Get Even More Visitors To Your Blog, Upgrade To A Business Listing >>

Ways to Increase Collections for Your Medical Practice

The future prospect of Healthcare industry largely depends upon its income generating capacity. Every time, a Patient calls for an appointment of a doctor.

It makes for an earning potential in itself. The billing process begins as soon as a patient registers his requirement over the counter either directly or through the telephone. Customer first searches such things on a smartphone. 

However, latest statistics say that 84% consumer suffers due to poor mobile experience.

The person handling the front office works in any healthcare industry has to be very cautious from the start.

He needs to support the callers and offering them with the right answers according to their requirement.

Any mismatch of a healthcare service provider’s actual works and capacity could largely infuriate a patient, and he might stop taking the service of that firm.

The latest marketing trend says that customers are always ready to pay a high price for quality services.

Around 86% of consumers never refrain from making huge payment if they get superior customer support services too. Here are some super cool ideas for a healthcare firm to enhance its earning potentials.

1) Right and Quality Staff for the Front office Works:

The front office desk staffs are the backbone of a healthcare industry. A patient doesn’t know the doctors or support staff.

His first interaction takes place with a front desk staff, and only if he is satisfied by their conversations, then only they will move forward. 

The American Survey Statistics claimed that 78% of consumers decline a transaction for an intended purchase of goods or service at the last moment due to poor customer support and services.

2) A Uniform Financial Planning Strategy:

Another necessity for a sound fiscal health of any hospital or other Medical service care is astute monetary planning and execution of appropriate strategies for that purpose. The financial strategy and policy of a hospital should be transparent, unambiguous and clear.

Secrecy and unfair trade practice have no place in such an emergency service like medical and healthcare services. Usually, the operation charges and medical consultancy fees should be collected from patients prior to their appointment with the doctors. It’s a standard rule of financial policy that every health organization follows.

3) Proper Documents and Insurance Receipts:

It is the task of a front office executive to ensure that he takes all the necessary documents from the patients before he gets to see a doctor.

Patient’s earlier prescription and health insurance premium paid receipts serve as a ready reckoner for the call executive to know about the previous health history of the patient.

According to the latest call center statistics, the healthcare, pharma and biotech companies regularly face around 13% abandonment rate.

It means that somehow 13% of the phone calls of the patients never reach the front office staff. The healthcare sector has to work a lot towards reducing this figure. Lower the call abandon rate better will be its earning potential.

Abandoned calls literally mean a loss of earning a potential of the company.

4) Vaccines and Immunizations:

A healthcare firm also needs some capable staffs that are ready to perform a variety of tests, including vaccination and immunizations, ECGs and another diagnosis within the premise itself.

Patients must be provided with the medical reports on time.

Obviously, when patients get such facility, it helps them a lot as they get their medical tests done immediately within the premise itself without a need to go to any other diagnosis center.

5) Health Insurance Checks:

There is an urgent need for a medicare service provider to ensure well-qualified desk staff with ample knowledge of the health insurance process.

The staff checks the veracity of such documents and ensures that patients have followed health insurance and produced required receipts.

As of now, the PBS statistics indicate 44-million Americans are currently uninsured. So, the staff should convince uninsured people to get themselves insured and can take a nominal sum from the patients for his advice.

6) Payment Receipt Message:

Once a patient pays the doctor’s consultancy fees to the hospital then it becomes imperative for the front office staff to send him a thank you the message while confirming that the payment has been received.

The basic gist of the matter is the patient should feel happy after each transaction with the medical service provider.

When the hospital treats its patients with utmost care and efficiency then the patients also reciprocate the same to them by making them a part of their permanent emergency solution provider.

Enhance Medicare Facilities and Services to Increase Incomes

Apart from the above revenue generation tips with mostly dealing with the front office staff’s capability of convincing and professional knowledge, there are some other magical remedies too.

Once a medicare service provider follows these practices, it fetches them greater income while enhancing their goodwill across the globe.

Any healthcare firm with a worldwide reputation tends to win the faith of the patients instantly and enjoys a higher reputation as well.

According to a recent survey, by next year, most firms will have to spend 50% of their total investment towards bettering customer support services.

In the case of a healthcare service provider, they have to provide outstanding telephonic support to all patients or callers who want to get medical service from that hospital.

1) Modify the Lag Time:

Lag days can be a make or break factor for a healthcare firm’s earning potential. Lag days are the number of days between the date of medical service provided and the date the charge was entered.

It should be 24-hours or less for outpatient services or 2-day or less for inpatient services. The billing software must be able to compute such things.

2) The Usage of Correct Data and Accounting Figures:

Hospital management should follow the correct procedure with proper documentation. There is no scope for even minuscule error in the medical record of a patient. 

Wrong computing can reduce the patient’s overhead charges, and lead to delay in patient’s payment. Slight error in accounting data can cost the hard-earned money of the enterprise.

It is highly desirable that the hospital website should be accessible on mobiles and smartphones as well.

A source states that 84% of the healthcare service providers claiming themselves to be patient-friendly are availing their websites on mobiles for smart appointment booking with the customers.

3) Usage of Highly Advanced and Superior Medical Devices and Equipment:

A medical service provider should reinvent itself day by day. The use of foremost and ultra sophisticated medical equipment and tools with the state of the art medical facilities is greatly expected.

Best use of the surgical devices and other machinery and health-related tools could lead to better results and patients’ welfare. It could eventually lead to widespread publicity of the health care firm resulting in an inflow of more patients with humongous trust and faiths.

4) Tackling Disputes and Misunderstanding:

A healthcare firm has to be proactive and liberal as well. In case of dispute with patients regarding payment of bills, the hospital should show its generous business policy by letting the patient go without taking the disputed amount.

In hindsight, such things create a favorable image of the firm in the minds of the patients. The research study states that 59% of Americans try new brand customer services.

However, the firm has to equally understand and find out the real cause that could have led to such discrepancy in data.

Disputed matters should be monitored on the monthly basis to determine what led to misunderstanding was it due to the lack of knowledge of the front office staff, arrogance of the patient or was it due to the ambiguous terms and conditions mentioned in the insurance provider’s document that the patient cited?

Direct chat with Health Insurance Company is highly appreciable to get the doubts cleared in no time.

Measuring the efficacy of the organization’s accounts receivable process is an important aspect of running an enterprise.

Computation of the “Daily Net Collection Ratio” throws light on the company’s overall financial health. The process is simple; simply divide the net collections by Net Charges.

If the result obtained is above 90 than the organization is already overseeing its financial management excellently and just needs to continue the good works going.

Source: https://www.outsourcinginsight.com/increase-medical-collections/




This post first appeared on Outsourcing News & Insights, please read the originial post: here

Share the post

Ways to Increase Collections for Your Medical Practice

×

Subscribe to Outsourcing News & Insights

Get updates delivered right to your inbox!

Thank you for your subscription

×