As I’ve stated before, with a little extra effort on the part of your front desk staff, it’s easy to increase front desk collections and reduce patient receivables. Many front office personnel don’t like to ask for money at the time of service, but it becomes a little easier to begin the conversation with the help of the new sign in form we have designed, which brings up the topic of payment without your front desk staff having to say one word. Mind you, it’s still up to the provider or administrator to institute and enforce a new policy calling for this method of collection effort to be followed, but it does become less distasteful if staff approach the conversation with the help of this new tool.
A switch to this front-end model of collecting is easy to maneuver with just a little staff training and foresight. Just as there are “tricks of the trade” for collecting insurance reimbursements, there are also tricks of the trade for collecting patient balances--and providers are in control of the methods they choose to employ.
Using this new style of sign in sheet, which includes a section where the patient “commits” to a method of payment on site on the date of service, can really ease some of the difficulties many office staff find with broaching the subject of payment.
Patients generally fall into one of three broad categories: patients who pay on time, patients who pay within 30 or 60 days, and patients who fail to pay and become collections problems. It’s typical to have to chase down payment from patients, but you can prevent bad debt by qualifying patients before treatment. This is now easier than ever before with instant real-time insurance eligibility verification right in the office. Front desk employees can verify a patient’s insurance coverage and co-pays quickly and easily for any plan before the provider ever sees the patient. If necessary, payment plans can be arranged prior to the patient leaving the office.
Whenever a patient leaves the office without paying their co-pay, it means the practice will have to incur expenses for attempts to collect those monies. At the very least, the practice will have to send one patient statement; at worst the practice will wind up sending the patient to collections and possibly even write off the balance as bad debt. In either case, the practice has to wait for their money or chase the patient for it, if they ever see the payment at all. Nobody likes seeing and treating patients for free.
In any event, it’s worth it to try new methods of collecting from patients. It’s free to download the form, and you may be surprised when it helps accelerate your cash flow, reduce monthly patient statement costs, and reduce your overall accounts receivable.
