Reimbursement staff’s future is bright
Survey and experts indicate growth
Good news has been hard to find this year with all of the new federal reimbursement regulations being released. But we found some great news for you: Job prospects are terrific for people skilled in financial, reimbursement, and coding areas of health care.
"Studies show there will be a shortage of health information personnel in the future," says Linda L. Kloss, RRA, executive vice president and chief executive officer of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) in Chicago. AHIMA is a professional organization representing health care professionals who work in coding and other reimbursement areas.
A second trend will be that more people will be trained and begin to work in outpatient settings in future years, Kloss says.
"Historically, except for large group practice clinics, they have not necessarily staffed those functions with individuals who are trained in information management," Kloss adds. "But they’re going to need some expertise in the future."
Unemployment rate below national average
AHIMA’s 1998 membership profile survey shows that unemployment among AHIMA members is well below national figures. (The survey is distributed free at AHIMA’s World Wide Web site: http://www.ahima.org.) Also, the 1998 Washington, DC-based U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics report, titled Health Technologists and Technicians, forecasts that employment growth in these fields will outpace the average for all occupations through the year 2006. (See ordering information, p. 86.)
Hospital outpatient facilities need reimbursement specialists more than they have in the past due to increasing reimbursement and coding demands of Medicare and other payers, says David Schweer, MHA, MBA, business development manager of Health Continuum Services of Washoe Health Systems in Reno, NV. The health system has one hospital, two long-term facilities, imaging centers, and other outpatient preventative and retail services.
Traditionally, few reimbursement professionals specialize in outpatient reimbursement, Schweer says. But that will change as outpatient facilities shift to Medicare’s ambulatory payment classifications (APCs) that are proposed by the Baltimore-based Health Care Financing Administration.
"I think it will further the need for reimbursement help, and it will lead to more specialized people," Schweer says.
So reimbursement jobs will continue to shift into the outpatient setting, he adds.
"Direct payer contracts are becoming more complicated, and the shift to outpatient business is continuing," Schweer says. "So outpatient is more and more an important piece of the game for hospitals."
The AHIMA survey acknowledges that trend and shows that the number of members who work in a traditional hospital setting has dropped by more than 4% from the 1997 profile report.
"In the early 1990s, more than 80% of our membership worked in hospitals, and now that has dropped to about 58% in hospitals," Kloss says.
PPS changes mean more reimbursement jobs
In addition, outpatient facilities will continue to need more coding and reimbursement staff to address the changes brought about by the prospective payment system (PPS), says Chris Mancill, technical analyst and Medicare and reimbursement expert with the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) in Westchester, IL. HFMA is a professional association of 35,000 members who are financial managers in the health care industry.
HCFA’s new regulations for hospital-based outpatient facilities is a true revolution and a complete change in reimbursement, Mancill says. This change alone will increase the demand for more reimbursement specialists and additional training to those already working in the field.
Salaries remain high, particularly among those who have bachelor’s and master’s degrees, according to the AHIMA survey. About two-thirds of AHIMA members with associates’ degrees reported earning between $20,000 and $40,000. This compares with the two-thirds of members with bachelors’ degrees who reported earning between $30,000 and $75,000. The highest salaries of more than $75,000 largely went to members with graduate degrees.
The AHIMA study also shows that nearly half of the organization’s membership has a bachelor’s degree or a graduate degree, with 35.2% reporting that they have associate’s degrees.
Health information managers could learn a lot about the current industry changes by looking back at what happened in hospitals when diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) were introduced in the early 1980s, Kloss notes.
"Prior to DRGs, the function of coding diagnosis and procedures was done primarily for internal management purposes," she says. "The priority given to that wasn’t nearly what it was when coding became a basis for payment."
That dramatic change made coding function a central focus in hospitals, and quality especially was emphasized, Kloss adds. "So we can expect the same thing to happen in outpatient settings," she says.
However, Kloss adds, outpatient reimbursement managers will have even more challenges in making this transition because outpatient record-keeping has not been as complete as hospital inpatient record-keeping. And good medical records documentation will be essential as outpatient settings begin to use the new Medicare payment
Sources
For more information about the AHIMA member survey, contact:
• Linda L. Kloss, RRA, Executive Vice President, Chief Executive Officer, American Health Information Management Association, 919 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60610. Telephone: (312) 787-2672. Fax: (312) 787-9793. E-mail: [email protected]. World Wide Web: http://www.ahima.org.
• Jack Segal, Director of Public Relations, American Health Information Management Association, 919 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60610. Telephone and fax: (312) 573-8508. E-mail: [email protected]. World Wide Web: http://www.ahima.org.
For more information about trends in outpatient reimbursement employment, contact:
• Chris Mancill, Technical Analyst, Healthcare Financial Management Association, 1301 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036. Telephone: (202) 296-2920. Fax: (202) 223-9771. E-mail: [email protected]. World Wide Web: http://www.hfma.org.
• David Schweer, MHA, MBA, Business Development Manager, Washoe Health System, Health Continuum Service, 333 Holcomb Ave., Suite 200, Reno, NV 89502. Telephone: (702) 328-5709. Fax: (702) 328-4513. E-mail: [email protected]. World Wide Web: http://www.washoehealth.com.
The Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics report, titled Health Technologists and Technicians, may be ordered at no charge by calling the Bureau of Labor Statistics at (202) 606-5700 and asking for the publication by name and 2500-9. Multiple copies may be ordered at $2 each by sending a check to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Publication Sales Center, P.O. Box 2145, Chicago, IL 60690.
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