Medical debt collection is becoming more important for physician practices as large deductibles and managed care plans shift more costs to the patient. Practices should review their policies on payment and collection to ensure they are up to date with the current demands for cash flow. At the same time, experts say physician practices need to ensure their procedure for appealing denied reimbursement claims is top notch. As healthcare dollars get squeezed, managed care companies will look for ways to deny more claims.

 

These are the 10 best practices for physician's offices seeking to reduce medical debt and improve collections:

1. Lay the groundwork for successful account resolution by educating patients and following best practices for communication prior to the time of service
2. Make bills and all communications clear, concise, correct, and patient-friendly
3. Establish policies for account resolution and ensure that they are followed both internally as well as by business affiliates
4. Be consistent in key aspects of account resolution-from billing disputes to payment application
5. Coordinate account resolution activities with business affiliates to avoid duplicative patient contacts
6. Exercise good judgment about the best ways to communicate with patients about bills
7. Start the account resolution clock when the first statement is sent to the patient
8. Report back to credit bureaus when an account is resolved (in the event that an account is reported to a credit bureau)
9. Track all consumer complaints
10. Use guidelines (available from HFMA and other sources) to inform your organizational approach to medical account resolution

In this era of EHRs and compliance, have you neglected managing your most valuable asset?
Have you tuned up your interviewing process lately in order to attract the best employees?
What about after they're hired?  How do you retain them?
What about disciplining and the required recordkeeping?
And if you have to terminate, how should you handle it?
Finally, employee references...should you or shouldn't you?

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