The medical billing process can be a hassle for health care organizations and patients, but it doesn’t have to be. Learn how to streamline your medical billing process so patients pay their bills on time and your practice operates efficiently. 

Medical Billing Tips and Tricks

Improve medical billing efficiency with these suggestions:

1. Establish a Clear Collections Process

A structured collections process is the foundation of a provider’s financial stability. With clear-cut steps to follow, office staff will know how to present claims, and patients will understand what’s expected of them and how to meet their obligations. 

Incorporate the following steps at the beginning of your revenue cycle flowchart: 

• Gather patient demographics: Health care is a personal service, so don’t hesitate to collect as much patient information as possible. Address, phone number, email, place of employment and photo ID are standard patient details you should compile. 
• Confirm contact information: Check with patients periodically to verify their contact information. This way, you won’t waste time and money sending mail to the wrong place.  
• Get permission to leave messages: Include a permission form in new-patient paperwork that allows you to leave voice messages concerning patient billing. 
• Confirm eligibility regularly: Verify patients’ insurance eligibility during each visit to avoid claim denials. 
• Communicate payment options: Inform patients of what payment methods you accept, what payments cover and if you offer payment plans. 

2. Promptly Handle Denied or Rejected Claims

Rejected and denied claims are not the same. If an insurer finds errors in your claim, it will go unprocessed, and they will return it to you as a rejected claim. A denied claim has been processed but found to be unpayable due to either a discovered contract violation between the patient and payer or another critical mistake caught after processing. 

In each case, the payer will send the claim back to the biller, explaining the problem. You can edit and return a rejected claim, but you must appeal a denied claim before resubmitting, which is costly and time-consuming.

The best way to avoid rejections and denials is to submit claims wholly and accurately the first time. However, everyone makes mistakes, so if they arise, handle claims and rejections promptly. Contact the payer and have them explain the original claim’s errors and provide status updates on current claims as they get processed. This information can help accelerate the claim correction process and reduce appeal and resubmission times. 

3. Diligently Follow up With Inquiries 

While billing specialists maintain constant contact with insurers and patients, conducting follow-up sessions is necessary to ensure everyone’s inquiries and concerns have been addressed. A claim may be denied without a follow-up procedure, delaying your income. 

Diligently following up with questions and concerns can:

• Contribute to a reliable flow of income, providing you with financial stability
• Help you recoup delinquent payments 
• Shorten the length of time that bills are allowed to go unpaid
• Help avoid missing claims, which is a significant source of payment delays
• Help retrieve pending claims that require additional information 

4. Collect Upfront

Don’t be afraid to ask patients to pay for the care they receive at the time of services rendered. This practice presents patients with their monetary obligations while saving time that office staff would spend on billing paperwork.

You can avoid the poor revenue cycle management that comes with waiting to collect by developing a straightforward payment policy and informing patients of its terms. Consider displaying a sign in your waiting room that explains when patients should make payments and which payment methods you accept. 

Another useful practice is to present patients with the opportunity to pay when they check in on their cell phones before the appointment. Reminding patients of their financial responsibility at the time of their appointment is sometimes all it takes to elicit payment. After all, no one likes receiving surprise medical bills in the mail weeks later. 

5. Provide Cost Estimates

Consider implementing cost estimation tools. These can streamline the medical billing process by determining the estimated cost of a patient’s visit before they arrive. Patients will have an idea of the money they’ll owe, staff can more easily request payment and providers can gain a better understanding of the cost of their services.

Cost transparency goes a long way in building a solid reputation and patient loyalty. Medical expenses are no small matter, so when patients feel that you are open and genuine about the cost of your services, they’re more likely to see you as an ally for their health rather than another looming bill collector. 

6. Offer Flexible Payment Options

Flexibility and convenience are the names of the game when it comes to payment options. User-friendly methods can improve your collection efficiency and increase provider revenue. 

Payment options like stored cards, payment plans and self-serve options like online bill pay each appeal to a variety of patients, so you may consider offering them all.  

7. Automate Medical Billing

Medical bills can be complex and sometimes even inaccurate, leaving many patients confused and ambivalent about paying. Moreover, medical bills that contain errors are more likely to result in a denied claim, impacting practice earnings and office efficiency. Rejected claims take time and effort to revise and resubmit, delaying health care organizations’ payments. 

Fortunately, automated medical billing can solve many of these problems. Automatic insurance verification eliminates the need to manually process billing paperwork, which in turn reduces the likelihood of error. And it frees employees to focus on other, more patient-focused tasks. 

8. Know When to Outsource

Health care organizations have quite a list of priorities to juggle. From providing patients with the best care possible to staying on top of ever-changing medical trends and managing staff, you may find your practice letting medical billing details slip through the cracks. 

If you want to regain the control and revenue lost to medical billing, consider outsourcing it to a third-party professional. Medical billing and coding specialists have the expertise to file claims quickly and accurately and manage denials and rejections promptly, all while keeping your practice in accordance with the latest health care laws and regulations. 

Increase Medical Billing Efficiency With Millennia: Now Everything’s Complete

Increasing medical billing efficiency can help your practice receive the payments it’s owed, and Millennia makes it easy. Our three solutions — Millennia Access, Millennia Recover and Millennia Complete — provide the framework for practitioners to connect with their patients from the first visit to the final payment. Our unified patient solutions enhance the patient journey while generating more revenue for your medical practice and integrating with your existing system.

Streamline the pre-appointment and visit process with Millennia Access and collect pre-payments and copays from patients before they arrive. With Millennia Recover, you improve the post-appointment process and make billing and collecting payments easier. Millennia Complete combines Access and Recover for a comprehensive billing solution.

Partner with Millennia to increase digital engagement with patients, earn more revenue and improve the patient journey, all while enhancing your practice’s medical billing efficiency. Request a consultation today!