Almost half of hospitals senior executives responding to a recent Transunion survey reported a marked (between 6 and 10 percent) growth in bad debt over the past 18 months. Over 25% realized between 11 and 20 percent growth in this key metric.
Additional important information in the survey included:
- Consumer Directed Healthcare Plans are a source of concern for hospital administrators. Almost 80% believe they will be a significant source of additional bad debt by the end of 2010.
- Patient collection goals/concerns took two of the top 3 spots on the leading business goals of hospital administrators. Almost 45% of executives put improving pre- and post-patient encounter collections as their top business objective. Almost 20% have decreasing bad debt as their number one priority.
It is there therefore supremely important to collect well from the patients. Clinics and practices need every tool available (basic and advanced) to streamline what is otherwise a very labor-intensive task:
- Expand your use of the latest generation of on-line bill presentment and payment acceptance services/applications. These latest tools prevent you from ever being unable to accept a form of payment and they can lower your cost of pursuing patient balances.
- Do not allow you credit card readers to be a bottleneck. The latest ones are inexpensive (since they are software based and hook up to a front desk PC). You should have at least two both for backup purposes and to facilitate taking payments from multiple patients at once. In addition, try and use one that converts checks to electronic payments for almost instantaneous processing of checks.
- Put in place a clear policy about paying co-pays (and any other amounts due) on the day of service. Once in place; stick to the policy. If the policy allows patients to be seen without paying amounts due on the service date then make sure they leave the office with the information they need to pay you quickly - a patient statement and an envelope with the payment address.
- Prioritize patient collection efforts by more than just the balance owed. Consider the patients likelihood to pay. A $1,000 balance from a patient that is only 20% likely to pay is worth much less than a $500 balance from a patient that is 80% likely to pay. Elements to consider when accessing likeliness to pay include prior payment history and employment status.
- Use a monthly bonus system for employees that collect patient payments in the office. Make the amount meaningful and the metrics clear and easy to track.
Follow these steps and you can side step the bad debt train wreck.
Copyright 2008. Carl Mays II
Additional important information in the survey included:
- Consumer Directed Healthcare Plans are a source of concern for hospital administrators. Almost 80% believe they will be a significant source of additional bad debt by the end of 2010.
- Patient collection goals/concerns took two of the top 3 spots on the leading business goals of hospital administrators. Almost 45% of executives put improving pre- and post-patient encounter collections as their top business objective. Almost 20% have decreasing bad debt as their number one priority.
It is there therefore supremely important to collect well from the patients. Clinics and practices need every tool available (basic and advanced) to streamline what is otherwise a very labor-intensive task:
- Expand your use of the latest generation of on-line bill presentment and payment acceptance services/applications. These latest tools prevent you from ever being unable to accept a form of payment and they can lower your cost of pursuing patient balances.
- Do not allow you credit card readers to be a bottleneck. The latest ones are inexpensive (since they are software based and hook up to a front desk PC). You should have at least two both for backup purposes and to facilitate taking payments from multiple patients at once. In addition, try and use one that converts checks to electronic payments for almost instantaneous processing of checks.
- Put in place a clear policy about paying co-pays (and any other amounts due) on the day of service. Once in place; stick to the policy. If the policy allows patients to be seen without paying amounts due on the service date then make sure they leave the office with the information they need to pay you quickly - a patient statement and an envelope with the payment address.
- Prioritize patient collection efforts by more than just the balance owed. Consider the patients likelihood to pay. A $1,000 balance from a patient that is only 20% likely to pay is worth much less than a $500 balance from a patient that is 80% likely to pay. Elements to consider when accessing likeliness to pay include prior payment history and employment status.
- Use a monthly bonus system for employees that collect patient payments in the office. Make the amount meaningful and the metrics clear and easy to track.
Follow these steps and you can side step the bad debt train wreck.
Copyright 2008. Carl Mays II
About the Author:
Carl Mays is an expert in medical billing and medical billing companies. He has more than a dozen years of experience with medical billing. Carl has written dozen of articles on important medical billing topics and consults with practices and facilities across the US.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire