Finance and valuation
Revenue cycle
The revenue cycle is every step from scheduling a visit through treatment, coding, billing and final payment, including follow-up on unpaid claims and patient balances.
A paper in PMC defines revenue cycle management as tracking the payment process from patient scheduling through treatment, coding, billing and reimbursement. It adds that improving it can reduce the time between submission of claims and payment and increase cash flow. The same paper also notes that insurance payors have varied claim submission processes and can deny or underpay claims. A dental practice has the same steps: scheduling, verifying benefits, dental billing, filing a dental claim, posting payments and following up. Weak steps show up as high accounts receivable. The paper is not about dentistry, but the steps are alike.