6 PROACTIVE TIPS FOR EFFICIENT PATHOLOGY BILLING SERVICES

Efficiency is the guiding principle of today’s value-based healthcare environment. In order to succeed, healthcare organizations must continually look for a more efficient and innovative way to deliver quality care, lower costs, improve health outcomes to improve the patient experience. Efficient pathology billing services play a major rule by contributing to the ultimate success of your anthology practice. Due to high-deductible plans, patients are becoming more responsible for their healthcare finance. However, many practitioners rely on inefficient medical billing services that fail to effectively collect from patients. It leads to bad debt and bills that can go unpaid.

Practitioners should try to avail convenient pathology medical billing services in order to increase revenue, streamline business operations and support patient satisfaction.

HOW TO IMPROVE PATHOLOGY BILLING SERVICES?

In this article, I have mentioned 6 proactive strategies that would help you conduct efficient pathology billing services;

1. STOP POST-VISIT BILLING

Did you know? One of the best ways to improve the efficiency of pathology billing systems is to stop sending bills. Yeah, because post-visit billing and collections can create excessive administrative work and waste staff time. That time could be spent on higher-value tasks like delivery high-quality patient care services. If a practitioner collects a patient’s balance in full then it typically takes more than three billing statements_costing between  $5 and $15 each.

Billing statements can also cost the medical practice negatively, affect patient retention and impact the patient experience. The payment process is often the final and most influential point of contact between patients and their providers. So it is important to create a positive, convenient, and efficient billing system in order to enhance the patient experience. You should prepare comprehensive medical bills that can be easily understood by patients and leverage your customer base as a result.

2. OPTIMIZE COLLECTION MANAGEMENT

Front end staff should ask for the patients about their insurance coverage policies to save time. However, many providers wait to collect, which leads to inefficient billing and poor revenue cycle management. According to an analysis, providers typically collect only 12% of outstanding balances at the time of service, which makes it harder to collect in the future, even when patients return for additional visits. The same survey found that only 6% of outstanding balances over $200 are ever collected. Medical practices can avoid this frustration by creating a clear collections policy and making sure patients are aware of its terms.

Consider placing a sign in your waiting room that explains when patients are expected to pay for services and lists accepted forms of payment. You can offer patients the option to pay when they check in on their mobile device prior to their appointment.

3. COLLECT RESPECTIVELY

A transparent collections policy not only helps improve medical billing services. It also helps protect your organization’s reputation, brand and patient relationships. According to recent research from JAMA Internal Medicine indicates direct correlations between patient-provider trust, cost pressures and even treatment compliance.

Aggressive collections efforts can diminish that trust and damage the patient-provider relationship, which may ultimately have a negative effect on patients’ health outcomes. The administration should not force patients to pay their healthcare dues but they should give them the option to minimize their chances of receiving a surprise bill at the end of the revenue cycle. In recent years, many patients have complained about unexpected bills or overcharging (abusive bills) for the services that they haven’t received yet it is a very difficult conversation when a patient has just been given a diagnosis and are then told you are responsible for paying for treatment. 

4. ADVANCE COST ESTIMATION

Cost estimation tools can improve the medical billing services by automatically calculating estimated charges for patient’s visits before they arrive. Not only does this help educate patients about their financial responsibility but it also makes it easier for staff to demand payments and give providers a better understanding of costs for the services they recommend. Adding more transparency to your medical billing cycle influences patient loyalty and retention, too.

5. OFFER FLEXIBLE PAYMENT OPTIONS

Flexible time-of-service collection options like the card on file, online payments and payment plans offer patients convenient and private ways to pay, while also improving medical billing efficiency and boosting provider revenue. As consumerism continues to expand throughout the healthcare industry, many patients say they prefer self-service options like online payments. In addition, a 2018 healthcare payments trends report found that 71% of patients said they wanted e-statements from their providers, while the HIMSS survey revealed that one-third of patients age 75 and older would rather pay their next medical bill using a credit card on file.

6. AUTOMATE E&B

Nearly 80% of all medical bills contain errors, leaving many patients confused about what’s covered and reducing their likelihood to pay on time, if at all. This also affects practice revenue and medical office efficiency, because an inaccurate bill increases the likelihood of a denied claim. Resubmitting rejected claims wastes staff time and effort and leaves healthcare organizations waiting for payment. Many of these issues can be resolved with automated insurance verification. Automating coverage verification can improve medical billing efficiency by alleviating the administrative burden of processing billing paperwork and preventing manual errors. The streamlined process then allows healthcare organizations to reallocate staff to more patient-centric roles.

Learn how our top-notch medical billing company helps healthcare organizations improve revenue cycle management.