The medical field has never been so competitive, so it has never been more important for clinics and hospitals to have accurate billing processes in place to stay viable. Medical billing specialists are critical to the success of your health care business. Studies have shown that an organization can save up to 25% by increasing the productivity and accuracy of its claims process. You need a medical billing partner that will do the heavy lifting for your organization so that you can focus on what truly matters. There are a couple of ways in which you can improve the medical claims billing process, and we’re going to highlight some of them.
Clarifying The Collection Process
It’s important that you’re open and transparent with patients right from the onset. Patients need to be aware of what is involved with the services provided and the payment terms. The process for clearing up any confusion with regard to the cost of services should be clearly defined.
If you have a set payment procedure, you need to ensure that it is communicated effectively. You should also define your policy regarding balance collection procedures. Having a written policy will help patients to understand what steps need to be taken if they are delayed in paying the bill.
Optimizing Your Billing Process
The only way you know if your billing process is working effectively is by understanding what your patients are thinking and going through when they are receiving care. You need to gauge their reactions through surveys and other means. This will allow you to optimize the claim filing process. You’ll find out how you can improve your patient care and improve your revenue cycle management system.
There are some basic billing functions that ought to be automated. You shouldn’t waste man-hours on tasks that can easily be automated with the right systems in place. When it comes to medical billing, you should examine your processes to see how to automate the job and free up your employees for more important tasks.
Invest In An Enterprise Claims Management System
Enterprise Claims Management is a collection of best practices that are designed to reduce the amount of time it takes for your organization to process claims. The goal of Enterprise Claims Management is to ensure that your organization can spend less time on manual tasks and more time focusing on delivering high-quality care.
According to the studies, over 50% of medical practices have some sort of ECRM tool in place. Of those practices, 75% have at least one tool in place for claims adjudication. The price for this type of software is typically lower than the price of purchasing a self-service claims platform. An ECRM solution can be used to solve a variety of processes working with accounting, collections, billing, and other key areas within your organization. In order to automate claims processing tasks, all of the steps in each claim should be tracked in one central location.
Improve Quality Control
You need to make sure that claim errors are significantly reduced or eliminated completely. With the help of software, you will be able to maintain a consistent level of quality control in your claims processing. You will certainly see an improvement in the accuracy and efficiency of clearing payments and minimizing errors that may arise in the process.
Following Up On Delinquent Claims
You need to have a policy in place that addresses how to follow up on delinquent claims. Delinquent accounts have a major impact on your bottom line, and they should be dealt with in a timely manner. It’s important that you stay persistent and get results. You should contact a patient who has not paid their bills in a timely manner to understand the importance of making payment arrangements if they have trouble coming up with the money. This is also important for building a good rapport between your business and the patients you serve.
Outsourcing Problematic Collections
You should always be looking to improve your business processes in any way possible. If you are having trouble with collections, you could consider outsourcing your accounts receivable duties to an outside party. The level of accuracy that will be maintained when it comes to collecting funds would be beneficial in any medical billing company. You should also take advantage of this idea if you need additional assistance from a third party on a more personal level and on an organizational level.
If you work in the medical billing field, you know that the best way to bill a claim is to do it correctly from start to finish. Mistakes can happen at any step – from entering the information on the claim form up through submitting it and then following up with a patient’s insurance company for payment. Understanding how each of these steps can lead to mistakes will help ensure that your billing process is as efficient as possible.
7 Practical Strategies in Choosing In-House Medical Billing Software for Your Practice