All large and midsized hospitals are turning to outsourcing corporations for their medical billing and collections
. One common problem that healthcare facilities face is medical billing collection due to dues and debts from patients who are unable to clear bills quickly and due to a back log in insurance claims. These problems further lead to a shrink in cash flow for professionals in medical care.
Reasons affecting medical billing collection
The reasons for medical billing collection being adversely affected are as follows:-
* Patients who are less responsible about paying their medical bills on time.
* Patients with temporary financial problems.
* Difficult clients.
* Patients with no insurance coverage.
It is important for hospitals to identify such patients as mentioned above as early as possible. Outsourcing professional collection agencies is a good idea, since medical billing and collection agencies are well equipped to work with such difficult clients/patients.
How to increase your medical billing collection?
Given below are some of the things you can follow to increase your medical billing collection:-
1. State in clear terms the procedure of payment. Display it in your hospitals so that it is visible to your patients and clients. Let them know the terms and conditions for payment before they avail your services.
2. Seek accurate and detailed information from your patients. Dont be hesitant to get your patients social security pin, this is the most vital information for medical billing and collections agency should you turn the patient to them for medical billing collection.
3. Make sure to verify insurance coverage if any.
4. Mention patients responsibility for payment in clear terms in the patients application.
5. Provide payment options and arrangements for patients who are having financial problems or do not have an insurance.
6. State clearly in application that after a certain period (usually 90 days) of nonpayment the client will be turned over to a collection agency.