Introduction
Once a medical practice bills a patient for the provided services, the amount delivered by the patients to the practitioners is called AR (Account Receivables). It can be classified by the time of patient billing. If your practice is in AR for 20 days, it means that you have not received payment of 20 working days.
Practice with a healthy cash flow has the highest proportion of AR initially and then it tends to decrease going forward. Numerous medical professionals experience loss of revenue due to high account receivables.
A high AR disrupts the consistency in cash flow as well as the medical practice. In this article, I provide 8 ways in which practitioners can maintain successful medical accounts receivable collections.
1. AR reports
The practitioner must have a complete understanding of all the advancements regarding AR recovery services by creating and visualizing AR reports every month. These reports include the latest medical accounts receivable so the practitioner can compare it with the previous bills.
The practitioner must monitor these reports by looking at the date of service provided instead of the billing date to visualize the billing schedule problems. The management team has a margin of error of 20% for over 3 months. This statistic will deviate as it is based on payments and practice dimensions.
2. AR Follow-ups
Patients having outstanding balances must be given reminders. If they ignore these reminders, the practitioner can follow-up via phone call. A phone call is easier to catch attention than the letters. If the patient is ignoring both these methods, the practitioner must utilize better tools of a medical accounts receivable collection agency.
3. Increase billing cycles
Usually, the medical workplaces mail bills every month which hampers the consistency in cash flow. The practitioners must deliver the patient invoices every week to ensure quick payment of bills.
4. Visualize claims properly
The practitioner must associate his resources to a strict follow-up on the claim submission procedure and visualize his claims efficiently. An increase in claim errors automatically increases AR. The practitioner proofreads the documentation, examines the payer’s policies and goes through the details on medical claims before claim submission.
Certain innovative billing programs possess adequate tools to identify and rectify the coding errors. The practitioner must make sure that the billing staff is utilizing these programs comprehensively to minimize any coding errors.
5. Insurance
The practitioner must verify if the incoming patient is permitted to receive the treatment. After the verification of permission, the practitioner must visualize how much they owe depending on copay and deductibles. He must keep the patient aware of everything related to medical accounts receivable before the appointment so the patient has a complete understanding of what to expect before interaction.
6. Write-offs
The practitioner must prioritize the review of each write-off before sending it. He must know the circumstances (process, financial) that need confirmation. He must ensure to eliminate all external options before he writes-off an unpaid amount.
7. Appropriate collection of payments
The practitioner must set a requirement that every patient must provide their copay before leaving the workplace. This minimizes poor receivables as well as recovering bad debt. The staff must collect adequate copays and deliver it to the practitioner. Therefore, the practitioner can recognize troublesome payments appropriately.
Numerous medical practices are creating payment policies which make the patients accustomed to it. They are utilizing a card policy which ensures that the patients put an active credit card on file as well as create an auto-policy. That auto-policy ensures that all the unpaid amounts over a month will be accessed through that active credit card on file.
8. Outsourcing
A practitioner may consider the choice of outsourcing medical billing services to minimize the workload and manage his medical accounts receivable. These organizations monitor the claim procedure, follow-up after claim denial and bring financial stability.
The companies with whom a practitioner outsources account receivables possess adequate account expertise which in-house billing lacks. This causes them to implement AR activities efficiently. It allows the billing staff to make strategic plans for growth which improves morale as well as productivity.
Conclusion
The medical industry is changing continuously. To ensure that your organizations fulfill their regulations, the billing organization and the practitioner must keep things in check. They must maintain successful medical accounts receivable collections to bring financial stability. The company must provide effective services to get the best out of medical practice.
Our medical billing agency is fully aware of the trends of the healthcare industry. Our understanding of AR recovery services has improved our reputation over the years. We provide healthcare facilities of all dimensions to ensure the efficiency and completeness of the account data. If you want to learn more about our cash programs as well as our services, contact us today.