What is a Hospital CHARGE MASTER?

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By Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP

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According to George Washington University, a hospital chargemaster is a comprehensive list of a hospital’s products, procedures, and services. Everything from prescription drugs to supplies for diagnostic tests has a unique price listing in the chargemaster, making it a go-to document for hospital administrators such as CFOs, clinical documentation improvement specialists, and revenue directors.

Chargemaster usage dates back to the mid-20th century. At that time, fee-for-service (FFS) health insurance plans, which allow patients to direct their medical care by choosing physicians and facilities and paying a portion of the billed total, had just emerged in the U.S. healthcare system.

The chargemaster originally served as something akin to an FFS dictionary, with an entry for virtually anything billable under that economic model of healthcare.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/082610254

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Over time, FFS itself has evolved and been challenged by alternatives like value-based care (VBC). Chargemasters built for FFS have changed accordingly, and they remain fixtures of the modern hospital revenue cycle. A standard chargemaster is a large electronic file containing multiple elements for each entry. These attributes usually include:

  • The charge for a single unit of the service in question
  • A Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code; CPT is the official medical code set of the American Medical Association
  • Potentially, a Healthcare Common Practice Coding System (HCPCS) code; HCPCS is based on CPT
  • Alternative CPT and HCPCS codes if needed, e.g. one corresponding only to specific payers
  • A revenue code associated with the charge
  • Flag(s) indicating if the entry is scheduled for deletion, active or inactive
  • An internal reference number within the ledger for accounting purposes

LINK: https://revcycleintelligence.com/features/the-role-of-the-hospital-chargemaster-in-revenue-cycle-management

MORE: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2013/09/26/some-modern-issues-impacting-hospital-revenue-cycles/

RCC: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2013/03/06/a-better-approach-to-hospital-cost-estimation/

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HEALTH INSURANCE: https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Health-Insurance-Managed-Care/dp/0826149944/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275315485&sr=1-4

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DAILY UPDATE: Lumeris Health Tech – MultiPlan, UnitedHealth, Aetna & CVS Payer Data – Stock Melt Down

MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST TODAY’S NEWSLETTER BRIEFING

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Essays, Opinions and Curated News in Health Economics, Investing, Business, Management and Financial Planning for Physician Entrepreneurs and their Savvy Advisors and Consultants

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MAY FIRST DAY

May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere’s Spring equinox and June solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. Traditions often include gathering wildflowers and green branches, weaving floral garlands, crowning a May Queen and setting up a Maypole, May Tree or May Bush, around which people dance. Bonfires are also part of the festival in some regions.

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Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

  • The S&P 500 index fell 80.48 points (1.6%) to 5,035.69; the Dow Jones Industrial Average® ($DJI) lost 570.17 points (1.5%) to 37,815.92, down 5% for the month; the NASDAQ Composite declined 325.26 points (2.0%) to 15,657.82.
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield jumped more than 7 basis points to 4.682%.
  • The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX) rose 0.98 to 15.65.

Energy shares were among the weakest performers Tuesday, behind a drop in WTI Crude Oil (/CL) futures, which fell a third consecutive session and briefly dropped under $81 per barrel. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index (OSX) tumbled 4.5% to a seven-week low. The small-cap Russell 2000® Index (RUT) shed 2.1% and ended with a loss of 7.1% for the month.

But, it was a better day for Mounjaro maker Eli Lilly, which climbed nearly 6% after its popular weight loss drugs pushed it to raise its 2024 forecast.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource

Lumeris Health, a health tech company supporting value-based care operations, raised $100 million in a new funding round to support expansion.

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/2h47urt5


class-action complaint was filed against MultiPlan and major payers like UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health’s Aetna, arguing payers’ claims data was being used to generate low reimbursement rates.

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/tj8smmes

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PODCAST: Cash Flow, Revenue & Entrepreneurial Leadership in Healthcare Business

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL M.D.

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Brent Jackson, Chief Medical Officer for Mercy General in Sacramento, CA to discuss the physician life-cycle, burnout, and transitioning into leadership within healthcare.

Play EpisodeDownload (40.4 MB)

Summary: Dr Brent Jackson discusses the flow of revenue throughout the medical industry.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/0826102549

SECOND OPINIONS: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/schedule-a-consultation/

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PODCAST: Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management Explained

By Eric Bricker MD

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MORE RCM: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2023/07/28/some-modern-issues-impacting-hospital-revenue-cycles-2/

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