Running a clinic comes with a lot of different responsibilities. From patient care to change management, you have a lot on your plate. One of the most important things you have to do to keep everything afloat is manage the revenue cycle.
Understanding your clinic’s revenue cycle means frequently analyzing KPIs (key performance indicators) to check on performance. Although you have numerous metrics to pay attention to, one that you definitely don’t want to overlook is the DNFB. So what is DNFB in healthcare?
DNFB stands for “discharged not final billed.” Basically, it’s a ratio of the accounts held up in billing. Understanding things like denials in medical billing and how DNFB affects your practice is essential if you want to successfully manage the revenue cycle.
What Does DNFB Mean for Your Practice?
DNFB impacts your practice and patient care in several ways. For starters, the higher the DNFB, the worse it is for your practice. This is because if you don’t send out bills, you won’t get paid. Regardless of why the DNFB occurred, these unpaid bills can ultimately harm your practice’s revenue cycle by impacting cash flow.
As a medical provider, you want to do everything you can to give your patients the best care possible. But your practice is a business, and you need sufficient income to provide for your patients and staff. The more DNFB accounts you have, the fewer payments you’ll receive, which spells trouble for your clinic.
What Leads to DNFB?
DNFBs have several potential causes, including:
- Incomplete or inaccurate documents: Poor documentation leads to DNFBs, as it leads to medical coding errors. This can result in a patient receiving bills for services that they never got or never getting a bill for the service they did receive.
- Lack of staff training: If you don’t train your staff thoroughly, they can’t properly follow coding and billing practices. As a result, you have to deal with more billing errors.
- Inefficient billing: A practice with an inefficient or overly complicated billing process will see more DNFBs.
How You Can Calculate DNFB
Once you better understand the basics of “What is DNFBD in healthcare?” you need to figure out how to calculate it. Fortunately, this isn’t difficult.
To calculate DNFB, divide the DNFB accounts (in dollar amount) by your average daily revenue. This will give you a simple metric that you can use to compare performance against other providers in the area.
Ways to Improve DNFB
DNFBs can harm your practice, so you need to be careful with how you manage them. Start an auditing program or create a more streamlined billing process to minimize DNFBs.
Now that you know the answer to “What is DNFB in healthcare?” you can establish bill audit practices and work toward better revenue management. It’s also important to know about the No Surprise Act and what it means for medical bills.
For help managing DNFBs or learning how to handle claim denials, give our PracticeForces team a call at (727) 270-8511.
