge capture process and every step of a claim’s journey. With big-picture and root-cause data, organizations can gain insights to drive standardization, reduce costs, elevate productivity, and increase revenue.

Additional Reading

Would you like to learn more about this topic? Here are some articles we suggest:

  1. The Prior Authorization Process: Need-to-Know Changes for 2021
  2. Optimize Your Labor Management with Health Catalyst PowerLabor™
  3. Own Your Value-Based Care Future with the Health Catalyst Value Optimizer™ Solution
  4. Delivering the Right Insight to the Right Person: How Workflow Automation Optimizes EHR Decision Support
  5. A Five-Step Audit for Peak Charge Capture Performance

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