Effectively collecting from patients, is very important for a financially successful practice. With the deductibles and copays going up, it is critical that the office collects money prior to providing the service.
Here are 4 ways you can help your practice collect more from patients.
Collect at the time of visit: This is a very important aspect of successfully collecting from patients. Please make sure your biller reviews the upcoming appointments at least a day in advance and prepares notes for each coming in patient. You need to have all the data ready for your front desk to collect when patient is in the office. - This includes - copay, coinsurance, deductible, Outstanding deductible, outstanding patient balance from last visit. This will allow front staff to collect the money when patient is in office.
Texting patients the day of the visit: This is one of the best ways to prepare patients to bring in money. Many times, you will hear patients say, I forgot my credit card at home or left check book at home. What you can do is, now most of the EMR allows the flexibility to text patients. Daily around 8 am in the morning text all the patients of how much money they need to pay before the visit. This will have patients prepared. We have many patients walking in stating they received a text for their balance and that they need to pay. This is a very effective way to collect.
Communicate practice collections and past due balances in more than one way. Sending patient statements via snail mail is not the only way to reach your patients. There are multiple ways to reach your patients. Please use at least two different methods to inform patients of their balances. You can email or text patients as well. Allow patients to pay online or via mobile devices. This will help patients pay quickly. Check out solutions that www.collectly.co offers on this.
When all else fails, seek other options. Don't be afraid to look into hiring a collections agency if your internal methods are not working. Please review the patients with 2 or more statements monthly, identify the patients, that need to be send to collection agency. Inform the patient that they will be sent to collection and give them a chance to payoff within 10 days. Many times, this does the trick and you receive the payment. Finally move patients to collection, please note in the system that the patient is moved to collection agency. This will help front desk know what to do if patient has an appointment in future.
Zen Medical Services is a Medical Billing Service in California.We provide Medical Billing and Management Services.to the doctors across the United States.
We help with Physician billing.which includes – Eligilbity, Authorizations, Charge Entry, Payment Posting, Denial Management, Appeal, Patient Statements, Credentialing, Contracting and MACRA/MIPS Reporting.
Sincerely,
Binta Patel
www.zenservices.net