Reforms are continuing to be altered in the healthcare industry, and are affecting practitioners, insurance providers and patients. Deductibles are increasing and patients are becoming more involved and active regarding their insurance plans and payments which can be overwhelming for healthcare practitioners to collect co-pays and balances in a timely fashion.
According to SuccessEHS, only 21% of the revenues from the patients are collected upfront. That means 79% is uncollected. That’s a very large amount for any medical billing service provider. Following are some strategies to implement in order to collect patient balances on time:
Inform:
It is the responsibility of the front-desk staff to inform the patient about their financial responsibilities and collect any co-pays before the medical service is due. The staff should be completely knowledgeable about the various policies implemented by the medical practice. They should also remind the patient about any past-due balances.
Eligibility:
The staff should be aware of the patient’s health coverage, co-pays or other financial liabilities of the patient. Doing so will enhance the chances of submitting a clean and complete claim, along with the reduction of denials, rejections or appeals.
Credit card information:
If PCI guidelines and payers allow, the provider can always keep credit card details for further payments. Co-pays can be made via HSA or credit cards.
Financial options:
Ideally most patients would like to pay their bills on time, but it is not always possible. Therefore, it is advisable to make some financing options available to the patient.
Internal collections:
It is best to collect dues internally rather than get into bad debt and utilize third-party collection agencies, where the original provider gets pennies for the dollar.
Signage:
Having information about payments displayed in all waiting areas can avoid the need of asking the patient to pay upfront.
It is inevitable that there will always be unpaid balances, it is vital to the medical practice to collect revenues upfront. RevPro Healthcare Solutions can help alleviate the headaches and time in collecting payment. Please contact us below or call us at 561-578-8400 with any questions you may have or to request a FREE demo.
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