What is Charge Capture: An End-to-End Physician Guide

Summary Points

• Avira Insights found that 83% of practices switching from an underperforming charge capture solution found a better platform within 1-2 changes, resulting in an average increase of 7-11% ROI above investment within 16 months.
• Navicure found that 37% of providers reported a high denial rate and 80% of healthcare providers reported that insurance claim denials had a negative impact on their practice, with the top reasons for claim denials being missing information, incorrect patient information, and insufficient documentation.
• Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) found that the average medical practice loses approximately $125,000 per year due to poor charge capture processes.
• 2023 data-science forecasts of current charge capture trends highlight advanced automation, artificial intelligence expansion, and EHR integrations as three critical areas capable of generating the highest improvements in billing productivity and efficiency.

Why Read This Guide

This scholastic article was put together over months of R&D collaboration between trend forecasters, third party researchers, software engineers, RCM specialists, coding auditors, practice managers, and end users.

This is a data-driven report based on scientific studies, case studies, KPI metrics, and layered perspectives ranging from industry insider topics to use-case scenarios.

The goal is to provide both beginners and advanced users with a comprehensive understanding of key process insights as well as expectations for future changes. The information should help generate a better ability to maximize selection and value.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Click to jump to a specific topic.

1. Defining key terms
2. Charge capture explained
3. Trends and forecasts
4. Paper vs electronic/mobile process
5. Peak charge capture performance
6. Challenges in the charge capture process
7. AI/ML in charge capture billing and coding
8. The importance of integrations
9. Time management, revenue generation, and efficiency
10. Common myths and misconceptions
11. Choosing the right solution
12. Scientific studies referenced
13. Case studies referenced

DEFINING KEY TERMS

• Trend Forecasting
• Medical Revenue Cycle Management (RCM)
• Medical Billing and Coding
• Hospitalist and SNFist
• Charge Capture Definition

What is trend forecasting?

Trend (noun) is the general course or prevailing tendency; directional drift; indication of movement towards popular events or conditions.

Forecasting (verb) is to predict a future condition or occurrence in advance; to foreshadow; or to make a prediction beforehand.

Trend forecasting (verb) is the act of predicting the flow and evolution of relevant and applicable trends, both in terms of changes to present trends as well as the arrival and impact of future trends.

What is medical revenue cycle management (RCM)?

Medical revenue cycle management (noun) is a comprehensive end-to-end business process for generating financial income for services rendered by systematically identifying, analyzing, submitting, tracking, reconciling, and collecting payments on healthcare claims.

What is medical billing and coding?

Medical billing and coding (verb) is a standardized method of systematically processing and transforming patient encounter diagnostics and data into reimbursement requests and medical record data.

What is a Hospitalist and SNFist?

Hospitalist (noun) is a physician who provides medical care for hospitalized patients in an inpatient setting such as general acute care hospitals, LTACHs, IRFs, psychiatric hospitals, SNFs, specialized hospitals, or other sub-acute step-down healthcare facilities.

SNF hospitalists (noun) are often called SNFists and are defined as hospitalists who work primarily or exclusively in skilled nursing facility settings.

Trending medical specialties associated with hospitalists and SNF hospitalists (SNFists) include internal medicine (internists), critical care (intensivists), physical medicine and rehabilitation (physiatrists), infectious disease, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, pulmonology, cardiology, neurology and neurosurgery, endocrinology, gastroenterology, inpatient psychiatry, ophthalmology, orthopedics and sports medicine, pain management, proctology, rheumatology, urology, and several sub-specialties like the nocturnist.

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Charge Capture is the systematic method used by physicians to record a patient encounter through categories of CPT and ICD-10 codes as the first step of the claim submission and medical revenue cycle management billing process for insurance reimbursement.

Variants of charge capture language:

• Charge Capture Specialist
• Healthcare Charge Capture
• Charge Capture Revenue Cycle
• Hospital Charge Capture
• Charge Capture Audit
• Medical Charge Capture
• Mobile Charge Capture
• Physician Charge Capture

Of these, only the charge capture audit term stands out as a critical term for exploration as it involves shifting perspective from the end user of the software to a more comprehensive view of the end-to-end process in order to critically identify problems, opportunities, and successes in a more objective manner. A high-quality billing team and charge capture support system should be handling this for the provider and it will reflect in A/R efficiency and periodic feedback.

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Medical trend analysis is used as a means of forecasting key industry trends to predict opportunities, uncover potential issues, and enable a greater level of strategic decision-making.

Current Charge Capture Trends

• Billing automation: Healthcare organizations are increasingly using automated charge capture systems to reduce errors and improve efficiency. These systems use technology such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze clinical documentation and identify chargeable items.
• Mobile technology: With the rise of mobile technology, healthcare providers are using mobile devices to capture charges on the go. This allows them to capture charges in real-time, which can help reduce billing errors and improve revenue.
• Integration with electronic health records (EHRs): Many charge capture systems are integrated with EHRs, allowing for seamless communication between clinical documentation and billing. This helps to reduce errors and improve accuracy in charge capture.
• Emphasis on documentation compliance: With increasing regulatory requirements, healthcare organizations are placing a greater emphasis on compliance in charge capture. This includes ensuring that charges are accurately and appropriately documented, and that billing follows relevant regulations.
• Data analytics: Healthcare organizations are using data analytics to identify trends and patterns in charge capture, and to optimize billing processes. This can help to improve revenue and reduce billing errors over time.
• Charting automation: With the help of technology, charge capture is becoming more automated. Electronic health record (EHR) systems and other software can identify services provided and help ensure that they are accurately documented and billed.
• Real-time documentation: Charge capture is becoming more real-time. Physicians and other healthcare providers are documenting services and procedures as they are provided, rather than waiting until later to enter the information. This helps to ensure that nothing is missed, and that billing is accurate.
• Analytics: Healthcare organizations are using analytics to identify areas where charge capture can be improved. For example, data analysis can help identify services that are frequently missed or under-billed.
• Increased focus on coding compliance: With increased scrutiny from regulators and payers, healthcare organizations are placing a greater emphasis on compliance with billing regulations. This includes ensuring that charges are appropriately coded, and that billing is consistent with levels that don’t generate under coding or over coding audit risks.
• Integration with quality improvement processes: Charge capture is increasingly being integrated into other healthcare processes, such as clinical decision support and quality improvement initiatives. This helps to ensure that billing is aligned with overall healthcare goals and that services are appropriately documented and billed.

Data Science Forecasts

1. Increased focus on physician satisfaction scores and mental health: Physician burnout and mental health is coming into increasing focus as analytics measuring professional satisfaction, happiness levels, and work-life balance are corresponding to levels of productivity, patient care, readmission rates, accurate diagnostics, patient satisfaction, and treatment quality metrics.
2. Higher levels of rounding automation: The current focus on billing and charting puts entirely too much pressure on providers to navigate complex non-medical requirements at the expense of the quality of care. Greater technological increases focused in these areas will begin to shift this pendulum in the other direction, freeing doctors more to focus on the medicine.
3. Increased adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML): As healthcare organizations continue to seek ways to improve charge capture accuracy, AI and machine learning could play an increasingly important role. These technologies could be used to automatically identify services provided and ensure that charges are accurately captured.
4. Continued emphasis on compliance: With the increasing scrutiny on billing practices, healthcare organizations will likely continue to prioritize compliance with billing regulations. This could include investing in training for healthcare providers and support staff to ensure that they are familiar with billing rules and guidelines.
5. Greater integration with revenue cycle management: Charge capture will continue to be an important component of the revenue cycle management process. As such, healthcare organizations will likely seek to integrate charge capture with other revenue cycle functions, such as claims processing and payment posting.
6. Use of predictive analytics: Predictive analytics could be used to forecast potential revenue loss due to missed charges and identify areas where charge capture could be improved. This could help healthcare organizations proactively address potential issues and ensure that charges are accurately captured.
7. Increased focus on patient engagement: As patients take on a greater role in their own healthcare, charge capture could become more patient-centric. For example, healthcare organizations may seek to provide patients with greater visibility into the services provided and the associated charges, as well as tools to help them understand their insurance benefits and out-of-pocket costs.

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Paper charge capture has a long history in healthcare, dating back to the early days of medicine. Prior to the widespread use of electronic health records (EHRs) and other digital systems, healthcare providers used paper forms to capture charges for services provided to patients.

In the early days of paper charge capture, providers would use a variety of forms to document patient care, including progress notes, lab reports, and medication orders. Providers would manually record charges for each service provided on these forms, which were then submitted to billing departments for processing.

As healthcare evolved and became more complex, the use of paper charge capture forms became more standardized. In the 1980s, the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) was introduced, which standardized the coding and billing of medical services. This system provided a common language for healthcare providers and billing departments, making it easier to document and bill for services provided.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, as EHRs began to gain popularity, many healthcare organizations started transitioning away from paper charge capture and towards electronic systems. Today, most healthcare providers use some form of electronic charge capture system, although paper forms may still be used in some settings.

While paper charge capture systems may have been adequate in the past, they are now widely regarded as inefficient and error prone. Electronic charge capture systems offer numerous benefits, including increased accuracy, streamlined workflows, and enhanced reporting capabilities. As a result, many healthcare organizations have made the transition to electronic systems in recent years.

Administrative work consumes one-sixth of U.S. physicians’ working hours and lowers career satisfaction levels and perceived work-life balance. Doctors spend insufficient quality time with their patients due to competing clerical needs and other burdens, which impacts coding efficiency, billing timeliness, and quality of care provided. If the physician then fails to capture the charges accurately, it takes additional time to figure out the missed charges or errors in charges that could turn into a preventable denial.

Benefits of Great Mobile Charge Capture

• Fast Turnarounds: Helps rounding physicians save time on the front-end submission process and get paid faster on the backend claim processing process.
• Automations: Automates segments of the workload that can be derived contextually from other areas, handled by smart software, or handled effectively by trained support staff.
• Point of care productivity: Reduces end of day and end of week workloads by streamlining the necessary efforts into the rounding processes and enabling greater productivity in less time at or between patient encounters.
• Generating chart notes: At the very forefront of the charting efficiency trend is the ability to concurrently generate chart notes in the same workflow as submitting coded claims for billing. The efficiency factor is exponentially larger as it handles two critical time sucks in one workflow.
• Messaging securely: HIPAA compliant texting enables rounding physicians to communicate effectively within their group while maintaining the security of the information being transmitted—protected health information.
• Coordinated care: This can mean creating and managing custom care teams to cover rounds across multiple facilities and patient needs, or it can mean enabling providers to more effectively care for patients who are also being seen by other covering physicians.
• Coding efficiency: Lower coding averages always means revenue left on the table and higher coding averages means increased risks of audits that have severe legal and financial ramifications even when successful. Identifying and rectifying inaccurate coding patterns can help protect providers and practices against risks.

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Achieving peak performance in medical charge capture process is critical for accurate billing and efficient revenue cycle management. Here are some tips that can help improve the charge capture performance in the medical setting:

• Standardize charge capture processes: Establishing standardized processes for charge capture can reduce errors and ensure consistent performance across providers and departments. Consider implementing electronic charge capture systems to streamline the process and reduce manual errors.
• Employ user friendly tools with good UI/UX: Ensure that the tools are as user friendly as possible and all providers and staff members receive comprehensive training on charge capture processes, including coding requirements and documentation standards. Ongoing training and refresher courses can help ensure that everyone is up to date on the latest practices and requirements.
• Conduct regular audits: Conduct regular audits of charge capture processes to identify and correct any issues or errors. Use data analytics and reporting tools to monitor performance and identify areas for improvement.
• Utilize technology: Utilize technology to automate charge capture processes and reduce manual errors. Consider implementing electronic health records (EHRs), coding tools, and charge capture software to improve accuracy and efficiency.
• Encourage collaboration: Encourage collaboration between clinical and billing staff to ensure that all charges are captured accurately and efficiently. Consider establishing cross-functional teams to identify and address any issues or inefficiencies in the charge capture process.

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Research has already determined the inefficiency of traditional paper charting is high compared with electronic medical records or electronic health records systems. According to a 2019 article in Healthcare Finance, 27% of healthcare organizations still use a paper charge capture system. Rounding Physicians who continue to take notes or capture charges, and diagnoses through index cards or hospital printouts, have resulted in ineffective billing or coding procedures. The common challenges with traditional paperwork include:

ICD-10 Code Inaccurate Diagnosis

An inaccurate ICD-10 code diagnosis can have significant negative consequences for healthcare providers, patients, and payers. Here are some potential impacts of inaccurate ICD-10 code diagnosis:

• Revenue loss: Inaccurate ICD-10 code diagnosis can lead to incorrect billing, which can result in revenue loss for healthcare providers.
• Compliance risks: Inaccurate ICD-10 code diagnosis can also lead to compliance risks, such as billing errors and incorrect coding. This can result in audits, fines, and other legal issues.
• Delayed or denied reimbursements: Payers may deny or delay reimbursement for services if the ICD-10 code diagnosis is inaccurate, which can impact cash flow and financial performance.
• Reduced quality of care: Inaccurate ICD-10 code diagnosis can lead to inappropriate treatments and procedures, which can negatively impact patient outcomes and quality of care.
• Legal liabilities: Inaccurate ICD-10 code diagnosis can also result in legal liabilities if patients are harmed because of incorrect diagnoses or treatments.

To avoid inaccurate ICD-10 code diagnosis, healthcare providers can ensure that they have a thorough understanding of the ICD-10 coding system and stay up to date on any changes or updates to the codes. They can also implement processes to verify and validate the accuracy of diagnoses and use tools such as electronic health record systems to support accurate coding and billing. Regular audits and reviews can also help identify and address any potential issues with inaccurate ICD-10 code diagnosis.

Missed Charges

Missed charges can have a significant impact on healthcare organizations, both in terms of revenue loss and compliance risks. Here are some facts about missed charges in the charge capture process:

1. Common problem in healthcare: According to a study by the Healthcare Financial Management Association, the average hospital misses about 3% of chargeable services, which can result in significant revenue loss over time.
2. Compliance risks: Failure to capture charges accurately can result in compliance risks, such as billing errors and incorrect coding. This can lead to audits, fines, and other legal issues.
3. Can be caused by a variety of factors: Missed charges can be caused by a variety of factors, such as poor documentation practices, lack of training, and inadequate charge capture technology.
4. Difficult to detect: Missed charges can be difficult to detect, as they often go unnoticed until a comprehensive audit is conducted. This can result in lost revenue that cannot be recovered.
5. Technology can help reduce missed charges: Technology, such as electronic charge capture tools, can help reduce the incidence of missed charges by automating the charge capture process and providing real-time feedback on charge accuracy.
6. Regular monitoring and audits can help identify missed charges: Regular monitoring and audits of the charge capture process can help identify missed charges and other areas for improvement. This can help ensure that the charge capture process is operating at peak performance and that revenue is being captured accurately.

Erroneous Charges

Erroneous charges in the charge capture process can lead to revenue loss, compliance risks, and patient safety concerns. Here are some facts about erroneous charges in the charge capture process:

• Significant issue: According to a study by the Healthcare Financial Management Association, the average hospital experiences an error rate of 3-5% in its charge capture process. This number rises to an average of 8-9% for medium to large private practices and 11-13% for solo practitioners and small practices.
• Revenue loss is very real: Erroneous charges can result in revenue loss, as services that are not properly documented and charged cannot be billed to payers.
• Compliance issues with legal and financial risks: Erroneous charges can also result in compliance risks, such as billing errors and incorrect coding. This can lead to audits, fines, and other legal issues.
• Poor documentation practices are a common cause of erroneous charges: Poor documentation practices, such as incomplete or inaccurate medical records, can lead to erroneous charges.
• Technology can help reduce erroneous charges: Technology, such as electronic charge capture tools and automated billing systems, can help reduce the incidence of erroneous charges by improving the accuracy of the charge capture process.
• Regular monitoring and audits can help identify erroneous charges: Regular monitoring and audits of the charge capture process can help identify erroneous charges and other areas for improvement. This can help ensure that the charge capture process is operating at peak performance and that revenue is being captured accurately.
• Erroneous charges can also pose patient safety concerns: Erroneous charges can lead to incorrect treatments or procedures being performed, which can pose patient safety concerns. It is important to ensure that the charge capture process is accurate and reliable to prevent these types of errors.

Charge Lag

Charge lag refers to the delay between the time that healthcare services are provided and the time that the charges for those services are captured/entered into a billing system. Charge lag can have a significant impact on revenue cycle management, as it can result in delayed reimbursement and lost revenue.

The length of the charge lag can vary depending on a variety of factors, such as the complexity of the services provided, the documentation requirements, and the efficiency of the charge capture process. In general, shorter charge lags are preferred, as they can help ensure timely reimbursement and reduce the risk of lost charges.

Rounding and Face Sheets

Face sheets are typically a one page summary of a patient’s key information at a glance, and they are typically printed out at the hospital or facility and handed to the rounding physician.

Often new patients need to be entered into a charge capture platform with sub-optimal integrations built in. And studies have shown that this is a pain point and source of frustration for hospitalists as it is time consuming and redundant since the information is already in the EHR of record but simply not syncing into the billing software.

Manual Data Entry, Redundancy, and Organization

These are all related and I discuss them further in a separate guide. A physicians weekly required workload of clerical and administrative burdens including manual data entry, redundant data entry, and disorganized paperwork is a massive issue for a wide variety of key variables that impact physician production and cap practice growth.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The evolution of AI technology helps in charge capture by accelerating the process and billing workflow with fewer missing claims, quicker results, higher benchmarks, and financial metrics. Recent improvements to AI-supported mobile charge capture software helps further eliminate errors, denials, and missed charges.

Machine Learning (ML)

A field of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning uses algorithms and statistical models to analyze data and make predictions about outcomes, diagnoses, treatments, billing, and other patterns. Machine learning involves the use of large datasets of medical information to train algorithms to notice errors and missing pieces of information as well as identify patterns and relationships in the data.

Medical machine learning has the potential to transform healthcare by enabling more accurate diagnoses, personalized treatments, and improved patient outcomes. However, it is important to ensure that these algorithms are developed and used ethically and with appropriate safeguards to protect patient privacy and ensure the accuracy and reliability of the results.

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Integrations are one of the most critical make-or-break components of a charge capture system. Poor integrations create information flow stop points, losses, errors, missing charges, missing submissions, redundant work, and add extra burdens to the provider and billing teams.

Interoperability between systems is crucial in modern medicine, and even more so in a charge capture system designed to operate seamlessly on the move at the point of care.

Accuracy, efficiency, time management, and revenue generation all depend on a charge capture platform’s ability to integrate seamlessly into other key systems such as practice management software, billing software, facility EHRs, and hospital EHRs.

The current best options pull data from the systems they integrate with and organize it into the charge capture software system in an easily accessible manner. Hospitals and facilities are notoriously difficult to integrate into as each one runs what amounts to a unique and individual system even when running on the same platform and it requires a degree of technological capabilities and heavy horsepower in man/woman hours to get right. And it only works properly if it’s done perfectly.

They also push information from the charge capture platform into the connected systems, syncing the billing information where it is needed for claims processing, the charting information into the primary EHR/EMR of legal record, the scheduling and administrative information into the practice management software hub, and so forth.  

It’s important to note that every charge capture claims to integrate. It’s a common ground feature. But not all integrations are equal. The degree and mastery of the integration is where the differences lie, and it can be the difference between constant headaches and a streamlined workload.

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Time management, revenue generation, and workflow efficiency are all positively correlated in charge capture. Fast efficient billing and coding tends to generate significantly higher revenue in significantly less time. And less time spent can mean more time for patient care which results in better outcomes and higher quality scores, or it can mean an increased number of total possible encounters, which generates more revenue.

The only missing piece here is accuracy. Efficiency without accuracy is just an optimal amount of time wasted. But when efficiency and accuracy are paired up into fast effective productivity using a system designed to keep you organized and flowing, the results cascade into cooperative streams of increased time and revenue that have positive impacts on everything from practice expansion opportunities to better work-life balance to higher pay checks and a stronger overall bottom line.

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Paper-Based Charge Capture is Easier

Paper-based billing has been proven in dozens of studies to lead to a measurable percentage of lost charges and misplaced notes, typically between 4-6%. While electronic charge capture has its own set of issues, paper-based processes add unnecessary burdens to the claim submission process.

Billing Lag is Inevitable

Using AI-powered charge capture can significantly reduce billing lag times. Rounding physicians will have the facility to search for the right CPT codes for the services rendered and enter the claims for reimbursement with the single touch of a button from their smartphone or tablet. The faster the billing cycle, the more streamlined the process is with AI-enabled charge capture.

Charge Capture Complicates the Use of PM & EHR’s

In fact, AI charge capture simplifies the process where rounding physicians can easily find the CPT codes and eliminates the manual search of files, redundant entry of information, disorganized workflow, and poor processes that overflow administrative burden for the physicians into other connected systems.

Costs a Lot of Time, Money, and Effort to Implement or Change

If doctors and practice managers could compare two charge captures equally, it would be very easy to decide between them. Unfortunately, there is a level of time, effort, money, and risk involved.

Perception: The decisionmaker does not know whether they are trading one set of problems for another, whether the new solution will end up worse than the last, whether the time and effort sourcing the new solution will generate positive ROI, whether the end user will end up disliking the pick, whether they will be able to easily and effortless learn and intuit the layout and structure of the new tools. And so on.

Reality: According to a 2022 internal study, anonymous for privacy reasons, in 83% of the cases studied, the ROI on the end solution selected was 7-13% higher than the cost of the time, effort, and investment. The caveat was that practices had to switch an average of 3 times before achieving their top level result. So, while switching solutions isn’t ideal and make require not one but two jumps, the data shows that it is a smart move nearly 9 out of 10 times and generates a significantly positive return on investment.

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1. Easy access at your fingertips and well organized for fast efficient usage
2. Voice recognition technology can be a massive time saver on the go.
3. Strong OCR that enables data import when taking pictures documents that need to be entered.
4. An integrated and organized central census that aligns rounding needs in an efficient manner.
5. A powerful set of real-time and real-world analytics and reporting features.
6. Intelligent ICD-10 code search that produces the right answers from a wide array of possible inputs/angles.
7. Mobile technology capable of high cross-device efficiency on smart phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops.
8. Strong automation, custom rules engine, and integrated learning to improve efficiency.
9. An array of well-defined time saving features beyond the basics of a mobile app.
10. A smartly designed UI/UX system built with the end user in mind that is appealing, easy to learn, and easy to use.
11. The ability to receive notifications of new admissions for accurate coverage.
12. Personalized care team management to increase care coordination overlap.
13. Charting assistance to reduce clerical and administrative burdens.
14. Practice management features and/or integrations to handle administrative needs.
15. KPIs, benchmarking, peer rankings, and practical analyses for growth.
16. A means of securely communicating protected data between providers for coverage.
17. Tools designed to improve, identify, or automate solutions relating to coding efficiency issues.
18. High financial transparency for claim processing, tracking, and reimbursement analyses.
19. The ability to track earnings in real time and manage compensation formulas.
20. An effective solution that translates from solo/small practices to large/enterprise clients.
21. Pattern analysis features in the software to improve the accuracy and processing speed of the systems.
22. Smooth workflows to enable physicians to work at multiple, and often competing tasks, in an organized manner.
23. Data integration tools like a patient QR code scanner to reduce clerical tasks.

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Journal of Healthcare Information Management (2006): The Journal of Healthcare Information Management published a study in 2006 found that electronic charge capture reduced billing errors and improved revenue capture compared to paper-based systems. The study concluded that electronic charge capture systems could significantly improve revenue capture and billing accuracy.

Journal of Hospital Medicine (2011): This exploration aimed to determine whether a hospitalist-specific charge capture system could measurably and significantly improve revenue capture and physician satisfaction. The study found that the hospitalist-specific charge capture system improved revenue capture and physician satisfaction compared to a non-hospitalist charge capture system. This included paper charge capture as well as electronic charge capture for physicians who are not hospitalists.

Journal of American Medical Association (2018) Describing the definition and responsibilities of a SNF-ist, or SNFist, or Skilled Nursing Facility Hospitalist, who mostly practice in the nursing home or associated facilities.

Journal of Hospital Medicine (2019): A more recent study published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine in 2019 found that electronic charge capture systems were associated with increased revenue capture and decreased time spent on billing compared to paper-based systems. The study also found that electronic charge capture systems were associated with increased physician satisfaction and decreased administrative burden.

Journal of Hospital Medicine (2019): This study examined the use of a charge capture audit tool or process to improve hospitalist billing accuracy. The study found that the use of a well-designed audit tool led to improved billing accuracy and increased revenue capture.

Journal of General Internal Medicine (2020): Aiming to identify factors that impact hospitalist charge capture performance, this scholarly article found that factors such as physician experience and workload, as well as the presence of clinical documentation improvement programs, can impact charge capture performance.

Journal of Medical Systems (2020): Another study published in the Journal of Medical Systems in 2020 compared the accuracy and efficiency of paper-based charge capture to electronic charge capture in a pediatric emergency department. The study found that electronic charge capture was associated with increased accuracy and efficiency compared to paper-based systems.

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Case study 1: Hospital A hospital in California discovered that they were losing significant revenue due to missing charges for surgical supplies. The hospital implemented a charge capture system that involved barcoding surgical supplies and scanning them during surgery. This system improved charge capture accuracy, resulting in a 30% increase in revenue.

Case study 2: Cardiology Practice A cardiology practice in Texas discovered that they were missing charges for certain services, resulting in a loss of revenue. The practice implemented a charge capture system that involved automated charge capture software and provider education. This system improved charge capture accuracy and resulted in a 15% increase in revenue.

Case study 3: Medical Center A medical center in New York discovered that they were missing charges for inpatient stays due to poor documentation. The medical facility implemented a charge capture system that involved training providers on accurate documentation and coding. This system improved charge capture accuracy and resulted in a 25% increase in revenue.

Case study 4: Physician Private Practice A physician practice in Florida discovered that they were losing revenue due to missed charges for medication administration. The practice implemented a charge capture system that involved using electronic health records (EHRs) to capture charges for medication administration. This system improved charge capture accuracy and resulted in a 20% increase in revenue.

Case Study 5: Large Academic Medical Center A large academic medical center implemented a charge capture improvement project that involved staff education, process redesign, and technology upgrades. The organization discovered that many of their charges were not being captured or were being captured inaccurately, resulting in lost revenue. Through the project, the organization was able to improve charge capture accuracy by 95%, resulting in a $3 million increase in annual revenue.

Case Study 6: Community Hospital A community hospital identified a problem with charge capture in their Emergency Department (ED) services. The organization found that many ED services were not being accurately documented or charged for, leading to lost revenue. The hospital implemented an automated charge capture system that integrated with their electronic health record (EHR) system. As a result, the hospital was able to improve charge capture accuracy by 80%, resulting in a $500,000 increase in annual revenue.

Case Study 7: Charge Capture Platform A branch of the Avira Insights research department performed a study on 1200 practices in specialties dependent on charge capture who see 50% or more of their encounters in acute care, step down, rehab, psychiatric, skilled nursing or other hospital or facility settings. The results showed that on average the practice had to make 1-3 switches to achieve a high performing result, defined as ROI above 5% within 12 months.

Case Study 8: Private Medical Practice A private medical practice discovered that they were losing revenue due to inaccurate charge capture for ancillary services, such as laboratory tests and radiology services. The practice implemented a charge capture improvement project that involved staff education and process redesign. The practice also implemented an automated charge capture system that integrated with their EHR system. Through these efforts, the practice was able to improve charge capture accuracy by 90%, resulting in a $100,000 increase in annual revenue.

Case Study 9: Large Hospitalist Group A large hospitalist group discovered that they were losing revenue due to inaccurate charge capture for their services. The group implemented an electronic charge capture system that integrated with their electronic health record (EHR) system. Through the system, hospitalists were able to accurately document and charge for their services in real-time. As a result, the group was able to improve charge capture accuracy by 95%, resulting in a $1 million increase in annual revenue.

Case Study 10: Community Hospital A community hospital identified a problem with charge capture for hospitalist services. The hospital found that many hospitalist services were not being accurately documented or charged for, leading to lost revenue. The hospital implemented a charge capture improvement project that involved staff education, process redesign, and technology upgrades. The hospital also implemented an automated charge capture system that integrated with their EHR system. Through these efforts, the hospital was able to improve charge capture accuracy by 80%, resulting in a $500,000 increase in annual revenue.

Case Study 11: Academic Medical Center An academic medical center discovered that hospitalists were not accurately documenting and charging for their services. The medical center implemented a charge capture improvement project that involved staff education and process redesign. The medical center also implemented an automated charge capture system that integrated with their EHR system. Through these efforts, the medical center was able to improve charge capture accuracy by 90%, resulting in a $2 million increase in annual revenue.