Why Are Patient Statements Necessary for Improving RCM Practice?

patient statement services

Due to the current healthcare system, hospitals spend a lot of time and money on patient statements. To achieve this objective, most healthcare organizations hire full-time employees whose sole responsibility is to process patient statements. Sending medical invoices to patients, supervising their printing, and handling other logistics comprises patient statement services. On the other hand, some individuals opt to have other technology companies execute the procedure by offering patient statement services to increase its success and efficiency.

After receiving the patient’s statement, the physician must overcome hurdles to persuade the patient to go to the next level. In the next sections, we will discuss why patient statement services are important for practices. So, continue reading to get a deeper understanding of billing statement service.

Patient Statement Services for RCM Practice

A patient statement is a medical bill delivered to the patient via standard mail or the Internet. If you provide medical services, you spend a significant amount on mailing patient statements. You may even employ administrative staff whose primary responsibility is medical billing.

Patient statement services can improve how the patient statement is presented and help the patient comprehend what they must do to pay their bills so that office costs can be effectively handled.

The cost of the patient statement paper can accumulate. For instance, it would be incredibly costly for your organization if you want to remember a patient and send them a paper invoice, and you have 63 patients. In addition, if medical practices wish to save money, they must migrate to electronic statements. To ensure that providers receive as much payment as possible, they must improve how they provide patient statements.

Since there are so many health insurance plans with large deductibles, patients are even less likely to pay their portion of the payment. Therefore, service providers must enhance how they educate patients on their duties. One way they can accomplish this is by maintaining current patient statements with the assistance of billing statement services. If physicians can improve the quality of patient statements, they will see more patients pay their bills on time, which benefits the practice’s CM.

Importance of Patient Statements

Patient-friendly billing methods must be used to enhance RCM in medical offices. Suppose doctors create billing statements that are simpler, shorter, more accurate, and easier for consumers to comprehend. In that case, their reputation will likely improve, and they will receive more referrals and positive evaluations.

Healthcare organizations are compensated depending on what patients pay, which is the most crucial reason for patient statements’ importance. After the appointment, the front desk relays pertinent information to the health insurance provider. The insurance company will evaluate each treatment and therapy to determine which charges are covered. Moreover, patient statements are also necessary for patients to comprehend payment procedures.

Finding patient balances, running custom reports, maintaining records, and creating and mailing patient statements can be time-consuming and unpleasant for the medical provider and office personnel. Patient statement services make this procedure simpler and more effective by removing inherent difficulties.

Patient statement services reduce administrative costs and increase the revenue from patients. Billing statement services involve generating easily-understood patient statements and mailing them to patients while maintaining correct records to comply with requirements.

Tips to Improve Patient Statements

Tips to Improve Patient Statements

Improve your practice RCM by advancing patient statements through these tips:

  • Make it accessible

Ensure that your organization’s name and logo are prominently displayed on the patient statement enclosed in the envelope. This will prevent your patients from discarding the statement inadvertently. You might use colorful writing to attract the patient’s attention and make it easier for them to recognize instantly that this is a medical bill.

Most bill payments are made online, and the accompanying statements are accessible online. It is reasonable that medical providers offer written patient statements, but they must also provide alternative access ways. Patients with digital information access are more involved in their healthcare. This will pay for their medical expenditures.

  • Create a safe method of paying with a credit card

Frequently, a patient’s daily payments are made online, and most invoices are paid using a credit card or debit card. Traditionally, credit card coupons for patients were included at the bottom of printed patient bills. However, this exposes the consumer’s banking information to fraud. When individuals often used credit card coupons, their information was more likely to be stolen while it was being delivered. Although providers must still be prepared to offer a quick and easy alternative, patients can continue to pay with credit cards. This can be achieved by allowing patients to purchase via your patient portal. Patients can use their credit cards to make secure online payments if a doctor employs the right technologies. This increases the frequency with which you receive on-time payments. On your patient statement, you should see all of your payment options.

  • Make sure to clear away clutter

Your patient refuses to pay despite receiving a paper copy of their bill in the mail because they need help understanding it. People not accustomed to receiving medical bills may find it difficult to interpret the information. Bringing the patient’s financial obligations to their attention will help to resolve the issue. Providers should emphasize the patient’s financial responsibility. If there is clarity regarding who is responsible for paying the bill, it will be easier to collect payment from patients.

  • Keep in mind the importance of specifics or details

Providing patients with as many opportunities as possible to comprehend the items on their medical bills is the most effective way to reduce the number of difficult patient collections. Patients are more likely to make payments on time if their patient statement is unambiguous and they know the exact amount they must pay. Inform your patients about payment plans, alternate payment methods, and late payment penalties. When your patient has difficulty paying their medical bills due to unanticipated medical expenses, informing them about their bill will offer them peace of mind.

See Also: Best Practices When Outsourcing Revenue Cycle Management

Conclusion

There are numerous reasons why patient statement services are essential. Nonetheless, they constitute an indispensable component of practice RCM. Practices can benefit greatly from the assistance of billing statement services in collecting more money from patients and managing the revenue cycle.

Patient statement services assist physicians in determining how to manage their finances. Physicians must adhere to industry best practices to collect patient balances without confusing patients.

In case you are struggling with the billing process, Precision Hub is here to help you out. Our team of experts makes the entire billing procedure simple and efficient. Let us handle billing and statements so you can focus on your specialty, providing quality treatment. To know more about our valuable services, book your demo.

Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) Strategies to Improve Practice Revenue

revenue cycle management strategies

Introduction

The Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) strategies implemented by your medical practice will determine, influence, and transform its revenue. It includes how claims are handled, how patients pay, and how internal billing functions. If these techniques are not used, it may be difficult for clinicians to maintain a high proportion of clean claims and accurate billing. Using RCM strategies help maintain the regular income of your medical business and generate a steady income stream. Therefore, providers should consider the possibilities and techniques to generate additional revenue for their practices by employing RCM strategies.

Continue reading this post to learn about revenue cycle management best practices. This article reveals the revenue cycle management strategies. These strategies help in improving revenue cycle management.

Revenue Cycle Management Strategies

The below revenue cycle management strategies are important for improving the revenue.

  1. Difficult Patients

Since high-deductible health plans are gaining popularity, customers bear a greater portion of their health care expenses. It can be difficult for physicians, especially small-practice owners with limited financial resources, to receive payment from patients for their services. If you do not receive payment from patients at the time of service, the likelihood of getting the money back decreases weekly. The effective way to get payment from such difficult patients is to ensure they are eligible for all their benefits and programs. Before each visit, you must have a current report on each patient’s insurance coverage. You can use the eligibility and benefits report to determine whether or not your insurance will cover the scheduled treatments, how much your copayment will be, and whether or not you have any remaining deductibles. Before a patient arrives for a consultation, you can discuss their out-of-pocket expenses and payment options. It will need less money and time, and you will receive more patient payments in less time.

  1. Clean Claims

A clean claim contains no incorrect or missing patient or insurance information. Your success rate for clean claims should ideally exceed 95%. When an insurance company receives as many error-free claims as possible, it increases the likelihood that the claim will be processed on the first attempt, which expedites payment. Your claim could be denied for various reasons, including incorrect insurance information, incorrect DOS, incorrect patient information, incorrect billing information, non-payable diagnosis codes, incorrect NPI, etc. It would be best if you streamlined the front-desk duties to increase the number of clean claims. It will require obtaining and validating patient and insurance information before the planned appointment. You can compare patient data and insurance information if you create an account on each payer’s provider portal. It is among the important revenue cycle management strategies that will ensure that your claim is as error-free as possible. You can access this data with a single click when using billing or clearinghouse software from certain businesses. By streamlining all billing activities before submitting a claim, achieving a clean claim rate of greater than 95% is simple.

  1. Billing Software

Tailored billing software helps in improving revenue cycle management. It is crucial to choose tailored software. The billing software that does not offer tailored solutions cannot meet the prerequisites of specialty-wise medical billing. Contrarily, specialty-specific software helps providers access tailored billing tools. These include claim filing and coding tools that help optimize the practice’s revenue. An important beneficial feature of such software is that it notifies diagnosis codes that are non-billable, leading to claim denial. With timely notification, the software reduces the chance of denied claims; thus, it helps in improving RCM.

  1. Patient Scheduling

Improving patient scheduling is among the most important revenue cycle management strategies. It plays a significant part in improving the revenue of the medical practice. When patients miss their appointments, the practice’s finances are severely impacted. If providers can reduce the number of patients who miss their appointments, they will be able to bill for more completed services, provide more follow-up treatment, and spend less time waiting for no-shows. Using high-quality integrated practice management software and a patient portal can improve scheduling. Providers can improve the number of appointments they schedule and significantly impact the profitability of their medical practices by utilizing the appropriate software.

  1. Multiple Payment Options

You must accept various patient payment methods to be paid on time. Patients need the ability to pay their medical costs online or over the phone. If this option is unavailable, patients are more likely to forget to pay their medical bills or not pay them at all, negatively impacting your practice’s revenue. Another strategy is to keep their credit card details for recurring payments like copayments or deductibles. The most effective method for collecting payment from a patient is to give them a cost estimate before the visit and request payment at the time.

Revenue Cycle Management Best Practices

Following are the revenue cycle management best practices that help in improving the revenue of your practice:

Patient relationship management: Better patient relationship management is crucial for healthcare practices to maximize RCM. If the staff goes above and beyond to ensure patient satisfaction and cultivates positive relationships with them, patients are more likely to remain loyal to the practice. It is among the revenue cycle management strategies that help in increasing revenue. Many patients find the process of paying medical bills to be difficult. The more a patient discusses this issue with the staff, the more probable it is that the patient will pay the provider.

Eligibility and Prior Authorization: You can collect more money from patients if you inquire beforehand about their copayments and deductibles and provide many payment options. The first step to effective RCM is ensuring that the patient has insurance at the time of enrollment. Prior authorization and coverage requirements are becoming more stringently enforced by insurance companies. Prior authorizations and eligibility checks can be performed automatically to help optimize clinical procedures, accelerate the revenue cycle, and reduce the time front office personnel spend on this task.

Timely Filing of Claims: Numerous healthcare organizations do not always submit their claims on time, missing the filing deadlines. In the event of missed deadlines, claims cannot be paid, and therapeutic services must be wiped off. It is essential to implement procedures to guarantee that deadlines are reached.

See Also: What Is Coding and Revenue Cycle Management?

Conclusion

By employing Revenue cycle management strategies, a practice can generate more revenue, but it requires a team effort, not just the efforts of a single physician. Your receptionists, billers, and medical coders should all be able to assist you in the same manner. You can also hire Precision Hub (PH) expert services to manage your billing requirement.

At Precision Hub, we will handle all your responsibilities so that you can concentrate on caring for your patients. These include insurance coverage reports, prior authorizations, payment posting, denial management, and accounts receivable management.

Contact us and learn how we may assist you with RCM procedures and increase the profitability of your practice.