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Measuring the Patient Financial Experience

Mon, 18 May 2020 20:46:04 +0000

Within the last few years, hospitals nationwide have witnessed the rapid rise of the healthcare consumer. Replacing traditional third-party organizations as the primary payer in healthcare, patients have quickly become the new focal point of healthcare finance. As such, hospitals have quickly realized that engaging this new payer segment requires a different approach than what has been done in years past. After all, the rise in patient financial responsibility has made healthcare bills more difficult for patients to pay, and thus harder for hospitals to collect.

In addition to posing a new set of revenue cycle challenges, the recent increase in healthcare’s out-of-pocket costs have also resulted in “consumers demand[ing] more from healthcare organizations.” In fact, according to an NRC Health report, “once an afterthought in a system built around physicians and payers, consumers are now better informed, less patient, and laser-focused on quality and cost.” In response to this development, most hospitals have increased their efforts to ensure an efficient financial process for their patients. Yet, while these steps certainly aim to improve the overall patient financial experience, many facilities struggle to establish a baseline to measure how well their efforts line up with the patients’ actual experiences. Ultimately, it is this experience that forms a patient’s perceived notion of a facility’s quality of care, which then determines how likely a patient is to pay their bills and be loyal to a facility.

While certainly not impossible, there are few things that are harder to quantify than the overall patient financial experience. However, experts at HFMA found that “ [a patient’s] ability (or inability) to understand and comfortably pay medical bills often carries as much weight as the overall quality of care received.” Thus, investing in the initiative to measure patients’ financial experiences is critical for any hospital to thrive in this age of the healthcare consumer. So how can hospitals gauge the effectiveness of their financial processes and accurately measure their patient’s experiences? Here are few key indicators to look out for:

Patient Engagement Metrics

When trying to gauge the overall patient experience, facilities can start by analyzing patient engagement metrics. For example, keep track of electronic bill open rates, call received rates, and mail return rates. Pay attention to when those rates are highest – is it on a certain time of day, or day of the week? In addition, how many financial communication efforts were made following up with patient visits? How many bills, on average, does it take before your facility receives payment? Other metrics may include percentage of click-through rates, average point-of-service collection success, call abandonment rates, and percentage of first bills paid.

Understanding these standards for patient engagement can empower facilities to get a better analysis of their financial communication efforts. After all, patients who understand their bills and financial options are more likely to respond to a facility’s correspondence efforts, which reduces the rate of financial overwhelm. In this way, patient engagement metrics may indicate the state of facilities’ patient financial experience. In response, monitoring such metrics can help facilities tweak their billing efforts to better cater to the needs of their patients and improve the quality of their financial experience.

Patient Reviews

In this age of consumerism, reviews have transformed the way people make decisions and form opinions about certain products and services. The same is true of healthcare. Often, the interactions that your patients and their families experience in healthcare facilities may manifest into online reviews and word-of-mouth. As such, patients’ perceived quality of their overall experience determines whether their reviews are positive or negative. Keep in mind that the revenue cycle process spans from first impression processes, such as registration, all the way through the end of care, such as billing. According to ReviewTrackers, people are increasingly more likely to leave reviews after a patient experience. What’s more, NRC Health found that “patients are using reviews to either accept or reject a new relationship with a provider,” with 37% of patients utilizing online reviews as their first step in a healthcare purchasing decision. Both of these metrics show the importance of monitoring reviews. Not only do reviews provide valuable insights regarding a facility’s patient experiences, they also allow management to address any areas of improvement through future operational changes. That being said, keep in mind that as a healthcare facility, responding to feedback may trigger a HIPAA violation, so simply monitoring online reviews to glean information is often the best course of action.

Patient Feedback

Even without the supplementation of digital metrics, general observation can also provide valuable indication of patients’ financial experiences, though perhaps more qualitative than quantitative. Every day, patients give verbal and non-verbal feedback. From smiling faces to worried complaints to angry expressions, patients’ demeanors can indicate how they are feeling about certain processes. That’s why it is crucial for your front-line financial staff to keep tabs on general patient trends and relay such information for your hospital leadership to address, such as during monthly meetings or through systemized reports. Another way hospitals can keep track of patient feedback is by implementing various research methods, such as surveys, focus groups, and interviews. Keep in mind that while a single feedback isn’t directly indicative of an overall problem, enough feedback of similar kinds can provide valuable context for what your hospital can address and improve on.

Now What?

According to a study conducted by Deloitte, hospitals with better patient experiences consistently see “larger net margins relative to hospitals with low satisfaction scores”, even after accounting for factors such as “hospital size, urban/rural location, ownership type, teaching status, and being part of a system, case and payer mix, and local market HRR characteristics.” With such indicative correlation, it’s no wonder hospitals constantly seek to improve various operational processes to increase the quality of their patient experiences, especially on the financial aspect. Howver, while these are all great starting points, it is also important for facilities to measure how patients are responding to the changes implemented. Getting started with tracking patient engagement, being attentive to reviews, and collecting feedback are all great ways to gather insights and quantify the patient financial experience. Once enough data is gathered, facilities will find that it becomes easier to recognize areas of improvements and make changes where it is most needed. By doing so, facilities will increase the likelihood of patient loyalty, increased revenue, and better patient-provider relationships.

About The Midland Group

The Midland Group’s One Patient. One Touch. One Solution system equips patient access representatives with the personalized expertise to ensure that every patient has a positive financial experience. Here at The Midland Group, we care about the people you serve. Our on-site staff supports your billing office and hospital registration to educate patients on their financial options. We offer a variety of payment options that allow patients to settle their bill, which increases upfront revenue and earns patient trust. Our comprehensive system has been proven to reduce defaults, increase revenue, and improve the level of patient satisfaction of your hospital. Contact us and discover how our patient access services can help your hospital improve patient experience and increase revenue.

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4 Habits of Highly Effective Hospital Staff

Tue, 20 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Building good habits among hospital staff is the key to ensuring everything runs smoothly. The staff is the foundation of any hospital. When everything professionally flows it reflects well not only on employees but also on the hospital’s patients and their families.

The Importance of Immediately Checking All Payment Options

When a patient is first admitted, it is the hospital staff’s duty to check all payment options. A hospital billing specialist must be able to handle the following effectively and efficiently

Patient’s Payment Responsibility: From the gate, the medical billing specialist should immediately grasp the individual’s responsibility for payment. All patient responsibility levels differ but with enough experience and skill, a trained medical specialist will quickly be able to decipher the situation.
Insurance Coverage Analysis: A medical billing specialist will evaluate and analyze the patient’s insurance cover and all relative medical charges. This will help the hospital staff prepare accurate billing forms that are easy to understand.
Collecting Owed Revenue: The job of the hospital’s billing specialist includes collecting accurate payments form the insurance plans and also the patients. If the patient cannot readily pay their balance then an acceptable payment plan must be devised the benefits not only the hospital but also the patient.

Patient Information Must be Filled Out Right the First Time

Simply handing a patient a form and expecting them to fill it out without going over all aspects is a lax behavior on the part of the hospital admittance staff. Ideally, a hospital staff member should sit with the person and go over all parts of the admittance and insurance information paperwork to make sure that everything is satisfactorily filled out. Any gaps or empty questions can make billing and the collection of revenue at a later date difficult and time-consuming. It is better to correctly fill out everything the first time. Valuable time and resources are often wasted trying to gather information that should have initially been entered at admittance. Plus, a hospital will suffer from payment delays if all information is not correct on the forms.

Always Ask the Correct Questions at Registration

Ideally, all hospital registration staff needs to be trained in exactly what questions to ask the patient at the time of registration. If all questions are asked and recorded then the entire process of billing will go much easier than if the registration staff member fails to ask the appropriate question.

Billing Mistakes Happen but Steps Should be Taken to Fix Them

It is often hard for a hospital staff member to acknowledge when they have made a mistake and then take the steps to fix it. Many will simply shuffle the problem away or try to sidestep it. This can ultimately cost time and revenue. Mistakes happen and they should be dealt with promptly by the hospital staff so the entire billing process does not stall.

The professionals at the Midland Group know exactly how important it is to work on building good habits among hospital staff so that everything functions correctly and the hospital gains the maximum about of revenue.

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4 Ways You’re Filing Workers’ Compensation Claims Wrong

Mon, 18 Dec 2017 05:36:32 +0000

Hospitals often lose out on revenue and face costly fines when dealing with workers’ compensation claims. Historically, claims are difficult to handle even when handled by trained billing staff that specializes in the niche. There are intricacies and loopholes that slow down the process and may create costly losses. The hospital staff hours wasted on such billing nightmares becomes costly, fines are often levied, and, ultimately, the hospital ends up losing money if everything is not precisely handled and implemented.

Here are a few frequent ways that the hospital billing staff might be making mistakes with compensation claims and costing the hospital valuable revenue.

Commercial Versus Workers’ Compensation: It is not uncommon for hospital staff to become confused and accidentally bill commercial insurance instead of the workers’ compensation insurance. Such a situation does not only complicate things and slow down the entire process, but it is also illegal.
Billing Errors: Incorrect billing the first time costs the hospital money and might even result in fines. Many times the hospital billing staff will first bill the patient’s private insurance company because the patient provided the insurance card at the time of treatment or admittance. The patient’s private insurance company will then deny the charges because it is a third party workers’ compensation claim and does not involve the private insurance company. The hospital staff must then re-bill the workers’ comp. The entire process can take months to resolve and sometimes litigation ensues. Ideally, the hospital staff needs to follow the required steps to determine if the case is a workers’ comp situation or not before any billing is made. This will save time, money, and prevent costly fines.
Communication Breakdown: Often there is a communication breakdown between the hospital staff, the patient, and the claim process. If the staff in the hospital’s billing department does not take the time to verify the information obtained during the patient’s admittance procedures then the entire chain of communication collapses. This stalls the process and claim costs can dramatically escalate. In the worst case scenario, litigation will become a reality.
Understanding the Laws: All states have their own unique set of laws that cover workers’ comp claims. Often the hospital’s billing staff lack the knowledge and training required to understand the state’s complicated legal system. If the required paperwork is not provided within a certain time frame, which varies by state, then the hospital will fail to get the money owed. This causes costly delays and often cuts into the hospital’s revenue.

Hospitals that want to avoid costly mistakes when it comes to handling workers’ comp claims should call in an experienced vendor such as the Midland Group. The Midland Group has the experience required to handle the complicated issues that often create roadblocks for typical hospital billing staff. Hiring the Midland Group to handle such notoriously difficult claims will help ensure that the hospital receives its revenue and does not suffer ongoing losses. The vendor’s professionals know the state’s particular laws, they always conduct a follow-up, and will effortlessly handle any disputes that might arise. The Midland Group acts as the ideal intermediary between the hospital and the workers’ comp insurer.

Book your free assessment today to see how you can maximize all potential revenue surrounding all types of liability claims.

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Patients are the New Payers: Implementing Front-End, Patient-Centric Solutions

Thu, 09 Nov 2017 21:06:00 +0000

During the last two years, patients have been faced with an almost 30 percent increase in their out-of-pocket expenses and deductibles. Unfortunately, there is no end in sight when it comes to climbing costs. Deductible and out-of-pocket ratios are only expected to rise as the price of health insurance dramatically escalates and many people settle for either no insurance or insurance with astronomical deductibles. Ultimately, hospitals are faced with the realization that they have millions of dollars in unpaid medical bills and that balances will only grow in the near future. In an effort to collect some of the money owed, many hospitals are turning to out-of-the-box, patient-centric solutions that address this era in which patients are truly the new payers.

Patient-Centric Payment Solutions

What are some common patient-centric solutions? This is a new era in patient collecting and payment technology. Hospitals must engage would-be patients early and quickly outline cost transparency prior to services rendered. Each patient’s ability to pay needs to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. At the same time, hospital staff should take the time to explore possible financing and payment plan options with the patient. Without patient-centric payment solutions, many patients will put off paying the amount they owe until it becomes a problem not only for them but also for the hospital who is faced with continuing to try to collect the balance due.

Nowadays, patients should be given complete cost transparency in order to figure out acceptable payment solutions. Cost transparency services offered to patients should include:

Online Estimation Services
Online Payment Plan Management and tools to understand the various options
On-Demand Instruction Support

Online Payments Should be a Standard Option

In today’s electronic age, 62 percent of medical bills are paid online. When polled, it was found that 95 percent of patients would prefer to pay online if given the opportunity. In order to maximize a patient’s payment options and ability, hospitals need to focus on providing optimum online billing and payment access for their patients.

Convenience of Guest Pay

A relatively new option that is providing wonderful patient satisfaction is guest pay. With guest pay, family members, spouses, friends, attorneys, and other individuals can quickly and effortlessly pay on a patient’s bill without requiring access to the patient’s account or records. The option is very popular with 59 percent of patients favoring being able to log on and pay without the hassle of registration requirements and passwords.

The Mobile Payment Experience

Financial advisers and administrators predict that 89 percent of patients will make payments using their smartphones and other mobile devices by the last quarter of 2018. Unfortunately, only 20 percent of hospitals are set up to receive such electronic payments. Most hospitals still remain geared towards only accepting checks, cash, or credit debit/cards via personal contact or traditional billing methods.

The Three High Demand Patient Payment Features

In order to successfully collect balances due, there are three high demand patient payment features that need to be addressed correctly by all hospitals:

Insurance eligibility before treatment is rendered.
Upfront patient out-of-pocket costs must be provided via cost estimation.
Patient payments must be able to conveniently pay.

The professionals at The Midland Group are here to help the hospital staff address all patient-centric solutions so that the hospital ultimately gets paid their balances due.

Tackling the Growing Problem of Rising Patient Costs

When out-of-pocket costs rise, patient debt inevitably rises, too. Give patients a chance to own the solution and watch as you resolve more accounts, day in and day out.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PATIENT PAYMENT PLANS

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Do HSAs Improve Collections?

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 13:00:54 +0000

The goal of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) is for individuals and families to be able to save for, and pay for, healthcare expenditures. While HSAs do offer many benefits for self-pay patients in terms of pre-tax and tax-deductible contributions, in addition to tax-free withdrawals or earnings, the collections aspect of HSAs can present some issues for both self-pay patients and hospitals.

Increased Costs for Patients

In some cases, a HSA may result in higher costs for some medical services for certain patient groups. If a patient has not been funding their HSA, or has been funding a smaller amount, they may have to pay more out-of-pocket because of higher deductibles. HSAs tend to benefit those that pay more in insurance premiums than they do in actual health care.

What About Increased Healthcare Costs?

One downfall of HSAs is that they do not account for the rising cost of healthcare. A self-pay patient’s healthcare could exceed what they actually anticipated. If there is not enough money in their HSA account to cover what the patient expected, the patient may not be able to pay for the medical care. The high-deductible of HSAs might be out of reach for lower income families who might not have enough of a cushion to cover unexpected medical incidents.

HSAs might even cause a shift of costs in the healthcare industry. If healthier people choose to insure with HSAs and non-healthy individuals stay with traditional plans, the risk factor in the traditional plans could change. This, in turn, would increase premiums for employers and patients with traditional plans. The real impact of HSAs is not as apparent as just the rates themselves.

HSAs and Hospitals

Hospitals have different concerns when it comes to HSAs in terms of financial ramifications. Some claim that HSAs could increase their accounts receivable. If hospitals do not manage their HSA’s promptly and correctly, they will have to reconcile accounting or non-payment issues in the future. Therefore, obtaining information on a patient’s insurance coverage under a HSA is important.

Collection on HSAs: Billing Transparency is Key

It is highly recommended that hospitals be proactive in dealing with self-pay patients. Hospital staff should get into the practice of letting patients know as soon as possible what they are expected to pay for the best chance on collecting on HSA patients. At the same time, hospitals need to educate self-pay patients as to exactly what they charge for common procedures and surgeries. Patients in high-deductible plans will know exactly who they will have to pay, whether it be a co-payment or actual claim.

In order to make payments easier, hospitals may also consider getting permission from patients to deduct directly from their HSA debit cards to eliminate the need to mail bills, especially in the case where charges are not known right away.

By explaining to self-pay HSA patients the amount that will be due for payment, hospitals can increase their collection rates for this patient population. Pricing transparency, when available, and better patient communication is key when dealing with HSA patients.

Discover More Self-Pay Patient Solutions

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5 Ways Arkansas Hospitals Can Improve Collections

Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:05:38 +0000

Whether it’s an emergency or a scheduled surgery or test, thousands of residents in Arkansas depend on the local hospitals to be there for them. They rely on the care and treatment they receive at any of the top-quality Arkansas hospitals available. While the hospitals strive to give the best care possible, it takes income and revenue to run the hospitals at peak efficiency. One of the concerns the hospitals have in increasing their revenue is when patients who desperately need care cannot pay for the services provided.

Here are five ways that Arkansas hospitals can improve their collections efforts and maintain the high level of care and service they strive to provide.

Improve Patient Registration Processes

Make sure that when patients are being registered that your frontline employees strive to get the right information from each patient. While you can’t always be sure that it’s correct, starting the process with getting the correct patient demographic information down will help in the collections process later, should it be needed.

Improving the Technology in the Arkansas Hospitals

Going hand-in-hand with improving the patient registration process, consider upgrading the technology your hospital uses as well. Everyday technology is advancing, making it easier and easier to register patients without losing the necessary paperwork or misplacing it during the process. By using technological advancements in the hospital, you can cut down on misplaced files, lost information, and the reduced possibility of collecting funds.

Check Eligibility Thoroughly

Sometimes the eligibility coverage for patients entering Arkansas hospitals can be overlooked. Perhaps there is not enough digging into the coverage that is allowed or it may just be missed along the way. If during the pre-authorization stage coverage is overlooked, it can lead to later problems collecting money for the services rendered. It can also run bad debt up for the hospital itself while leaving a revenue stream on the table left untouched.

Be a Hospital That Accepts Medicaid

Medicaid services help to provide lower income families with valuable health insurance coverage that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford. If you’re not accepting it at your hospital, it is one large revenue stream you’re missing. If you do not accept it, then you could be missing a big piece of collections for the lower income families that you serve. Medicaid isn’t accepted by all doctors and that is where they can run into problems. Adding this option makes collections easier.

Outsource Your Collections Efforts

When you consider what your Arkansas staff faces and handles every day, collections may be on the back burner. A good option to consider is to outsource your collections efforts to a company with experience and time management to handle these delicate situations.

Vendors like The Midland Group can help you to collect the debt owed to make sure you can keep offering the top-quality care and service to all the Arkansas residents you see daily. Allow our team to assist you in giving great care, maintaining the top-level service you’re known for and keep revenue flowing.

Contact The Midland Group Today!

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Top Ways Oklahoma Hospitals Can Improve Collections

Thu, 16 Mar 2017 15:59:36 +0000

There are over 150 hospitals in the state of Oklahoma. Every day, thousands of residents depend on these hospitals to get the care they need, whether it’s a simple test, an important medical procedure or an emergency situation. While Oklahoma patients rely on the hospitals in their state for quality, sometimes lifesaving, care, hospitals rely on their patients for the revenue to provide that care.

Sadly, many patients find themselves with an exorbitant medical bill following their visit, and are unable to pay, which, in turn, affects the hospitals’ ability to maintain and provide appropriate care. There are a few ways, however, that Oklahoma hospitals can improve on collections, helping them to continue serving their patients with the best care possible.

Access to Information

More and more hospitals are investing time and effort into value based care, in accordance with the ACA. A major part of that is billing transparency. Billing transparency allows your patients to know the cost of tests and procedures up front, before they receive care. This way, your patients are empowered to make their own decisions about which tests and procedures they get. Knowing the total cost beforehand also gives your patients the time they need to prepare for when their bill does arrive.

Point of Service Collections

Along with providing your patients with cost information up front, you can take payment, whether it is full or partial, at the time of service. Even a small amount can make a dent in the total your patients will be responsible for when the bill is sent out. Collecting some money right away is better than collecting none at all after billing. And, with a smaller final bill, many of your patients will be more likely to pay later on.

Medicaid Eligibility

Like many other states, Oklahoma offers government funded medical assistance programs, including SoonerCare, Oklahoma’s version of Medicaid. However, many patients do not know that they qualify for assistance. What’s worse, not all doctors accept these plans. And if you have patients who qualify, but don’t know it (or simply don’t take the time to do the paperwork) or don’t accept SoonerCare, you are missing out on revenue, as assistance programs make up a good portion of the revenue of hospitals that do accept them. By accepting SoonerCare, and helping eligible individuals apply, you are more likely to have patients who can afford their medical bills.

Make It Easy to Pay

Checkbooks are becoming a thing of the past. The more forms of payment you accept, the more likely you are to collect. Offer to take cash, credit or debit in office. When you send your bill, offer both checks as well as card payments. Consider a patient portal on your website, allowing your patient to pay when the time is convenient for them. The more ways you have available to pay, the better.

Patients deserve high quality care, but in order to get it, Oklahoma hospitals need revenue. Fortunately, improving collections doesn’t have to be difficult. There are several ways in which you bring in more money, allowing you to provide the best care possible for your patients. And you don’t have to do it alone. The Midland Group is here to help.

We can offer information and suggestions, as well as work with your patients to develop payment plans that incentivize them to pay. Contact us today!

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Why Billing Transparency Will Boost Kansas Hospital Collections

Thu, 23 Feb 2017 00:42:34 +0000

As a part of the shift toward value-based care, states have been instructed, under the ACA, to be more transparent when it comes to their costs. However, only seven states have succeeded so far in achieving passing grades when it comes to making pricing information readily available, despite most states having laws that require the lease of this information. Kansas is among the 43 states who failed, due to not collecting claims data from all patients or not making that information available through their websites.

It’s important for Kansas to get back on track. Here’s why billing transparency is so important and what Kansas hospitals can do to improve collections and boost their pricing transparency ratings.

Engages Patients Early

It used to be that when patients came in for care, they came in, saw the doctor, received their tests and procedures and left. The only time the patient saw anything about costs was when they saw the bill in the mail, after everything was done. Price transparency (letting your patients know the costs up front) allows your staff the ability to engage patients early, offering them the opportunity to pay a portion before receiving care, which helps you to collect what you’re owed and patients to be more likely to pay later since their final bill will be smaller. It also gets the assistance application process started early, evading potential issues later.

Allows Patients to Plan

Having to pay for medical care, especially when the patient doesn’t know what to expect, can be a scary concept. After all, most patients have several other financial responsibilities, so another bill on top of everything else can be stressful. However, by adhering to the billing transparency policies, and disclosing the costs up front, you give your patients the time they need to properly plan for a new bill, and apply for assistance if they need to.

Improves Patient Satisfaction

Not only does sharing pricing information with patients allow them to plan their budget accordingly, it also gives them the ability to be involved in their own care. This can be a rather liberating experience, especially when patients are used to being told that they need to have certain procedures and tests done, no questions asked. Even if patients asked about pricing, chances were that the doctors had no idea. Patients feel trapped, scared, and like they have no alternatives. It could even scare some patients away from seeking medical care in the first place.

Being up front with costs, and making sure that your doctors are educated on the pricing of common tests and procedures gets rid of this added stress. Patients see costs ahead of time, as well as if there are any less expensive options, giving them a much larger role in their own care. This greatly increases patient satisfaction.

What Can You Do?

The reason Kansas, as well as 43 other states, failed when it came to transparency was because they failed to properly collect claim data and then report it on a public website. It is thus important for Kansas hospitals to look at their procedures for doing so. Hospitals need to report meaningful price information, providing a full scope of the provider, including the entire cost of an event, not simply hospital or physician prices. Not only that, but all price data should be included – in-patient, out-patient, and a full list of procedures and services. Finally, all of this information should be made available on a public website.

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Is a Broken Process Hindering Your Collections? Here’s How to Fix It

Sat, 28 Jan 2017 00:38:31 +0000

A broken collections process at your medical organization is a major hindrance to the flow of revenue. These broken processes can be the result of high-deductible health plans, the increased financial responsibility for care placed on patients, or a lack of communication. Whatever the reason, when these issues happen, your ability to collect what is owed suffers. If a broken collections process is hindering your ability to collect payment from your patients, here’s how to fix it.

Define Your Point-of-Service Collections

Point-of-service collections is a term that, if not concretely defined within your practice, can be confusing. Lack of a clear definition and poor communication can hurt the ability of your revenue cycle to work effectively and efficiently. Define exactly what point-of-service collections are from your practice (for instance, any payment received within a set number of days following the date of service) and create benchmarks and best practices from there. It may be difficult, but it will help to create a common understanding among your employees.

Redefine Your POS Collections Policy

Oftentimes, there is no consistency in how your employees discuss point-of-service collections with patients. In most cases, your employees end up discussing only one aspect of the process – some co-pays, others deductibles. Once you have clearly defined what point-of-service collections means for your practice, you have to define what out-of-pocket expenses your patients are responsible for. Arm your employees with the tools they need to give patients accurate estimates for costs of services.

Create a Minimum Collection Procedure

Create a procedure on how your employees collect payments from patients. Establish a written document so that your employees have something to reference and there is no confusion about how things should be done. This document should cover everything: co-pays and all other fees. Once you have everything written down, gather your staff together to educate them on the established procedures. A script on what to say can be helpful. And, to facilitate better collections, you may even consider an incentive program for your employees.

Once your staff is educated, your patients need to be informed of the new procedures. Let them know about the benefits of paying at the time of service. And it is crucial that your patients understand the policy. So, have it easily accessible (hand it out to them when they check in, make it available on your website, explain it over the phone), so that patients can view it whenever they need to. You may even consider having patients sign off that they have received the policy and understand it. Strive for a high point-of-service collection rate, at least 90%.

Hold Your Staff Accountable

Now that you have a minimum collection procedure in place and your staff is educated, hold employees accountable for how they discuss payment options with patients. Doing so ensures a much higher level of service, as well as that your patients understand what they are responsible for.

When your collections process runs smoothly from the first point of contact until well after your patients have left the office, your patients will be more satisfied, leaving them much more likely to pay. This means that your revenue cycle will greatly improve as a result.

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How Billing Transparency Can Boost Hospital Collections

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 00:29:08 +0000

When it comes to medical bills, most patients won’t see the total cost until they receive the bill after services were rendered. For many of those patients, the price tag can be a bit of a shock. Uninsured patients usually know that their costs are going to be high, but they are still blindsided by the total. Even those who are insured can often be a bit surprised, thinking that their insurance covered more than it really did. Most patients are not prepared, or able, to pay for the cost of their care when the bill arrives, which often results in nonpayment, harming your revenue cycle.

While you may only be able to do so much to get those patients to pay, being transparent with your costs prior to care may be one of the best places to start. With transparent billing measures in place, you can expect a greater rate of satisfaction from patients as well as improved collections. Here’s how to do it.

Get Doctors Involved

Most times, when a patient needs care, the doctor tells them what they need done and they do it, no questions asked. Patients just hope for the best possible outcome. Or, if they do ask for the cost, getting an answer can prove difficult. More often than not, doctors don’t know the costs of the tests and procedures they call for. This can scare patients, and they might not seek the treatment they need, assuming it’s going to be out of their price range.

Get your doctors involved. Educate them on the costs of commonly known procedures. This way, they can have an open and honest discussion with patients. If possible, lower cost options can also be discussed.

Make Information Accessible

Not knowing what to expect in terms of cost can be scary, especially if you’re a self-pay patient. You can make getting medical care less frightening by providing rate sheets. Self-pay patients can easily find the cost of visits and procedures and know the total beforehand, giving them time to plan a budget accordingly. For those with insurance, having a listing of common percentages of coverage lets these patients know how much they are responsible for, which can be especially helpful in a time when the plans have higher deductibles.

Patients should be able to get this information easily. They should be able to obtain it in the office or from a phone call. Or, you can add an online cost calculator to your website. This will allow patients to enter in the procedures they need, enter in their insurance, and have their total cost estimated. This type of tool can be very empowering to patients.

Hire an Advocate

Another way to help you be more transparent about your costs is to hire a billing advocate. Advocates are great for a number of reasons. They work with your patients and allow you to stay focused on providing excellent care. They help patients to be more aware of costs and gets them involved in the billing process. They can help patients to plan for the upcoming medical costs as well as help them to figure out a suitable payment plan. In short, advocates help patients to feel more in control of their medical care.

Letting your patients know the costs of procedures up front is a great place to start in helping to increase your collections. The Midland Group can help. We will work with your patients to help them understand what they are responsible for and help them to set up a payment plan that works for the both of you. Contact the Midland Group today.

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