Revenue cycle impact: questions for your grouper vendor

Ask before you need to

Ask before you need to. Here are questions to put to your grouper and EHR vendors.

Four to ask

Four questions. Can the grouper take a cluster, or must it be unbundled? Which forward and backward crosswalks does it use, and are they reviewed against each other? And what must change for the new code structure and the coding API?

• Clusters · Handled? · Can the grouper take a cluster, or must it be unbundled? (WHO 2.4.5)
• Crosswalks · Which maps? · Which forward and backward crosswalks does it use, and are they reviewed against each other?
• Changes · API, structure · What must change for the new code structure and the coding API? (WHO 2.4.7)

Plan the lead time

WHO says requirements and lead time vary enormously from site to site, with no one-size framework. So ask for the vendor's lead time, and fold it into your own self-assessment.

• WHO · Varies · Technical requirements and lead time vary enormously from site to site; no one-size framework.
• So · Ask · Get the vendor's lead time in writing and include it in your own self-assessment.

Check yourself

Pause and think. What should you get from a vendor about timing? The answer: The vendor lead time, in writing. WHO says requirements and lead time vary enormously, so ask for the vendor lead time and put it into your self-assessment.

• A verbal estimate only
• The competitor lead time
• No timing is needed
• The vendor lead time, in writing

Keep these in mind

Ask how clusters are handled. Ask which crosswalks are used. And get lead times in writing.

• Ask how clusters are handled
• Ask which crosswalks are used
• Get lead times in writing