Supply chain and revenue cycle managers may see black and green when it comes to investing in and using information technology to manage the item master and chargemaster files. Even though a growing number of organizations are linking their IMs and CDMs, more have yet to make the connections that can lead to financial stability.

Optimizing the integrity and usefulness of a healthcare organization’s electronic record of products, commonly referred to as the item master, can make or break an annual budget. Through data management tools, data scrubbing firms or partnering with group purchasing organizations and suppliers for assistance, supply chain management departments are renewing efforts to fortify their item masters as more hospitals link them to chargemasters on the revenue side of operations.