Starting a new year with the same goals feels like a bit of a contradiction. But in our industry’s case, the goal will always remain the same: to collect more for less. If current best practices were actually best, wouldn’t we be accomplishing this goal? If what you’re doing just doesn’t seem good enough lately, perhaps it’s time to find better best practices. Here are the five most crucial areas providers should be mastering to maximize their collection efforts. 1. Early action—If there’s any best practice worth noting, it is this: start early. Beginning internal collections early yields better results. If you can recognize and implement this early on, you’ve got a great shot at staying ahead of any mounting AR. The newer the debt, the easier it is to collect. Steps to follow: Invoice the patient. Be transparent with your billing process. Be clear and concise. Stop sending jumbled communication with codes and credits the patient doesn’t understand. Stop feeling bad for asking patients to pay. Patients feel entitled to free equipment because we have inadvertently taught them those bad habits. Providers aren’t accustomed to collecting that patient portion because they’ve never had to it before. So how do you reverse the cycle? Self-service. 2. Self-service—The easiest way to get patients to pay more responsibly is to, well, make them more responsible. That means driving your patients to a self-service model by giving them the technology to do so. Put them in charge of viewing invoices, making payments, or even saving their credit card information so that the provider can automatically process with an auto-pay option. Is it easier for you yourself to sit down, write a check, stuff it in an envelope and drive it to the post office? Or would you rather get it done online instantly? Give your patients that same luxury. An estimated 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day—many of whom are already accustomed to online bill pay. These are the patients getting ready to enter our industry. These are the patients who will determine whether your company succeeds or fails. Accommodate them. 3. Automation—Take your (more than likely) manual process and turn it into a smooth, automated collecting machine. If you are still printing, stuffing and sending statements, you are throwing away money, time and labor. Automate your billing process and, while you’re at it, carry that automation over into your collection calls. Virtual agents interactively guide customers through personalized conversations in order to receive payment. They are designed to respond quickly and efficiently to customer questions, actually learning new industry terms and answers as it’s used—all at 1/50 the cost of a human employee. Skeptical? Consider this: a study performed at Auburn University demonstrated that embedding a virtual agent tool leads to increased perceived social support, trust and patronage. 4. Invoices vs. statements—Do you know the difference between the two? If you think there aren’t any, you might want to take another look. The right type of bill is simple to read, clear and concise, and is sent out in a timely manner. Customized invoices are like a cheat sheet for statements; they quickly break down the patient’s financial responsibility to an understandable level without an overwhelming amount of additional muck. 5. Total coverage—We know it’s not a popular route with patients to collect co-pays on the spot. But you as a provider can’t hope the patient will pay after they walk out the door. Use the initial meeting with the patient to be upfront about what their patient portion will be. Secure that 100 percent coverage with a credit or debit card on file to ensure payment. Do not let them walk away. It’s easier to face the situation head on in the beginning rather than spend hours tracking down payments later. Even small changes to your best practices can have a radical effect on your revenue stream. Focusing only on one area of your collections is no longer an option. Each area is so vitally connected to the rest that for providers to collect more at a lower cost, they must find a way to implement all five components cohesively. Doing the same thing will produce the same results and the same declining collections rate.
