Medical billing collections usage is growing, due to many doctors, hospitals and other medical practitioners deal with constantly growing past due delinquencies, as a result of slow and non-paying patient accounts, as well as back-logged insurance claims.
Along with over 40 million Americans without any health insurance, a slow economy due to recession, and growing unemployment, means shrinking positive cash flow for medical professionals.
With that in mind, there are some things you can do, which if put into consistent practice, you can greatly improve your internal medical billing collections. The use of these six tactics will greatly improve your financial picture.
1. Make sure you have a clear terms of payment procedure visibly posted at the front of the office. New patients need to clearly understand what they’re expected to pay upfront, regarding co-pays, etc. This needs to be clarified BEFORE service is rendered.
2. Its vital to collect ample and accurate client information at the first visit to the doctor’s office. Gather the patient’s full name, birthdate, address, work, home and cell phone numbers.
Gather their employer information: address, phone number, work title, supervisor, etc.
The point is the more information you can get here, the better. While some patients may be hesitant about giving their social security number, its still a good idea to ask for it, in the event the account has to be later turned over to a collection agency.
3. If the patient has private health insurance, its important that you verify coverage at this point. The hectic pace of the doctor’s office during peak times shouldn’t be an excuse for ignoring this crucial step. Verifying coverage here will save you, and your staff, many headaches later.
4. In the initial patient application, you need to detail clearly the patients’ responsibility to pay. You might also want to consider adding language that in the event the account is turned over to an outside collection agency for lack of payment, the patient will be responsible for collection costs.
Some states allow the business to recoup their costs for hiring an outside collections agency. This has to be clearly stated upfront in the original patient-signed application. (Be sure to consult with your attorney about this, as state laws vary)
5. Make payment arrangements available to those experiencing financial hardships. As many patients are uninsured, or under-insured, allowing them to make reasonable payment installments over time gives them options, as well as generate cash flow to your practice.
6. Know when its time to relinquish those difficult problem accounts, and turn them over to a debt collection agency. As discussed earlier, many patients are facing greater financial burdens, because of higher unemployment, a slow economy and recession, making it increasingly difficult to pay for the high costs of health care.
Most people want to do the right thing and pay their debts. But let’s face it: others are less responsible. By implementing the before-stated procedures, you can better identify the patients going through temporary financial straits. Payment arrangements, and continual communications can address those problems.
However, the non-paying, more difficult clients need to be identified earlier as well. These are the accounts that should be outsourced to professional collection agencies, since they are better equipped to work with these types of accounts.
Failing to do so only means wasting valuable time, money and labor dealing with these difficult clients. Time is an important factor, in that the longer your account goes unpaid, the lesser the likelihood of ever getting paid. By turning these over earlier, you greatly increase your chances of at least getting some money.
A good general rule thumb you should observe is after 90 days of no payment, medical billing collections should be outsourced to an outside collection agency.
These simple, but very important tips are very effective in shrinking your medical billing delinquencies. Put into consistent practice, you can greatly improve your medical billing collections.
David P. Montana is a mentioned specialist, organisation specialist in addition to contributor in the business of debt collection agency services. He features further options and strategies relating to medical billing collections.
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Tags: accounts receivable, billing, business, collection agencies, credit, Debt, Debt Collection, Debt Management, finance, hospital debt, medical billing, medical billing collections, medical collections, medical debt