Tips to Maximize your Medical Billing and Collections for Hospital

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Tips to Maximize your Medical Billing and
Collections
Reap the benefits of a successful and profitable
medical practice is not possible without
efficient medical billing and collection
processes. However, every year it becomes more
challenging to collect payment from both patients
and insurance companies. This is mainly because
of rising documentation requirements and an
increasing amount of patients that are
responsible for a portion of their medical bills.
Health systems leave uncollected revenue on the
table every day due to process errors in billing
and collections no surprise since the process
is arduous and complex. Requirement complexity
is on the rise, new reimbursement models are
introduced every year, and biller productivity is
difficult to measure and manage. Medical billing
companies are facing big challenges and a growing
number of denied claims.   How to maximize
medical billing and collection for the hospital
is a growing concern? Tips to maximize medical
billing and collection Establishing the Clear
Collection Process
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Tips to Maximize your Medical Billing and
Collections
One of the easiest ways to improve your cash flow
is to collect as much as possible from each
patient at the time of his or her service. You
can keep the patient informed by checking patient
eligibility prior to each appointment, handling
any services that require pre-authorization in
advance, and setting expectations with each
patient by notifying them of the co-pays that are
due at the time of service. Posting signs
throughout the office letting patients know that
payment must be collected upfront will help as
well. Purchase an Efficient Medical Billing
Management Software System Medical
billing software can streamline your collections
process by tracking past due bills, automating
late fees, and identifying patients who are
behind. Although purchasing medical billing
software comes with a price tag, it could save
you a significant amount on internal billing
resources and boost your payment collections
rate.   Train Your In-house Staff for the
Follow-ups Provide your staff with scripts on how
to deal with overdue accounts. Even though the
staff might be frustrated by repeated attempts to
contact the patient, they should always be
courteous and respectful. Make sure all front
office staff knows when to prompt patients about
unpaid bills, and can provide patients with
information on practice rates and methods of
payment.
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Tips to Maximize your Medical Billing and
Collections
Attract Them with the Option of Various Payment
Plans Payment plans can be a good option if your
patient population is motivated to pay but just
cant pay the whole bill upfront. Consider
offering this option to patients who are
receiving larger bills and say theyre unable to
pay the full amount right away. Contact Your
Slow Payers Frequently Re-think how often you
contact your patients for the unpaid amounts. If
your staff can manage the task, try doing a
follow-up once a week instead of the standard
once a month. Consistent, regular contact can
demonstrate your persistence and convince
patients its time to pay up. However, do call or
contact during business hours only and always be
courteous. You want to be persistent without
harassing the patient. Medical specialties like
radiology or pathology may need to change certain
parts of this process to better suit their
business, primarily because theyre less likely
to see a patient face-to-face to discuss billing
responsibilities. In this case, procedures must
focus more on new-patient orientation,
validation, and notification rather than
discussion.
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Tips to Maximize your Medical Billing and
Collections
Have a Routine Meeting to Review Your
Finances You cant drive improvement in your
payment collections unless you track and manage
your results. Make reviewing your payment
collections a standard part of your regular
financial meeting. Analyze your progress and
determine which strategies are working, and which
arent. Repeat this process at least monthly.