Collecting patient payments can indeed be a confusing and cumbersome affair, especially if you are running a small to medium-sized medical practice. If you’re trying your best to keep your practice afloat in these trying economic times, which medicine is certainly not exempt from, then you will likely want to make the process more efficient so that less employee hours are spent on payment collection .
With smart payment processing, you are guaranteed a very efficient helping hand towards your payment collecting efforts. It can indeed be tricky finding a service which works best for your personalized scheme and patient setups, which is why many smart payment services have a very comprehensive and customizable approach to helping medical practitioners get everything they are owed efficiently.
Some Ways to Maximize Payment Collections
Still, there are plenty of ways that a medical service owner can make the most out of the payment collection process, and ensure that the fiscal mistakes that would otherwise lead to losses are erased.
Overseeing Collections: While this may seem like the most basic process which many medical offices believe they have down correctly, the sad truth is that too many medical employees do not monitor the collection process with enough scrutiny or care.
When a registered patient walks in, one should know exactly how much their aid or service will cost, and when such a payment is expected to be collected. Doing the math is an essential part of collections, and must be administered with discipline and attention.
Patient Communication: It isn’t enough to just hand a patient a bill or brochure explaining how your payment fees are structured. You need to communicate with your patients and ensure that they are on the same level of understanding as you.
A lot of patients may not understand how the deductions from their health insurance plans work regarding consultations. This may hamper the payment process or even create omissions due to a paltry engagement. You need to take the time to brief them on how such payments work, and what is financially expected from them at all relevant junctures.
Staff Training: A lot of medical practitioners will simply hire any friend or trusted friend of a friend to be their receptionist. This should only be the case if you know for a fact that they have the capacity to carry out their demands efficiently and timeously.
One excellent way to both test their knowledge of payment set ups and train them on their weak areas is through role playing. In this fun and light-hearted process, you can simulate various scenarios, and ensure they know how to react and what to do when the real-life situation actually happens.
Bringing Payment Methods to the Table: The best way to ensure that you receive your just payments is by making the actual process as simple and efficient as possible for patients. This can be best achieved through the formation of simple payment methods, hand-tailored for your clients.
Once you have a solid payment method in practice, it is important that the relevant staff stay on top of the various activities and debts due. If you follow these applications and implement smart payment plans in your medical practice, then collecting patient payments will become a much more efficient and easier process.