Helping patients and providing access to care are the key principles for what drives people to be in the medical field. However, clinics and hospitals are unable to operate on these motives alone.
Integral to maintaining and growing a business is the ability to collect payment for services provided. In a culture where technology is key, medical practices need to adjust and improve payment systems accordingly to keep up with consumer expectations.
There are several ways practices and hospitals can improve their collection practices and ultimately lead to higher patient satisfaction.
1. Offer Online Payment Options
Online payment options are key in the current environment and are no longer considered a perk but a necessity.Most people are on their phones or computers all day long and having payment accessible through the Internet allows the payment and collection information to be sent to the patient.
Online payment allows patients to pay faster than regular mail as well as increase the amount of successful and on-time bill payments.
Moving patient payments online cuts overhead time needed and costs of printing, stuffing envelopes, and mailing paper statements. Online statements allow for more transparency in costs and billing, which translates into more revenue for your practice.
Medeffect’s solutions also allow patients to quickly send billing questions, which decreases phone calls and reallocates staff time to complete other work while providing an opportunity for patient engagement.
2. Offer a Patient Portal
A patient portal is a secure online area where patients can access healthcare records and information.Patient portal solutions transform patient relations and physician interactions by providing billing access online and in the same location as all clinic information.
The ease of the “one-stop shop” patient portal system allows patients to access just one area for the clinic to take care of all issues, from requesting an appointment to paying bills.
Payment collection is just one of the benefits of using a patient portal. The portal allows the clinic to take care of debit/credit card processing and the ability for copayments to be made online, in advance of an appointment.
Online statements and payment of patient balance are available through the patient portal. Patients can also ask billing questions without having to pick up the phone.
3. Move to an Electronic System
For practices that are still using a paper system, moving to an electronic system helps reduce human error. A streamlined and electronic medical billing solution helps make the complicated simple.Field experts that handle the billing services help reduce denials from insurance companies. They also get your practice faster payments from insurance companies, which in turn means that your practice can get faster payments from patients.
We Can Help
Interested in learning more and resolving some other concerns your practice has about collection solutions?
Schedule a free practice analysis with Medeffect Strategies so you can see how their solutions can benefit your practice.