Hospitals Expect RCM Consulting Prices To Double

By Greg Bengel, contributing writer

Recent survey finds that the need to upgrade RCM technology has caused demand for consultants to rise

A recent survey from Black Book says hospital executives expect their RCM consulting expenses to double by 2015. According to this announcement about the Black Book research, the demand for consultants has been rising significantly, as physician practices begin upgrading their existing RCM technology, seeking help dealing with reforms, ICD-10 coding and ACO participation.

“Real end-to-end RCM transformations require complex technology optimization, strategic assessment of patient mix and payers, analytics, decision support tools, staff training, outsourcing and new software implementations,” explains Doug Brown, managing partner of Black Book, in the announcement.

Brown also bemoans hospitals lack of preparation, saying, and “Next-generation RCM will not be achieved via old-school directives to cut staff, slash expenses, and pushing RCM work to the lowest-cost outsourcer. The new era of how providers get paid is going to impact the entire organization and most hospitals aren't remotely prepared for it.”

Fierce Health IT reported on the Black Book research, and lists the following key findings from the survey:

• “Ninety percent of those who use RCM consulting services expect their expenses to double for add-on RCM projects in 2014. Thirty-six percent of "light users" of consulting services said their expenses could quadruple.
• Eighty-six percent of hospital C-level executives expect new RCM consulting engagements to be under way through the end of 2014. Fifty-seven percent expect new projects to begin by June 2014.
• Sixty-six percent of RCM-centric consulting firms and 92 percent of general management consulting firms expect to be hiring additional RCM financial and technology experts in this high-growth area.”

Fierce Health IT also summarizes key challenges hospital executives face with RCM projects:

• “Seventy-seven percent have not begun a strategic plan for transforming RCM solutions for known deadlines because of lack of internal experts to do so.
• Eighty percent of CIOs said they do not have the IT staff in-house to transform RCM end-to-end.”

While the changing landscape represents a considerable opportunity for independent RCM consultants, Fierce Health IT also reports that “many of those organizations report difficulty finding staff with the necessary expertise as well.”

The article also points out that in a previous Black Book survey, approximately two-thirds of the hospitals that predicted in 2012 they would be replacing their core RCM solution in 24 months are not yet even in the planning stages of doing so.