A statistic from “2011 Trends in Healthcare Payments Report” reveals that
65% of patients felt that every healthcare organization should offer patient
payment plans! While most organizations are adhering to this demand of
their patients, in hopes of boosting their revenues, they are also coming
across many challenges in this regard. While payment plans are a great way
to raise revenues for the healthcare organizations, but the collection of such
payments is not always simple. Many healthcare organizations across the US
are still struggling with this new payment type. So, here are some best
practices that you can use to simplify the payment process for patient
payment plans.

Automate the Payments:  Managing a calendar for each patient, making
calls when the payment date approaches and then reminding him/her to
make the manual payment is such a waste of effort. The best policy in this
respect would be to automate the payment process, whereby installment
amount gets deducted automatically from the patient’s account. Pre-authorized
payments can cut short the unnecessary follow-up needs.

Automate the Communications:  There are many instances when
automatic deductions can lead to confusions. The patient who has already
pre-authorized his payment forgets this fact completely. He gets a shock
when checking the bank statement and calls you up with an intention to
quarrel. You can save such unpleasant instances by sending automated
emails before the payment is deducted.

Create a Rule:  It is good to offer payment flexibility to the patient. But
the patient payment portal should also have a set of rules too. You need to
set the parameter for minimum monthly payments as well maximum time
limit for complete payment (against the billed amount).

If you need any more help, please refer to our ChoicePay service in regards to
the patient payment plans. It would help you manage the payments easily.

Healthcare revolves around the doctor-patient relationship and the treatments the doctor prescribes. That will always be the most important staple for your practice to uphold, but while word-of-mouth referrals from happy patients can keep new patients coming through the doors, that’s not enough on its own.

Like all other industries, medical practices, urgent care centers and hospitals all need to keep their online presence in mind and actively work to improve it. If you don’t, after all, that practice down the street will, and they’ll scoop up all your new patients in the process. With both the healthcare industry and the marketing industry both evolving quickly in some ways, it’s essential to stay on top of the latest best practices.

1. Everything is Going Online
Remember the good old days of pen and paper? While paper charts are still a thing in some cases, most patient data is going digital—and the patients are starting to expect that. Patient portals are being expanded on and improved, and are a lot more common. Three of my doctors currently have patient portals that allow me to log in to check on my appointments, see all the details of my blood work or other test results, and see the notes that the doctor entered in about my appointment. Even the urgent care providers have a patient portal, which can be immensely helpful if you experience an awful concussion causing bad short-term memory loss for a few days.

For patients who want to be involved in their healthcare and treatment plan, this is a big deal, and in many cases, it makes your job easier in the long run, too. It can also speed up the process—I can actually email my providers through a secure message instead of waiting on hold or hoping to get patched through to a nurse for minor, non-emergency questions. This big step is all about convenience for the patient, and it allows you to better treat them even when they’re not right in front of you.

In the same way, healthcare marketing is happening more and more online these days. People turn to the internet to find healthcare information and to identify which practices they want to use for their healthcare needs. If you want to capitalize on this trend, you need to be marketing your business online.

2. Content is More Prevalent
Doctors are busy people, but hiring someone to tackle healthcare marketing will benefit your business significantly. After all, there’s a lot of terrible information out there (even on popular sites), and there’s a lot of alarmed people Googling their symptoms becoming convinced that the rash from their new laundry detergent is MRSA. If you pay attention, you’ll notice that increasing numbers of healthcare providers and medical practices are starting blogs on their site.

This is a great way to capture clients at the top of the funnel, because if someone is Googling “symptoms of carpal tunnel,” they’re probably experiencing them and could use a doctor’s help. And boom, you’re right there with reliable information and the rest of the site hanging around in the background.

You can keep this content on your site, or even take it to other platforms. Orlando Health has a great series of videos on YouTube where doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners talk about not only their experiences, but what different medical conditions and treatments involve. This demonstration of knowledge can build trust in potential patients long before they see you, and patients must trust their providers to have a successful treatment plan.

Medical billing is the process of submitting medical claims to health insurance companies to receive payment for services offered by clinic, nursing home, hospital or any other healthcare provider. As most insurance companies are reluctant to reimburse insurance claimsnd usually have tendency to lower the cost they have to pay, medical billers play a vital role in managing and boosting the revenue of medical practices. Hiring medical billing services is beneficial for health care practices and health care service providers in many ways:

• Medical billing service providers ensure that a health care facility receives reimbursement for the work performed by them. A knowledgeable biller can optimize revenue performance for the practice. They provide medical billing services to process and follow up on claims sent to health insurance companies for reimbursement of services rendered by a healthcare provider.
• Medical billers assurethat medical office revenue cycle runs smoothly. The duty of medical biller usually vary according to the size of healthcare facility, however, they collect all the data pertaining to medical claims including charge entry, claims transmission, payment posting, insurance follow-up, and patient follow-up.
• They continuously communicate with physician and other health care service providers to clarify all the doubts. However, they do much more than filing the medical claims. They obtain all the information about the treatment to make sure you receive proper reimbursement for every medically necessary procedure.
• Medical billers are responsible for numerous tasks like processing patient data, such as treatment records, patients’ diagnoses and related insurances. Hence, reputed medical billing service providers make use of specialized software to efficiently and accurately manage client information and insurance claims.

Medical coding and medical billing services are lifeline of a successful managed medical practice. Medical billing service provider should be flexible enough to fit into your practice’s current operations. It is important for medical billers to be able to read and understand medical records and be familiar with CPT®, HCPCS Level II and ICD-10-CM codes. Most of the reputed service providers offer CMS, HIPAA, PCI, and Government Incentives Certified Electronic Solutions, so you and your staff has total control and complete access from any computer with Internet access.

Last month, we have identified the most common Revenue Cycle Management critical gaps within medical practices which can be triggered before and after a claim is filed, including:

• Claims are not filed promptly.
• Patient information is not accurate or up to date.
• Claims are sent to the wrong place.
• Coding problems cause rejections.
• Clean claims aren’t paid for 30-120 days by insurance companies.
• Patients owe balances for services not covered by insurance. You become the “bank” and must issue statements and follow up.
• Patients can’t or won’t pay; resulting in write-offs.
• Collection agencies can be bad for patient relations and can cost upwards of 50% of the money collected.
• You have to borrow money to cover expenses while waiting for payments that may arrived in weeks, months, or sometimes – never.
• Some insurance companies refuse or delay payments that are rightfully due.
• Other carriers have low reimbursements that require you to see more patients to net the same money.

To fix these issues, it is necessary to perform a systematic review of every component of the revenue cycle. To begin, have your office staff walk you through every point of patient contact from the initial phone call to a paid claim. You may discover you’ve made assumptions about how things are being handled up front while you’re busy in the back.

Look at every step through the revenue cycle management lens. You’ll see how to
plug many of the leaks that cost money before and during the visit.

Don’t forget to include your back office in the review. Inventory control is crucial, as
well as appropriately treating patients in the most efficient way. After completion of your review, implement these steps to initiate the positive change for your practice:

• Let your staff help you formulate improved systems and office procedures. The people on the front lines always know about problems the boss might not necessarily notice.
• Make employees aware of the factors that stall cash flow. Let them know they have a stake in keeping the practice healthy and profitable.
• Institute simple checklists to make sure all the bases are covered. Make it known these aren’t recommendations, but the expected standard.
• Document the procedures you want implemented and review them with new and existing staff.
• Monitor improvements monthly. Reward the staff for actively improving cash flow and income by using the system, and random acts of efficiency.

Fortunately, there are proven systems to handle the problems stemming from medical claims and patients that owe you money:

• Slash rejected claims from the national average of 30% to an enviable 2% or less.
• Receive the patient’s monthly payments on time for the balances they couldn’t pay at the time of service was provided.
• Collect on the old accounts receivable that you’re about to write off without hiring a lawyer or using a traditional collection agency.

These suggestions are simple and obvious, however it’s easy to simply get stuck in the same old ways, overlooking the reasons for a cash crunch. Medical profession is designed to create cash flow problems. To get the most money into your practice, and most out of it, you must go on the offensive.

To know more about Patient Payment Plans, Patient Payment Portal and Meditouch Practice Management, please visit at www.elitemedbiz.com.

Unlike most other businesses, as a physician or other health care provider, you have several unique challenges that cause tight cash flow, and more often major leaks. Even practices that are believed to be as highly successful, they too can feel the strain of cash- flow problems. Critical cash-flow leaks can be triggered before and after a claim is filed, when any combination of these problems appear in the practice:

• Not enough patient appointments to fill the daily schedule. Typically, this is a marketing problem unless it resulted from lost patients due to alarming operational issues within the practice.
• Failure to pre-authorize claims prior to the office visit rather than prior to filing the claims.
• Not discussing the financial obligation with the patient before the office visit. Unlike during true medical emergencies, patients deserve and expect to be informed about the cost of their care before it is furnished to the patient.
• Failure to double check and update all patient information prior to the visit and upon arrival. This can dramatically slow down reimbursements if there are errors. Also, verifying a match between the patient and the insurance card can catch use by a family member who isn’t covered. Ask for a picture ID for confirmation.
• Inaccurate or incomplete superbill or encounter form. Without the correct diagnosis and treatment information, you won’t get proper reimbursement.
• Failure to make sure all patients check out after the visit to settle co-payments. Patients can unknowingly walk out without paying, assuming insurance will cover the visit. Some knowingly walk out with their superbill or encounter form in hand, making billing impossible. You can also collect co-payments in advance in many cases for routine visits.
• No-shows. Few physicians charge for no-shows because of the fall-out of goodwill between the patient and doctor. However, routine offenders need to be respectfully educated how that behavior adversely affects inability to see other sick patients that could have been helped sooner if missed appointment was available to them instead. Often, a no show can be rectified early with several early automated phone calls, text, and/or email appointment reminders resulting in either confirmation of an appointment or re-scheduling for a next available time. A properly implemented no-show policy and procedure initialed and signed by the patient sets early expectations between the physician and the patient resulting in mutual respect and understanding of mutual responsibilities.
• Lost patients due to poor patient relations or inattention. Each and every one of us, at some point in our lifetimes, came across “that individual” that should have never been allowed to deal with patients or customers; let alone be positioned as the first person setting the tone for the remainder of the patient’s visit at the practice. Management of employee’s bad behavior is not a pleasant task that we all signed up for. However, the approach of “looking the other way” never fairs in a positive outcome. Most patients will keep their bad experience to themselves and will not make us aware of an alarming problem with our employee. Furthermore, disappointed patients will leave our practice, walk across the street to competing practice that they can trust, share their bad experiences with their family, friends, and social media circles. Next thing we know, our bad employee has created and validated bad reputation of our practice which has resulted in fewer appointments and a real threat of the practice closing its doors. Small misunderstandings and big problems can be caught early simply by an implementation of meaningful, independent patient surveys that open channels of communication between the patients and the practice. It has not been uncommon to find valuable ideas and feedback that can lead to improvements ultimately resulting in our patients becoming the best marketing team for our practice.
• Excessive write-offs. The most common write offs in medical practices are contractual adjustments and uncollectible accounts. Write-offs vary for physicians based on who’s paying the bill and the economic status of the local community and its residents.With an HMO or PPO, a practice may lose anywhere between 10% and 36% on regular rates, which depends on the insurance agreement.Uncollectible accounts from self-pay patients can run 5-15% among affluent community, and up to 75% in severely poor areas.

  Medicaid write-offs can be high – over 70% in some areas, and Medicare write-offs are not unusual to be found at around 35%.

  Cash-flow leaks can last a few to several months after the actual visit. Furthermore, a decision to utilize the line of credit to cover immediate operational expenses, result in unnecessary finance charges costing your money and speeding up a debt spiral of the practice. Insurance companies are often not the primary reason of the practice’s cash flow leaks. Often, practices themselves contribute to the problems. Fortunately, there are many ways to speed up payments, collect more of what you’re owed and plug the “internal bleeding” caused within your own practice.

To know more about Patient Payment Plans, Patient Payment Portal and Certified Medical Coding Service, please visit at www.elitemedbiz.com.

Guard Profits, Reduce Errors
Wouldn’t it be great if you had the ability to maintain the highest level of compliance while actually increasing your reimbursement rates?

According to the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC), at a minimum, the external coding and chart documentation audit should be conducted annually and more often if problem areas have been identified. Without outside “peer reviews,” errors, along with whatever else your coder does-not-know becomes institutionalized and can be extremely costly in terms of lost charges and reimbursement over time. No payer will ever send payment for more than was billed because they identified an omitted code.

Our comprehensive AuditGuard service makes coding and chart documentation audit a breeze.

With AuditGuard, our certified medical coding auditors will provide a thorough review of your medical coding, billing, and reimbursement processes helping identify leaks in your reimbursements and revenue. We can identify areas of risk for your practice and even provide training for chart documentation techniques ensuring coding and documentation compliance and improving your workflow.

Once the audit is performed, you’ll be given a detailed report and a consultation with an AuditGuard specialist. We go beyond a simple error report and actually recommend corrective actions. We can even provide the support and training to implement AuditGuard solutions.

Focus on Patients, Not Paperwork
If you are excited by the prospect of a “no headache”, end-to-end medical billing service that still allows you full control of your patient records, we have the solution you are looking for.

Our Top Ranked Medical Billing Services help you:
Utilize knowledgeable and experienced staff
There is no doubt that an outsourced medical billing services is the key to accelerating financial growth of your practice. With over twenty years of healthcare knowledge and experience in revenue cycle management, our staff provides an unparalleled medical billing service and consulting to physicians and medical groups in Illinois and across the nation.

Get your claims paid fast
Because most of our claims are paid on first submission, you will get the funds more quicklyand directly from the payer. Also, our medical billing service has one of the lowest rejection rates in the industry, so you will have fewer unpaid claims.

Enjoy real-time access :
Our system is web-based, so you have 24/7 access to your data from any computer, tablet, and phone with an internet connection. That means you can view the real-time status of every aspect of your revenue cycle-anytime and anywhere.

Utilize better reporting for better decisions :
With our system, you can access all of the reports in real-time with the touch of a button. Outsourcing medical billing functions to us gives you the ultimate control and the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) data that you need to make the right decisions for your practice.

Choosing an electronic medical records solution can be a frustrating process. Our EHR system partnership is a customized solution that will parallel the current workflow of your practice and gives you a revolutionary way to manage patient’s health.

Our Top Ranked EHR system seamlessly keeps your electronic health records accurate, integrated and up to date, while making your compliance reporting a breeze.