Revenue cycle management is the process used by healthcare systems in the United States to track the revenue from patients, from their initial appointment or encounter with the healthcare system to their final payment of balance. The cycle can be defined as, "all administrative and clinical functions that contribute to the capture, management, and collection of patient service revenue." It is a cycle that describes and explains the life cycle of a patient (and subsequent revenue and payments) through a typical healthcare encounter from admission (registration) to final payment (or adjustment off of accounts receivables).