Where Accounts Receivable Headaches Begin
Collection problems don't begin with a rejected insurance claim or a patient's failure to make prompt payment. The headache of managing the accounts receivable starts with the patient registration form - data collection. It' s the receptionists and schedulers failure to gather sufficient and accurate financial data when patients first contact the office. Why does this occur? It happens because we fail to train the receptionists and schedulers on billing matters. They need to view the patient registration form and the insurance cards as financial documents - much like a credit application. Spend more time on the upfront training with these staff members and educate them about the consequences of poor data collection: rejected claims, delayed payments and an inability to collect the patient's portion of the bill after the fact. Set up accountability standards for data collection. Establish a reporting mechanism that tracks the reason for rejected claims. Start looking over this information to identify the most common errors that cause claims to be rejected. Then train staff on better data collection techniques to overcome these problems and show them their progress each month. The staff of good intentions. In reality the scheduling and reception staff have good intentions, but if you don't train them and help them understand the details essential to collecting accurate demographic and insurance data, then you are a part of the problem. Help staff's good intentions turn into better performance. You will improve revenue and save time! Capko & Company, experts in medical practice management and marketing.