Paying for medical treatment is often the least anticipated thing for many patients when it comes to medical care. But for you, it’s probably one of the most important ones. However, streamlining and maintaining an effective billing process can be complex and tricky. Nevertheless, it’s essential that you keep this process in good condition so that you receive the money for your services at the time of service as often as possible. In order to help you do this, we’ve compiled 3 things your healthcare practice can do to improve your billing process.
1. Keep patient files up to date
We can’t stress this enough—verify your patient information, from address and contact information to insurance coverage and credit card on file. Do this every single time a patient comes in for a visit. While it may seem a bit like overkill, we promise you, it isn’t. Having accurate patient information on file will serve you well when it comes to needing to track down a patient to ensure their bills get paid. Having old information on file is essentially useless. Always request your patients to fill out updated information and scan their most recent insurance cards so you have copies on record.
2. Monitor claim denials
It’s surprisingly easy to let claim denials slip past you and miss out on hundreds of thousands of dollars that you could’ve claimed if your claims were accurately completed. There are so many margins for error when it comes to making claims. Having a thorough review process to identify any coding errors, payer errors, missed deadlines of medical necessity denial in your claim submissions will lower your denial rate. This will help your healthcare practice move toward positive cash flow, if it isn’t there already. And more often than not, it improves the billing process.
3. Improve your quality control
Follow up on your claims after they’ve been approved. It’s important to track your cash flow and check your balances for accuracy by keeping a deposit log for all receipts. This helps you ensure that you’re receiving the right amount of payment from all your customers. Have somebody review your deposit log regularly to double-check that your patient name, account number, check or cash receipt number, amount, and treatment date are, in fact, correct.
A smooth billing process is the first ingredient in a recipe for success at your healthcare practice. Our Frost-Arnett team is trained and equipped to help your healthcare business maximize your recovery and preserve your patient-provider relationships. Are you looking for help improving your medical billing process? Give us a call at 1 (855) 287-7043 and let’s get started.