Portland,OR – 08 Jun 2011, Helping our clients institute effective financial arrangement policies with patients is a very important part of what Silkin Management Group consultants do with their
clients.
The person in a health care office responsible for handling patient accounts (often called the Accounts Manager), must be aware of two important factors that create a smooth flow of patient
payments:
Portland,OR – 08 Jun 2011, Helping our clients institute effective financial arrangement policies with patients is a very important part of what Silkin Management Group consultants do with their
clients.
The person in a health care office responsible for handling patient accounts (often called the Accounts Manager), must be aware of two important factors that create a smooth flow of patient
payments:
• Having firm written financial policies that are clearly understood by both staff and patients; and
• Ensuring that each patient understands and agrees to his/her obligations.
Below are some policy recommendations that one can incorporate with existing policies or use to form new policies if your office does not already have them firmly established.
Define Your Payment Options
If you decide to offer more than one payment option, your options should be well thought out and prioritized for use by your Accounts Manager. These parameters would then serve as a guide for that
person and would alleviate confusions when making payment arrangements with the patient/client. Your prioritized options might be:
• Payment in full at time of service. Inform patients of this and possibly offer a 5% or 10% discount for payment in full. This provides incentive to the patient and cuts your administrative
costs by not having to carry the account and spend time collecting.
• Use of health insurance. In this case make sure you obtain patient insurance information prior to the arrival of the patient so that you can verify coverage and get any needed pre-
authorization, information on their deductible, etc. It is also advisable to establish a policy whereby patients pay their co-pay at the time of service. Once it is determined what percentage the
insurance company is going to cover, and what percentage is the patient’s, you can estimate the patient’s amount due at the time of the visit.
• Payment Plans. This should be a last option, but a sometimes needed option. Always assess a patient’s credit worthiness first. You can also use an outside company to handle payment plans
wherein they pay your office a reduced fee for the service and they handle the collection. If you are going to handle the payment plan with the patient, have them fill out a credit application and
check their credit. Also charge them a fee for the payment plan as it does cost your office time and money to collect every month. There are prioritized guidelines that should be offered to
patients going on payment plans such as: a) half payment at the time of treatment and half in one month, b) half at time of treatment followed by 3 monthly payments, c) lab fees paid at time of
treatment and 6 equal monthly payments. These are just suggestions to give you an idea, but you can and should devise your own priorities.
The above guidelines are just some of the management actions Silkin Management Group consultants do with their clients to increase their collection rate. Anything below a 95% collection rate
indicates poor collection policies in effect.
About SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP :At Silkin Management Group, we try to teach our clients the most cost effective means of marketing for new patients. A great deal of money can be spent on marketing
efforts with little or no return which can leave a bad taste in ones mouth about marketing.
Contact SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP :
URL : http://silkinmanagementgroup.net/
Address : 12909 SW 68th Parkway, Portland, OR 97223
Phone: 800-695-0257
E-mail:[email protected]