Q&A: Managing chargemaster updates and maintenance

Q: At your organization, how are chargemaster updates and maintenance handled?

Kay Larsen, CHRI, revenue integrity senior charge assurance associate, Adventist Health Glendale, Glendale, California: Our chargemaster resides under the corporate revenue integrity department. We all have access to our individual chargemaster, but we can’t add [charges] or change them. If we notice [an error or missed update], we have to contact corporate for them to correct it or add to it. We have a process where we submit a request to add a new charge per a new CPT® code or new service line. We can price it, but that’s all we have control over.

LeAnn Luczek, CRCP, revenue integrity director, St. Joseph’s/Chandler Health System, Savannah, Georgia: We have responsibility for the hospital chargemaster. As physician practices transition to our EMR, their respective chargemasters also transition to revenue integrity to manage. The lab and pharmacy have responsibilities for their portion of the chargemaster. Although the chargemaster is centrally managed, they initiate the changes, review the quarterly updates, and submit requests electronically for the revenue integrity chargemaster team to finalize. That collaborative approach works very well. We’re working through a process improvement right now to automate requests, making it more efficient.

Editor's note: This Q&A was excerpted from the 2025 State of the Revenue Integrity Industry Report. Interested in more analysis of revenue integrity trends? Register for our free webinar on June 4, 1-2 p.m. Eastern.