Focusing on patient insurance eligibility and collecting pay from patients before care can help healthcare organizations maximize revenue, according to Tom Romeo, general manager of healthcare IT at Quest Diagnostics.
Mr. Romeo shared the following tip with Becker's Hospital Review:
"By pre-determining eligibility and practicing time-of-service collections, providers can maintain a healthy cash flow. Coach front desk staff to verify patient eligibility with the insurance company the day before the appointment and to scan patients' insurance card and ID when they check in. If there's an issue with ineligibility, the front desk staff can leverage approved scripts to ask the patient to call the insurance company right then, have them pay their copay or deposit up front, or reschedule for a later date when the issue is addressed. Today's patient is also today's payer."
If you would like to share your RCM best practices, please email Kelly Gooch at kgooch@beckershealthcare.com to be featured in the "RCM tip of the day" series.
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