Collecting payments on a patient service is sometimes easier said than done. Prompt patient payment is not always the case for hospitals, and accounts that go unchecked can put a strain on the hospital's cash flow, adding to its bad debt. Michael Glass, district manager at Transworld Systems, shares three simple things a hospital can do to make payment collections more efficient when trying to contact and bill the patient.
1. Prompt hospital contact. Hospitals have the main responsibility of sending out billing statements to patients promptly after service or treatment is administered. Sometimes, if a patient has not paid, a hospital needs to see if the patient has actually received an invoice or statement, Mr. Glass says. Being quick and on time with the initial invoice is the logical first step, and hospitals need to be certain that they contact the patient quickly and that patients understand the financial and collection policies.
2. Accelerated automated contact. An automated program that provides accelerated contact to patients can greatly increase payment collections after the initial invoice, Mr. Glass says. This involves the automated program contacting patients every five days with a reminder invoice and phone call. "One of the keys to helping cash flow in the revenue cycle is finding programs that put invoices or contacts at a faster pace," he says. In the faster-paced society of today, which revolves around consistent access to email, Twitter and other media, an uptick in the frequency of payment reminders help ensure so payments don't get lost in the shuffle. "As long as the services provided have been good, people should not have a hesitation to pay for the service," Mr. Glass adds. "The key is to bill timely and contact consistently so the patient understands the importance of their obligation."
3. Third-party contact. If patients ignore their initial invoice or phone calls as well as other reminders, Mr. Glass says that's where a third-party contact from an agency can significantly improve results. To improve the success rate of a hospital's cash flow, he suggests that hospitals or practices consider third-party written contact between 90 and 120 days after the initial invoice, when it's obvious the patient is delaying payment. He adds this method can increase patient response and payment by as much as 30 to 60 percent.
Most collections attorneys and agencies also charge a percentage of the revenue collected, but automated reminder and written third-party contact programs do not take out those percentages, Mr. Glass adds.
Trying to duplicate these efforts with in-house staff could be costly, and Mr. Glass says having programs that are able to send out reminder invoices in an automated fashion can lead to cheaper costs for hospitals in the long run. "Hospitals want to stay focused on taking care of patients, setting up appointments and sending out the initial invoice," he says. "They don't want to focus on collections or delinquency. Automated contact programs are key to the cash flow."
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1. Prompt hospital contact. Hospitals have the main responsibility of sending out billing statements to patients promptly after service or treatment is administered. Sometimes, if a patient has not paid, a hospital needs to see if the patient has actually received an invoice or statement, Mr. Glass says. Being quick and on time with the initial invoice is the logical first step, and hospitals need to be certain that they contact the patient quickly and that patients understand the financial and collection policies.
2. Accelerated automated contact. An automated program that provides accelerated contact to patients can greatly increase payment collections after the initial invoice, Mr. Glass says. This involves the automated program contacting patients every five days with a reminder invoice and phone call. "One of the keys to helping cash flow in the revenue cycle is finding programs that put invoices or contacts at a faster pace," he says. In the faster-paced society of today, which revolves around consistent access to email, Twitter and other media, an uptick in the frequency of payment reminders help ensure so payments don't get lost in the shuffle. "As long as the services provided have been good, people should not have a hesitation to pay for the service," Mr. Glass adds. "The key is to bill timely and contact consistently so the patient understands the importance of their obligation."
3. Third-party contact. If patients ignore their initial invoice or phone calls as well as other reminders, Mr. Glass says that's where a third-party contact from an agency can significantly improve results. To improve the success rate of a hospital's cash flow, he suggests that hospitals or practices consider third-party written contact between 90 and 120 days after the initial invoice, when it's obvious the patient is delaying payment. He adds this method can increase patient response and payment by as much as 30 to 60 percent.
Most collections attorneys and agencies also charge a percentage of the revenue collected, but automated reminder and written third-party contact programs do not take out those percentages, Mr. Glass adds.
Trying to duplicate these efforts with in-house staff could be costly, and Mr. Glass says having programs that are able to send out reminder invoices in an automated fashion can lead to cheaper costs for hospitals in the long run. "Hospitals want to stay focused on taking care of patients, setting up appointments and sending out the initial invoice," he says. "They don't want to focus on collections or delinquency. Automated contact programs are key to the cash flow."
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