Managing the billing process is a necessary part of a healthy practice. The process of collecting from clients and insurance is as high a priority as exceptional patient care.
As an outsource medical billing provider for more than two decades, we’ve learned efficiency within your office, from the front desk to the billing office, is the key to success. Whether you outsource your medical billing or do it in house, these proven tips will help keep your 90+ days A/R in check.
Helpful Tips:
- Verify insurance. This may seem elementary, but it’s surprising how many clinics do not check eligibility before a patient arrives in their office. Making the verification check part of the appointment process for a new patient can prevent unwanted surprises for you and your patient. Additionally, an online registration tool can help your office efficiently collect this information.
- Ask for payment at the time of service and make it easy for your patients to pay. Accept credit cards at the office and online. Make sure new patients know co-pays and deductibles are due at the time of service. If you’ve taken to heart suggestion #1, you’ll know how much your patient will owe out-of-pocket, which reduces confusion and makes the payment process simple.
- Be accurate when submitting claims. Mistakes in coding is one of the top reasons claims are denied and accounts age past 90 days. The inefficiency costs accumulate with each submission as the office has to resubmit a denied claim due to error.
- Don’t wait to submit a claim. It’s easy to do when the office is busy, but allowing a claim to sit for a day, a week, or even a month only costs your clinic money. Early submission means early payment.
- Work the claim. Sometimes, even when you’ve submitted everything perfectly to insurance, it gets denied. Check your denied claims and work the process to ensure you get paid.
If your medical office’s billing department needs streamlining, it might be time to outsource. Hiring medical billing experts will help you get paid faster and gives your staff more time to focus on patient care. Plus, it often costs less to outsource than to keep it in-house, so it’s an affordable choice for many clinics looking to improve the management of their billing.