5 Tips for Improving Medical Accounts Receivable

Medical billing is an essential task for all practices, but it can be complicated. Any delays you experience can impact your cash flow and administrative burden. That’s why focusing on improving your accounts receivable process is so important.

Keep reading for information on common challenges encountered during the medical billing process and 5 tips for improving your accounts receivable.

Common medical billing and accounts receivable challenges.

Being responsible for billing at your medical practice can be frustrating. From being compliant and processing claims to receiving payments in a timely manner, there are several hurdles you may encounter that will impact your practice’s cash flow and administrative burden. Common challenges include:

• Coding errors. Medical billing is complex and, therefore, error-prone. Often, we see this take shape through coding errors – whether incomplete or inaccurate. These errors can result in claim denials, compliance violations and payment delays.
• Inaccurate patient details. Not collecting and recording complete or accurate patient information can be detrimental to billing, because it often leads to issues with filing claims and receiving payment.
• Insurance claim denials and rejections. When an insurance claim is denied, this can lead to additional administrative work for your staff, whether to help appeal the decision or set up a payment plan that will work for that patient. It can also lead to a financial burden for your practice because you will likely wait longer to be compensated or run the risk of not receiving payment at all.
• Staying up-to-date with technology and regulations. Managing the billing process for your medical practice requires the use of different tools and knowledge of specific regulations. Both of these require initial training time AND the ability to keep up with updates and advancements.  
• Patient education. Making sure patients understand their financial responsibility when it comes to healthcare is key, but it can take additional time for your team to estimate costs and take the time to answer questions.
• Follow-up. Whether you need to resubmit a previously denied claim or follow-up with a patient about outstanding payments, taking this step in a timely manner can exacerbate the workload and billing process for some medical practices.

5 tips for improving your medical practice’s accounts receivable.

1. Accurately submit medical claims in a timely manner. Being accurate and timely in your claims submissions is key to making strides in billing efficiencies. While there are different challenges that can impact the timeliness and accuracy, take the time before you submit claims to dot your i’s and cross your t’s to increase the chance of approval.
2. Proactively manage claim denials. Claim denials are an expected part of medical billing. Don’t let these denials stack up – proactively manage them by addressing any errors or issues and resubmit them for review.
3. Provide a variety of patient payment solutions. To help gather patient payments in a timely manner, ensure you have a transparent billing process to avoid confusion. If you’re able, provide multiple ways for patients to issue payment, including an online portal and credit card processing.
4. Regularly report on your billing process. You won’t know if you’re seeing an improved billing process if you aren’t actively reporting on it. We recommend regularly looking at:
   1. A summary of your billing activities, from total encounters and charges to total collections and outstanding accounts.
   2. The aging of your accounts so you know how long invoices have been unpaid.
   3. Claims rejections and denials so you can work to improve claim acceptances.
   4. Payment trends so you can evaluate insurance and patient payments.
   5. An insurance analysis to understand the activity of each insurer and how that’s contributing to your business.
5. Partner with a proven external billing partner. Outsource the billing for your practice to an experienced partner that can help improve your revenue cycle management. 

How Tyrus Health has improved the medical billing and accounts receivable process for clients.

By partnering with us, we act as an extension of your team. Our billing process starts from the moment the patient is scheduled and doesn’t end until you receive the full reimbursement.

We help avoid and tackle billing challenges so you don’t encounter cash flow disruptions or additional administrative burden. 

We’re proud that our billing process has led to key efficiencies for our clients, including:

1. We maintain less than 5% – an exceptionally low level – of insurance accounts receivable over 90 days.
2. On average, accounts receivables are consistently under 25 days.
3. We keep total accounts receivable over 90 days below 10%.

From the very beginning, Bridgett and her team demonstrated an unwavering commitment to excellence. Their expertise in revenue cycle management and credentialing has not only streamlined our operations, but also significantly enhanced our financial performance.

– CEO of NY Behavioral Practice

 

Are you ready to experience improved accounts receivable?