Emergency & Urgent Care RCM Services

Maximize revenue despite high uninsured volumes with real-time eligibility verification, automated insurance discovery, and critical care coding expertise.

What is Emergency & Urgent Care RCM?

Emergency and urgent care revenue cycle management (RCM) keeps critical care billing flowing from real-time eligibility verification and insurance discovery through accurate charge capture, claim submission, payment posting, and denial management—so unpredictable patient volumes and high uninsured rates don't turn into delayed reimbursements or write-offs.

Why Emergency & Urgent Care Revenue Cycles Break (and How We Fix Them)

Emergency departments and urgent care centers face a unique revenue challenge: unpredictable patient volumes, high percentages of uninsured or "unassigned" patients, and critical care coding that requires real-time documentation reconciliation. The fast-paced nature makes manual insurance verification impossible. IntegraRCM restores cash flow with automated insurance discovery, real-time eligibility verification (REV) at point of care, critical care coding expertise, and high-velocity claim workflows — proven to increase revenue by 30-50% and reduce denials by up to 85%.

What makes Emergency & Urgent Care billing different?

  • Unpredictable patient volumes: census swings make staffing and resource allocation inconsistent, creating backlog risk
  • High uninsured/underinsured rate: many patients arrive without insurance cards, creating silent revenue leakage if coverage isn't discovered
  • Critical care coding complexity: E&M levels, time-based billing, and trauma code combinations require specialist knowledge
  • Fast-paced environment: speed requirements make traditional registration and verification workflows impractical
  • Documentation timing gaps: physicians document after the rush, creating charge capture delays and coding ambiguities

How IntegraRCM maximizes Emergency & UC revenue

  • Real-time eligibility verification (REV): verify coverage at point of care to prevent uninsured denials and enable upfront collection
  • Automated insurance discovery: use patient demographics to search multiple payer databases and uncover hidden coverage
  • Critical care coding specialists: expert review of E&M level justification, time documentation, and trauma code bundling
  • High-velocity workflows: same-day charge capture and posting to keep pace with ED/UC patient turnover rates
  • Denial prevention by acuity level: pre-submission scrubbing rules specific to emergency services and medical necessity requirements

Common Emergency & Urgent Care RCM Failure Points

The goal is simple but critical: verify coverage in real-time, code accurately for acuity, submit clean claims fast, and maintain cash flow despite volume volatility.

EHR & Emergency Medicine Systems We Support

Emergency departments and urgent care centers use specialized clinical documentation systems. We adapt workflows to your platform, interfaces, and charge capture configuration, including:

Operational Benchmarks We Align To (Emergency & Urgent Care)

30-50%
Revenue Increase with Insurance Discovery
85%
Denial Reduction with REV
< 35
Days in A/R Goal
> 92%
Clean Claim Rate Target

Targets vary by patient mix, payer contracts, and system configuration. We baseline KPIs during onboarding and define SLAs to match your priorities.

IntegraRCM Emergency & Urgent Care RCM Workflow

Real-Time Eligibility & Insurance Discovery

Critical Care Documentation & Charge Capture

E&M Coding & Trauma Code Review

Pre-Submission Scrubbing & Claim Submission

Rapid Payment Posting & Reconciliation

High-Velocity Denial Work & A/R Follow-up

Speed + accuracy + insurance discovery = maximized emergency medicine revenue.

Before & After Impact (Emergency & Urgent Care)

Operational Area Before IntegraRCM After IntegraRCM
Insurance verification & discovery Manual verification impossible at ED pace; many patients classified as self-pay incorrectly Real-time eligibility verification + automated discovery uncovers hidden coverage, increases revenue 30-50%
Critical care & E&M coding accuracy Generalist coders struggle with time-based billing and trauma code combinations Emergency medicine coding specialists ensure proper E&M level justification and documentation support
Charge lag from documentation delays Physicians document after shift; claims submitted days or weeks later Same-day charge capture workflows and documentation reconciliation accelerate billing
Denial rate & rework volume High denial rates from demographic errors, missing modifiers, and E&M downcoding Pre-submission scrubbing and acuity-specific edits reduce denials by up to 85%
Cash flow predictability Volume volatility and uninsured patients create unpredictable revenue Consistent verification, coding excellence, and rapid follow-up stabilize collections

Case Study: Emergency Medicine Group Recovers $2.3M Annually Through Insurance Discovery

Client: Multi-site emergency medicine group serving 3 hospital EDs with 85,000 annual patient encounters

Challenges

What IntegraRCM Implemented

Real-Time Eligibility Verification (REV)

Integrated at every patient encounter with ED registration workflow.

Automated Insurance Discovery System

Searches multiple payer databases using patient demographics to uncover hidden coverage.

Emergency Medicine Coding Specialists

Reviewed all critical care claims for time documentation and E&M level justification.

Same-Day Charge Capture Protocols

With physician documentation reconciliation within 24 hours.

Pre-Submission Claim Scrubbing

Emergency-specific edit rules for medical necessity and modifier usage.

Results (typical outcomes after stabilization)

Note: Results vary by patient demographics, payer mix, and system configuration. We baseline KPIs during onboarding and report progress against SLAs.

Engagement & Pricing Models (Emergency & Urgent Care)

Model Description Best For
Performance-Based (% of Collections) Fee based on monthly collections (typically 4-8%), aligning incentives for maximum revenue recovery Emergency medicine groups, urgent care centers with variable volumes
Per-Encounter Model / FTE Model Fixed fee per patient encounter with full RCM service including verification, coding, and follow-up Single-site urgent care centers, freestanding EDs with consistent patient flow
Hybrid Support Model Base retainer for core services + variable fees for overflow, credentialing, and special projects Hospital-employed ED groups, facilities with seasonal volume spikes

Each engagement begins with onboarding: baseline KPI audit (self-pay rate, denial mix, charge lag), workflow mapping, REV integration setup, and SLA definition.

What Emergency & Urgent Care Providers Can Expect

Most emergency groups see early impact within 30-45 days through insurance discovery and verification improvements, with sustained gains as coding accuracy and denial prevention mature.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What is Emergency & Urgent Care RCM?

Emergency and Urgent Care revenue cycle management (RCM) is the coordinated process of real-time eligibility verification, automated insurance discovery, charge capture for critical care services, claim submission, payment posting, denial management, and A/R follow-up designed to maximize reimbursement despite high volumes of uninsured and underinsured patients.

Q2. How can real-time eligibility verification improve our revenue?

Real-time eligibility verification (REV) at the point of care can increase revenue by 30% to 50% and reduce denials by up to 85% by identifying valid insurance coverage before treatment, preventing uninsured denials, and enabling upfront collection of patient responsibility. This is critical in emergency settings where patients often arrive without insurance cards.

Q3. Do you support common Emergency Department systems like Epic and T-System?

Yes. We align workflows to Epic (ED module), Cerner PowerChart, MEDITECH Expanse, T-System, NextGen, and other emergency medicine-specific platforms—adapting to your charge capture configuration, E&M coding requirements, and critical care documentation workflows.

Q4. How do you handle the complexity of critical care coding?

Our emergency medicine coding specialists are trained specifically in E&M level justification, time-based billing documentation requirements, trauma code combinations, and critical care criteria. We review charts for proper acuity level assignment and ensure supporting documentation meets payer-specific requirements before claim submission.

Q5. What about EMTALA compliance and revenue collection?

We fully understand EMTALA requirements and design verification workflows that comply with federal mandates while maximizing revenue recovery. Our real-time eligibility and insurance discovery processes happen during or immediately after the medical screening exam, never delaying emergency treatment. We help you balance compliance obligations with financial performance.

Q6. How quickly can we see improvement?

Most emergency groups see early impact within 30-45 days through insurance discovery and verification improvements. Revenue recovery typically increases within the first billing cycle as previously "self-pay" patients are reclassified with discovered insurance coverage. Sustained gains in coding accuracy and denial prevention compound over subsequent months.

Request an Emergency & Urgent Care Revenue Assessment

We'll review a sample of encounters, measure self-pay classification accuracy, evaluate insurance discovery opportunities, assess E&M coding patterns, and identify denial triggers—then provide a revenue recovery baseline with recommendations for verification, coding excellence, and denial prevention.

Assessment reports are typically delivered within 10 business days.

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