Medical billing collections is increasing in usage, as many physician practices, medical clinics and hospitals face ever-growing past due debts from slow pay patient delinquencies and backed up insurance claims.
With nearly 47 million Americans not having any private health coverage, a sluggish economy caused by a recession, as well as increasing unemployment, spells diminishing positive cash flow for medical practitioners.
Given that, there are a number of things you can do to improve your internal medical billing collections. By implementing these six tactics, you can greatly improve your financial bottom line.
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.
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 to turn over delinquent accounts to a debt collection agency. As mentioned earlier, lack of health insurance, rising unemployment and a recession has placed greater financial strains on some patients ability 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.
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 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.
David P. Montana is a documented specialist, business organisation business advisor as well as contributor in the subject of debt collection services. He offers further information and strategies relating to medical billing collections.