Improving Your Practice’s Front Desk Collections

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Improving Your Practices Front Desk Collections
Timely collection of patient payments is equally
important as collecting insurance reimbursements.
In the past few years as more and more patients
are adopting High Deductible Health Plans
(HDHPs), patient responsibility has increased
exponentially. The most reliable source of
patient collections is when they are in the
office. So, up-front collection of patient
payments at the time of visit becomes crucial,
emphasizing the increased importance of the front
desk team in revenue cycle management (RCM).
Practices faces challenges like they are
understaffing, lack of insurance coverage report,
patients are not aware of their payment
responsibility, and many other. In this article,
we will discuss improving your practices front
desk collections while efficiently managing front
desk challenges. Improving Your Practices Front
Desk Collections Upfront Patient Payments
Collections Collect a patient co-pay, unpaid
deductibles, and past-due balances in the office,
at the time of the visit only. It becomes really
difficult to collect patient responsibility once
they leave the clinic. If the patients are unable
to pay at the time of service then request them
how they would like to pay. Proper training of
front desk staff is critical to accomplishing
this goal. You have to maintain a fine balance
between collecting payments and
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Improving Your Practices Front Desk Collections
patient satisfaction. Train them with sample
scripts on how to ask for payments politely, so
your front desk staff is prepared to have the
conversation. Whether it is on the phone while
collecting patient information or at the time of
service, asking for payment and making the
patient aware of their financial responsibility
is critical. Its always beneficial to post your
policies on your website or social media account
to set expectations. Keeping Credit Card on
File In some cases, it may make more sense to
bill patients at the end of their visit, as
delivered services/ procedures might differ from
what was originally scheduled. Having a credit
card on file can help in collecting complete
payments from patients in this type of situation.
Most practices call this a Credit Card on File
Program (CCOF) where practices look to collect
patient portions with patients consent. Before
collecting patients credit card information, you
have to take their consent and explain the
payment plan. Clearly communicate that you will
deduct a set amount from their credit card on a
given date each month until their balance is paid
in full. Offering a credit card option is going
to increase patient collections and lower your
recovery costs. Keep Updated Insurance Records
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Improving Your Practices Front Desk Collections
Keep your existing patients insurance data
updated and for new patients, get this data well
in advance. Otherwise, it becomes more difficult
to keep track of which patients are responsible
for co-payments, and how much is due at the time
of their visit. Its important to get your front
desk staff into the habit of asking whether the
insurance information on file is still valid, in
addition to requiring new insurance forms to be
filled out on a yearly basis. By putting such
procedures into place, your practice can
efficiently manage co-payment collections on a
daily basis. Eligibility and Benefits
Verification Eligibility and benefits
verification is the preliminary and most
important process of medical billing. With the
eligibility and benefits report, you will be
aware of the insurance coverage report,
co-payments, unpaid deductibles, prior
authorization requirements, and remaining
benefits. Its advisable to conduct eligibility
and benefits checks, at least 1-2 days prior to
patient visits. In the case of non-covered
services, you can communicate with patients and
if available ask for updated or secondary
insurance details. Activities 3 Days in Advance
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Improving Your Practices Front Desk Collections
Front-desk staff should review the accounts
receivable for each scheduled patient 3 days
before the patients appointment. Patients with
balances that are still outstanding should be
given reminder calls or emails about the amount
owed. Have a system in place so that when the
patient calls, the staff member can remind the
patient about the outstanding balance. Patients
who have larger balances due and those who have
long-standing balances should be asked to deal
with these accounts to keep their
appointments. Improving your practices front
desk collections is possible with systematic
tasks and a well-trained team. We can assist you
if you are struggling to collect patient
portions. We can share patient coverage reports
along with co-pay, unpaid deductibles, and prior
authorization requirements if any. Medical
Billers and Coders (MBC) is a leading medical
billing company providing complete revenue cycle
services. To know how we can assist you in
improving your practices front desk collections
and our complete medical billing and coding
services, email us at info_at_medicalbillersandcoder
s.com or call us at 888-357-3226.