Revenue Cycle Management: Understanding the Importance of Revenue Management for Healthcare Providers


Revenue cycle management (RCM) refers to the administrative and financial processes healthcare organizations use to track patient care episodes from the time of a patient's appointment or visit through receivables management and collection of payment from the patient or a third-party payer. The revenue cycle encompasses all business and clinical functions that generate and track revenue, including patient access, clinical documentation, coding, billing, credit and collection. At its core, RCM aims to maximize accurate c