Medical payment collection can be a sore point for many organizations that struggle to improve revenue and avoid late or missed payments while keeping patients happy and meeting their needs. Neglecting to implement a robust patient collection process can leave your medical practice’s finances in the red. In this post, we will discuss how to improve patient collections and increase cash flow in your healthcare facility. 

1. Define Your Practice’s Credit Policy
2. Invoice Promptly and Send out Statements Regularly
3. Be Firm About Collecting Your Fees
4. Arrange for Faster Deposits With Your Bank
5. Be Aware of Your Legal Protection
6. Implement an EHR System
7. Expand Payment Options
8. Integrate Revenue Cycle Management Solutions

8 Ways to Boost Your Medical Practice’s
Cash Flow

If you’re wondering how a healthcare organization can improve cash flow, consider implementing these eight tips in your medical practice to avoid missed payments, make it easier for patients to pay their bills and strengthen your financing policy.

1. Define Your Practice’s Credit Policy 

One of the foundational steps you can take to improve cash flow is to have a clearly defined credit policy in your facility. Having this policy in writing and explaining it to patients and clients ahead of time can eliminate excuses regarding:

• Acceptable payment options
• Interest charged for late payments
• Missed appointment and late cancellation charges

If your patients know these details before they even come to their appointment, it will likely reduce no-show appointments, late cancellations and missed payments. Post signs in your building about your policy and ensure your staff thoroughly understands the policy so they can explain it to patients. 

2. Invoice Promptly and Send out Statements Regularly 

If your practice is trying to improve cash flow but takes days or weeks to send out billing statements to patients, it can be difficult to meet this goal. The sooner you send out your invoices, the sooner you can get paid. Your billing department has many responsibilities to juggle, which can make keeping track of invoices a challenge. 

Sitting on an invoice for too long only delays payment, and outdated billing software can make this even more time-consuming. Having an efficient, modern solution in place for sending out statements regularly can help you make your patient payments a priority and take the administrative burden off your staff. 

3. Be Firm About Collecting Your Fees 

In the healthcare industry, it can sometimes be easy for employees to allow their emotions to interfere with business procedures, particularly when dealing with someone experiencing unfortunate circumstances, such as a difficult procedure or diagnosis. However, if your healthcare staff is too lenient with your policy, it can encourage some patients not to pay their bills on time and end up driving your practice into the ground. By ensuring all your decisions are guided by your policies, you can enjoy a more consistent cash flow. 

When it comes to finances, treat patients objectively. While you should always treat patients with compassion and respect, your policy is in place so you can bring in enough money to continue providing the care they need. So, it is important to be firm about collecting payments at the time of service or on a billing schedule. 

4. Arrange for Faster Deposits With Your Bank 

Depending on the bank your facility deals with, you may be able to speed up your cash flow by using modern solutions that your financial institution offers. Many businesses have adapted remote and technology-focused solutions for traditional business practices, including deposits, which can be a way to speed up your payments. 

Some banks offer lockbox services to transport payments from a post office to the bank to eliminate the need for organizations to send employees for the task. You may also be able to arrange a remote deposit by scanning pictures of checks into a mobile device or computer and send them to a bank for next-day availability. 

5. Be Aware of Your Legal Protection 

When it comes to debt collection from your patients, you and your healthcare facility staff should know the state and federal laws to ensure you are complying. For instance, under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, some debts are covered and some are not, and there are certain guidelines for how you must communicate debts to your patients. 

If you request the debts appropriately, your patients are obligated to complete their payments and may be subject to additional fines if they do not comply. While, in some cases, your practice may feel inclined to provide payment extensions, it’s important to keep your finances in the green and know your legal rights for collections.

6. Implement an EHR System

If your healthcare practice does not already have one, implementing an electronic health record (EHR) system is an effective way to keep track of patient data, billing, secure communication and payments. Converting from paper-based manual processes to an electronic system can also help you reduce costs and free up time for your administrative staff to send out invoices early and deal with outstanding payments. An EHR can also provide patient access, which means patients can view and understand their medical bills in their own patient portal. 

7. Expand Payment Options

One of the most effective ways to help your patients pay their bills more efficiently is by providing them with flexible payment options. These payment plans help patients take control of their statements and pay their bills on time. For many, the days of paying with cash or checks are fading away, while mobile pay options are skyrocketing. 

By offering online payment portals, text-to-pay options and patient financing, you can show your patients that you care about their needs and want to make it easier for them to settle their bills. Likewise, digital payment methods can reduce resistance at the point of payment and speed up your payment collections. 

8. Integrate Revenue Cycle Management Solutions

Revenue cycle management (RCM) refers to the entire revenue cycle from the moment a patient arrives for their appointment to the moment they pay their bill in full. RCM solutions typically offer unified software platforms to help medical practices run more effectively, with various features that can help you optimize your bottom line. By integrating a modern, end-to-end revenue cycle solution, you can prevent your billing department from getting overwhelmed and ensure your staff and patients have everything they need to conduct an efficient, seamless billing process. 

Millennia Can Help Your Organization Increase Cash Flow

Amid the healthcare labor shortage and many other industry challenges, it’s easy to see how medical practices are struggling to maintain a consistent cash flow and build better relationships with patients overall. At Millennia, we take pride in helping organizations achieve our three goals, which include:

• Building engagement through digital solutions
• Helping providers increase revenue
• Developing better patient journeys 

Our solutions can integrate easily with your legacy systems, so you and your staff do not need to waste time learning how to use something entirely different. With our three solutions, you can empower your staff, patients and billing departments to take control of the payment process, establish automated workflows and make it easier and more convenient for all parties involved. Here’s a breakdown of what we offer:

• Pre-arrival Module : This solution provides a multi-channel approach for copays and estimates, meaning secure, upfront payments are easier to make. Your patients can get real-time estimates and even pay their copays before their appointments to streamline administrative tasks at your office.
• Millennia Patient Payment Solution : With a mobile-friendly payment portal and options for text to pay and photo capture bill payments, patients can pay their bills at the touch of a button while in the exam room or in the comfort of their own homes. Millennia Patient Payment Solution also provides financial counseling to patients to help them learn more about their rights and responsibilities. With Millennia Patient Payment Solution, you can access both of these solutions in a unified patient platform that gives more flexibility to patients while helping your practice collect payments faster and more frequently.

Access Healthcare Payment Solutions
With Millennia 

At Millennia, we know how critical it is to get patient payments in on time to keep your medical facility running smoothly. We make it easy for healthcare practices to help patients feel empowered when paying their bills, communicating with providers and accessing their statements at any time. To learn more about how Millennia can boost cash flow for your medical practice, request a consultation today. 

About The Author