Medical billing collections use is growing, as many doctor's offices, medical facilities and hospitals confront ever-increasing past due debts from slow paying patients and 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.
Given that prognosis, there are a number of things you can implement to increase your internal medical billing collections. By putting these six tactics into place, you can greatly improve your financial bottom line.
1. Be sure you have a clear payment procedure, placed visibly at the front of your office. New patients need to understand clearly what, if any, payment is expected upfront, in regards to co-pays, etc. This should be understood BEFORE rendering service.
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.
Get their work information: address, phone number, their title or position, supervisor/manager, etc.
Clearly, the more information you can get here, the better. While some patients may balk at giving their social security number, its still a good idea, especially if the account has to be turned over later 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, be sure to clearly detail the patients' responsibility for payment. You might also consider including language that should the account have to be turned over to a collection agency for non-payment, the patient will be responsible for collection costs.
In some states, the medical practice can recover their expenses for hiring a collections agency. But it has to be stated in the original patient-signed application at the beginning. (Be sure to check with your attorney about this, as state laws vary)
5. Allow patients to make payment arrangements for those going through financial difficulties. Because so many are either uninsured or under-insured, making reasonable payment arrangements via installments gives them more options, and greater peace of mind. It will also help generate cash flow to your practice.
6. Know when its time to turn problem delinquent accounts over to a debt collection agency. As covered earlier, rising unemployment, a recession and slow economy, and lack of health coverage has caused greater financial burdens for some patients, making it more difficult to pay for 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.
With that, the more problem, non-paying clients have to be identified earlier as well. These are the ones to be outsourced to professional collection agencies who are better equipped to handle these types of accounts.
Failing to do so means wasting valuable time, labor and money dealing with difficult accounts. You can't afford to waste time here, because the longer an account goes unpaid, the lesser the likelihood of getting paid at all. By placing these accounts earlier, you greatly increase your opportunity for getting a great deal, or at least some of your 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 procedures are simple, but they're very important. And they can prove very effective in reducing your medical billing delinquencies. If you put these into consistent practice, you will greatly improve your medical billing collections.
Author:David P. Montana
Source:http://www.articlecity.com/
