Start in-house. Did you know that patient copays make up about 20% of a practice’s revenue? If you haven’t been making revenue management a priority, you need to start.
As deductibles and copays continue to rise, patients frequently face bills they are unprepared to pay. And when patients don’t pay, revenue suffers.
On the other end, medical practices are struggling to implement a proper plan to receive patient payment. On average, only 60% of collections are being captured by medical practices. That’s a whopping loss of $400 for every $1,000 dollars a practice should be receiving!
In addition to a patient revenue solution, consider a solution to cash flow and claim rejection issues. ClinicAnywhere has some time-tested tips and software available to help your practice improve its revenue cycle management.
#1: Clearly Define Payment Rules
In order to begin improving patient collections, start with the payment rules themselves. Create a payment policy that defines your patient’s requirements. Guidelines should include acceptable forms of payment (cash, checks, and/or credit cards), deadlines, late fees, payment plan options, and procedure costs.
Be as specific as possible. Patients cannot contest a clearly defined payment plan. Additionally, the more specific the payment rules are, the less awkward it is to follow up on a late payment, making management of cash flow a lot less arduous on your billing staff!
#2: Go Online
Accessibility is key to upping the percentage of reimbursement your practice receives, and what is more accessible than the Internet? In today’s technology-driven world, an increasing number of consumers have turned to online bill payments for the sake of convenience.
Allow payments via your Patient Portal. You will save money on resources by forgoing paper billing, your cash flow will improve, and you’ll increase the Meaningful use of the Patient Portal.
As defined by Medicare, Meaningful use, stage 2 must be met to avoid a 1% penalty. The rules state that 50% of a practice’s patients must have online access to their medical information, and that 5% of these patients must be actively engaged on the patient portal. Providing online payments could be the answer to bypassing Medicare’s amercement.
Beyond the Patient Portal, the ClinicAnywhere software solution allows for easily customizable, robust reporting and integrated document management. Minimize delinquency by ensuring accurate and timely statements. Invest in the right revenue cycle management solution for your practice today.
#3: Hire a Medical Billing Company
Improving your practice’s revenue cycle management methods can be difficult. No practice likes having to resort to collections to get paid, and working with a medical billing company like ClinicAnywhere can minimize the amount of billings that reach that point.
ClinicAnywhere can help you improve your revenue cycle management! We have a history of helping our clients not only improve their data management but also reduce claim errors and rejections, shorten accounts receivable days, and boost profitability. Contact us today!