8 Tips for Excellent Hospital Accounts Receivable Management
Your Hospital Accounts Receivables (AR) department is the heart of your practice's financial health, but is it operating at peak efficiency? Improving Hospital accounts receivables administration is simple, and it will pay you handsomely in improved revenue from fewer claim denials and time spent on repetitive chores and rebilling.
Improve your Hospital Accounts Receivable and your cash flow
A high Hospital Account Receivable impedes cash flow and, as a result, the operation of your practice. Here are eight things you can do to improve your Hospital Account Receivable:
Tip1: Produce Hospital Account Receivable Documents
Run Hospital Account Receivable reports every month to keep track of Hospital Account Receivable trends and changes. These reports should include aged receivables so that you can monitor the status of older bills. To determine billing schedule difficulties, run these reports from the service date rather than the billing date. The MGMA prefers to see no more than 20% over 90 days. This number will, of course, differ depending on:
• Specialty
• Practice size
• Payer mix
So, one must keep these factors in mind while going for Hospital Account Receivable.
Tip2: Follow-up on Outstanding Accounts
Patients who owe money should be notified on a regular basis. If they continue to ignore these reminders, have your office call them. Phone calls are harder to ignore than letters. If your client ignores both, you may need to use the more severe collecting tactics of a collection agency.
Tip3: Boost Billing Cycles
Medical offices frequently mail bills once a month, which has an impact on cash flow. Try mailing patient bills once a week and insurance bills twice a week. The sooner a bill reaches its intended receiver, the sooner it may be paid.
Tip4: Closely examine claims
Gather your team and review your assertions for accuracy and completeness. Claim mistakes raise Hospital Account Receivable. Proofread your claims before submitting them. To catch clerical and minor coding errors, most software applications and clearinghouses feature "claim scrubbing" functions. However, be certain that your billing staff is auditing beyond these basic issues.
Tip5: Check Your Insurance
Before a new patient comes, make sure they are covered by their insurance for the treatment. Once you've validated their eligibility, figure out how much they'll owe depending on their co pays and deductibles. Notify them ahead of time so that they know what to expect.
Tip6: Investigate Write-Offs
Examine each potential write-off before sending it through. Determine which circumstances, based on money amount, medical procedure, and so on, necessitate approval. Before you write off an outstanding balance, make sure you've exhausted all other payment methods.
Tip7: Receive Payment in the Office
Make it a requirement for each patient to pay their co-pay before leaving the office. This will reduce old receivables and bad debt. Require your employees to produce a record of co-pays collected so that you may immediately identify outstanding payments.
Many providers estimate benefits before surgery and request a deposit of the full estimate or a fraction of it. Patients are becoming acclimated to this protocol because it is followed by the majority of clinics. Some offices are also implementing a "card on file policy," which requires patients to retain an active credit card on file as well as an auto-run policy.
Tip8: Billing can be outsourced
Hire a medical billing business to alleviate stress and handle your Hospital Accounts Receivable. Outsourced billing businesses code and review your claims for errors, follow up on denials, and improve your cash flow.
Key takeaways
Enlisting the assistance of a medical billing agency is the first step toward increased financial stability and improving Hospital Account Receivable. They can help you increase practice revenue and meet your financial goals by providing experienced employees that are knowledgeable in specialty-specific billing. The specialized staff will manage:
• Back office
• Billing tasks
• Rework on Hospital Account Receivable
• Ensure claims are appropriately submitted
• Send patient statements and collection letters
Partnering with a competent medical billing firm can help with Hospital Account Receivable management and other associated responsibilities.
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