With hospitals striving to improve cash flow and maximize revenue in the teeth of a tough economy for healthcare institutions, five areas where you can do just that are: • Point of Service Bill Collection is not a process common to most physician practices.
However, now there are many tools and techniques available that can calculate co-pays, deductibles and patient payment responsibilities.
In fact, they can do it prior to or even while the patient is being treated.
When the person leaves the facility, the bill would be ready.
An interesting stat is that healthcare providers have just a 40% probability of collecting the patient- pay portion of the services if they do not collect the payment at or prior to the healthcare encounter.
Begin to think like a retailer and collect your money when the service is rendered or goods are exchanged.
• Out-of-network referrals can be a real issue especially if a healthcare business has grown by pursuing the strategy of acquiring physician practices.
Those additional salaries along with the related office infrastructure have to be accounted for.
While doing that, make sure that steps are also taken to limit or eliminate out-of-network referrals to competitors.
• Preventing revenue leakage may require a lot of coordination, especially across a clinically integrated network.
However, invest in a software application that can provide streamlined referral patterns as well as simplified revenue functions, test ordering and patient scheduling.
Implementing these systems is inexpensive and relatively easy.
In addition to preventing leakage, they usually result in immediate financial returns because of the emphasis on point of sale payments and increased efficiencies.
• Decreasing denials and underpayments as a result of the tougher Medicare and Medicaid restrictions and non-compliance with new procedures will positively impact the bottom line.
Especially since payer compliance begins at the time of order in the doctor's office.
An effective program as part of your software can electronically alert doctor's to the ever-changing Medical Necessity procedures and regulatory burdens.
This means that patient orders can be modified to conform to the clinical, payer or condition related requirements.
This extends to the associated documentation which then can be coded correctly the first time, reducing the practice of collecting that tough revenue on the back end.
• Make sure you optimize any revenue from orders and physician referrals.
Hospitals tend to compete for patients among their active admitter physicians.
Still, over half of community doctor's remain independent.
Savvy hospital managers will make it more convenient for those physicians to refer patients or order tests from their hospital facility.
Better yet, try and integrate those tools with independent physicians systems for more efficiency.
However, now there are many tools and techniques available that can calculate co-pays, deductibles and patient payment responsibilities.
In fact, they can do it prior to or even while the patient is being treated.
When the person leaves the facility, the bill would be ready.
An interesting stat is that healthcare providers have just a 40% probability of collecting the patient- pay portion of the services if they do not collect the payment at or prior to the healthcare encounter.
Begin to think like a retailer and collect your money when the service is rendered or goods are exchanged.
• Out-of-network referrals can be a real issue especially if a healthcare business has grown by pursuing the strategy of acquiring physician practices.
Those additional salaries along with the related office infrastructure have to be accounted for.
While doing that, make sure that steps are also taken to limit or eliminate out-of-network referrals to competitors.
• Preventing revenue leakage may require a lot of coordination, especially across a clinically integrated network.
However, invest in a software application that can provide streamlined referral patterns as well as simplified revenue functions, test ordering and patient scheduling.
Implementing these systems is inexpensive and relatively easy.
In addition to preventing leakage, they usually result in immediate financial returns because of the emphasis on point of sale payments and increased efficiencies.
• Decreasing denials and underpayments as a result of the tougher Medicare and Medicaid restrictions and non-compliance with new procedures will positively impact the bottom line.
Especially since payer compliance begins at the time of order in the doctor's office.
An effective program as part of your software can electronically alert doctor's to the ever-changing Medical Necessity procedures and regulatory burdens.
This means that patient orders can be modified to conform to the clinical, payer or condition related requirements.
This extends to the associated documentation which then can be coded correctly the first time, reducing the practice of collecting that tough revenue on the back end.
• Make sure you optimize any revenue from orders and physician referrals.
Hospitals tend to compete for patients among their active admitter physicians.
Still, over half of community doctor's remain independent.
Savvy hospital managers will make it more convenient for those physicians to refer patients or order tests from their hospital facility.
Better yet, try and integrate those tools with independent physicians systems for more efficiency.
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