The Role of Technology in Ensuring Business Resiliency in Revenue Cycle Management (RCM)

The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has not only weakened healthcare providers’ financial performance but also presented them with multiple pressing business and operational continuity challenges. While some hospitals have closed down due to a drop in patient volumes, declining revenues, and limited financial reserves, other providers are trying to stay afloat by realigning their operations strategy, including evaluating their Business Continuity Planning (BCP) programs, to minimize revenue leakage and ensure continual cash flows. The prevailing situation presents an opportunity to healthcare providers to look at digital transformation or explore digital technologies (such as automation and analytics) to enhance and maximize the overall efficiency of their RCM operations, increase revenue integrity, and ensure that BCP can withstand a second possible wave of the pandemic or a similar disruption.

In this viewpoint, we explore how healthcare providers can leverage technology to reassess and redefine their existing BCP strategies for Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) operations. The research leverages the Risk Evaluation and Digital Intervention (REDI) framework that enterprises can use to assess their RCM functions’/processes’ vulnerability to disruptions and the impact that digital levers can have on enhancing BCP program resilience.