09/02/2014
No Margin, No Mission: A Team-Based Approach to Cath Lab Billing
Sheree Schroeder, MSN, RN, RDCS, FASE
Better documentation and billing practices are key to securing reimbursement, avoiding denials and protecting diminishing margins for catheterization laboratories.
Cardiac catheterization laboratories face daunting economic challenges, with decreasing profit margins that threaten the mission of delivering high-quality care. Providing patients with the latest cardiovascular imaging tools, devices and procedures is expensive. All healthcare facilities, regardless of their nonprofit or for-profit status, must generate sufficient margins to reinvest in these evolving technologies. Yet healthcare operating margins averaged 6.5 percent in 2012, according to the American Hospital Association, and may narrow in the coming years.