Improving Practice Collections In 5 Easy Steps

1
Improving Practice Collections In 5
Easy Steps
2
Improving Practice Collections In 5 Easy Steps
Running a financially stable medical practice is
a challenging task. With the added challenges
from the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in billing
guidelines and reimbursement policies, things are
getting tougher over time. Medisys Data Solutions
is a leading medical billing company providing
complete revenue cycle solutions for practices of
various medical specialties. As we are working
with various practices, we observed key processes
that need to be improved for a better collection
of practice revenue. In this article, we shared 5
easy steps that will help you in improving
practice collections. Even though the
below-mentioned list is not inclusive, these 5
easy steps are good points to start
with. Improved Scheduling Improved patient
scheduling plays a key role in improving medical
practice revenue. Many practices face high
numbers of no-show visits that negatively impact
their bottom line. Whatever might be the reason,
whether patients are forgetting, or having low
levels of patient loyalty its clear that the
scheduling workflow is not working. By reducing
no-shows, providers bill more for completed
services, complete more follow-up care with their
patients, and are not wasting their time when
their patients do not show up. Most billing
software offers patient scheduling feature that
comes with easy client communication option like
text messages, emails, or chats. With improved
scheduling, practices can improve their
scheduling numbers, reduce no-shows, and
positively impact their practice collections.
3
Improving Practice Collections In 5 Easy Steps
Improve Front Desk Activities Your front desk
staff handles key revenue cycle processes like
patient registration, benefits verification,
patient collections, and payment follow-ups.
Efficient and well-trained front desk staff
ensures the above-mentioned RCM activities are
completed as planned and in the most efficient
way. They should be trained in collecting
payments and explaining the reports of the
benefits to patients. Front Staff members should
inform patients of any balance theyre carrying
and explain the available payment options. Your
front desk staff should also make it clear to
your patients that theyre expected to pay their
balance before their next appointment. You can
create a script that staff members exactly what
to say can make them more comfortable in dealing
with overdue accounts. Its also vital that your
staff always remain courteous and respectful,
regardless of the number of times they contact
the same patient about an unpaid bill. With the
rise in High Deductible Health Plans (HDHP),
patient responsibility is increasing
exponentially. You can start tracking patient
collection reports on a weekly basis to track the
performance of the front desk team. As the front
desk represents your practice, improving front
desk activities will ensure better patient
collection and could result in higher patient
satisfaction. Improve Clean Claims As per
standard definition, a clean claim is a medical
claim that is submitted correctly the first time,
leading to a faster turnaround on payment than
when a claim is rejected or denied. Submitting a
clean claim directly relates to how quickly a
provider receives payment from an insurance
provider. By collecting accurate patient
demographics and insurance information, the front
desk staff lays the groundwork for clean claim
submission.
4
Improving Practice Collections In 5 Easy Steps
Practices can maximize their clean claims rate to
protect and optimize timely payments and
positively impact their medical practice revenue.
A standard deadline should be decided to submit a
clean claim after the patient visit. You can
submit a claim within 48 hours after the patient
visit, try to submit a clean claim within 24
hours of the patient visit. Transparent Payment
Policies Patients are often blindsided by medical
bills they havent included in their budget,
which is one of the biggest reasons that
healthcare providers have such difficulty in
collecting payments. Its especially important
for medical practices to inform patients of the
exact cost of a procedure so they can determine
if they can afford it. Transparency also means
that your waiting room needs signs that clearly
state your payment policy. Plus, your patients
need more payment options if you want them to
make more payments. Patients want to pay their
medical bills just as they would pay their rent
or their electric bill, online or over the phone.
Without accessible options like this, patients
will forget or even avoid making payments on
their medical bills, negatively impacting your
medical practice revenue.
5
Improving Practice Collections In 5 Easy Steps
Partner with a Medical Billing Company The
biggest challenge in running practice is
retaining well-trained and expert staff. When you
are focussed on improving practice collections in
5 easy steps, your staff plays a crucial role,
because as a practice owner, you cant do
everything on your own. Partnering with a medical
billing company ensures that you dont have to
worry about day-to-day billing activities.
Medical billing company like Medisys Data
Solutions handles complete medical billing and
coding activities like benefits verification,
prior authorization, charge entry, payment
posting, denial management, AR collections,
provider credentialing, and enrollment. As a
practice owner, you just have to check the
billing reports to understand billing status
i.e., paid claims, unpaid claims, pending AR (day
wise), patient collection, insurance collections
(payer wise/procedure code wise/patient wise),
clean claim percentage, denied claims, top 5
denial reasons (payer wise, patient wise), and
other RCM data. To know more about our medical
billing and coding services, contact us at
info_at_medisysdata.com / 302-261-9187
6
(No Transcript)