Kimberly McKenney has 19 years of experience in Revenue Cycle Management, covering both physician and hospital. In addition to Physician Coding and CDI Operations, she has held numerous RCM leadership positions overseeing Hospital and Physician Billing, Clinical Denials, Coding Quality, Emergency Department Coding, and Outpatient Facility Coding. Her experience includes multi-hospital organizations, which include critical access and academic health centers, as well as multi-specialty medical groups. Prior to joining Conifer Health Solutions, Kimberly spent almost 10 years working for Indiana University Health, focusing on their revenue cycle, a period which culminated as a Director in their Revenue Cycle Services division. She then spent nearly six years as a Director of Coding Operations and Coding Quality with Healthcare Administrative Partners.
Practices should take a fresh look at their coding quality, which can help reduce denials, payer takebacks, and cash flow issues. Implementing intensive coding training, CAC technology, and internal audit and review programs can help. However, for practices that lack the resources to make such investments, outsourcing may be a better approach.