For medical practices such as yours, revenue cycles have been majorly impacted by changes in the healthcare industry in the last 10 years. Not only have Medicare and Medicaid reduced physician’s reimbursement, but the submission requirements on claims have become a lot more strict.
If you are not on top of your game, it is very easy to lose out on large amounts of money owed to your practice. No doubt you already have a thought-out process for medical billing, but there are always ways to improve.
Revenue Cycle Improvements
To help you spruce up your system, we have compiled a list of 6 ways to optimize your practice’s revenue cycle.
1. Document What Is Due From The Patient Before and During The Event Of Service.
The healthcare industry spends around $315 billion a year on:
- Claims processing
- Payments
- Billing
- Debt
- And other issues inherent in unhealthy revenue cycles
To ensure that your practice is not participating in these faults, it can help to request for your patients to take care of their portion of the finances with you before and at the time that they receive treatment. As a medical provider, you should have already proactively established that the patient is able to cover the treatment, so requesting this should not cause you or the patient any trouble.
2. Take Measures To Make Sure Patients Are Well Informed.
When the payment amount is presented to the patient, they should be educated on exactly why and how they are financially responsible. The more information they have, the easier it will be for them to move forward with reimbursement.
3. Make Sure The Amount You Are Requesting Is Accurate.
The health provider should be well aware of the exact amount the patient owes and why. If an inaccurate amount is requested from the patient, your practice will face follow-up expenses and other possible bills that could lead to large losses of money. To ensure that patients are being charged adequately, you can use software to estimate the expenses necessary for the treatments or procedures that will be provided.
4. Instill A Method That Keeps Your Medical Billing Procedures On Point.
Those who are handling your medical billing processing should have continuous education and know what resources must be used to code accurately as the industry is continuously changing.
5. Don’t Overcomplicate Things.
The more your statements can be consolidated the better. Find a way to keep things organized into a simple system. There are several software platforms that you can utilize to manage your revenue cycle. Simplified forms and processes will help you keep an eye on the receivables to ensure nothing is slipping through the cracks.
6. Outsource Your Billing.
If you cannot accomplish the above 5 tasks on your own you should consider consulting with and/or outsourcing your billing to a reputable medical billing company. By doing so, you will be partnering up with billing experts that know exactly how to process medical claims for your services and they will ensure that reimbursement is collected. This venture should not be looked at as hiring, but more so partnering, as you will collect much more with the partnership.
In Conclusion
Your first priority is to help your patients, but you cannot provide this service for free. It is up to you to keep your practice’s reimbursement level healthy, and it is not as difficult as it may seem. For more information on medical billing and how it could optimize your practice’s revenue cycle, please contact us here.
