Collecting new deductible payments for medical services up front can be uncomfortable, but it is something that needs to occur for the cash flow within your medical practice to be moving in the right direction. With many patients’ deductibles starting over at the beginning of the year, the team at Merem Healthcare Solutions wants you to understand just how important it is for the front office of your medical practice to take payment when signing in a patient at your practice.
Handling the Collection Process from the Start
The goal of your medical practice is to provide high-quality, healthcare services in a caring and comfortable environment. In order to do so while offering state-of-the-art equipment as well as pay for experienced team members, you need to have a positive cash flow happening within your medical practice.
Let’s take a look at three ways your medical office can efficiently handle patients’ deductible collections upfront without sacrificing quality care or seeming “uncaring” by patients.
Establish a Collection Policy
One of the best ways to increase cash flow for your medical practice in the new year is through establishing a collection policy for your office so that all patients are aware of what is expected upon their arrival. This collection policy will not only help your patients but also your front office staff so that it is seen as just that – policy – and not of team members lacking sensitivity toward patients.
While there are other avenues in which medical practices receive funding, such as insurance companies, a patient’s payment does make-up a good amount of the overall total. A collection policy can assist medical practices in avoiding non-payment by patients who visit for medical care.
Train Front Office Staff Appropriately
While it might be beneficial to train all medical team members on how to properly accept payments from patients, it is definitely wise to ensure optimal training is given to front office team members, especially since they are the first person a patient sees and the person most likely to be asking for/collecting payments.
Train your front office team members on
- How to handle requests for payment.
- And, what to do should a patient become angry about needing to pay upfront.
In addition, it might be best practice to teach front office team members on giving patients a heads’ up during reminder calls on how much will be due at the time of arrival. This way the patient is already notified and aware of how much the office visit will be when they come for their appointment.
Consider Offering Financial Assistance
Chances are high that your specialty medical practice sees uninsured and underinsured patients. Therefore, your medical practice should consider offering financial assistance to those patients who qualify, especially since this program can help both you and the patient.
For most specialties, offering a financial assistance program, such as Care Credit, from the beginning of treatment is a lot easier to collect payments rather than trying to get financial assistance for a patient after he or she has already been treated. As a result, your medical practice could end-up not receiving payment at all.
Merem Healthcare Solutions offers services for every step in a practice’s revenue cycle management. We can start from the beginning from credentialing and end with payment posting once an account has been satisfied. We offer a wide range of solutions which include auditing, billing, coding, consulting, credentialing, payment posting, practice management, and patient pre-collections training. Check us out on our website or feel free to call us to see how we can help run your practice like a well-oiled machine – (205) 329-7519.