The new year is a great opportunity to set standards in your practice to ensure profitability and efficiency. Now is the time to meet with your administrative team to assess how they are performing and set expectations for 2020. Don’t know the right questions to ask? Don’t sweat it! We’ve outlined the 5 questions to ask yourself and your team:
1. Did we collect all patient money possible at time of service?Outstanding patient balances are the hardest accounts to collect. Therefore, we recommend collecting all patient money (co-pays, co-insurance, etc.) at the time of service. If your staff isn’t comfortable asking for the patient money at the time of service, explain to them how much this is costing the practice and implement a 100% collection standard for the new year. Train your staff to ask, “How do you want to pay?” vs. “Do you want to pay?”
New Standard for 2020: Collect 100% of patient money at time of service.
2. Did admin staff get all referrals and authorizations needed to avoid not getting paid for patient visits?If the answer isn’t “Yes!” then your referral and authorization management needs improvement. If your staff is missing authorization requests or not obtaining proper referrals, you may want to consider additional training so they can understand the process of authorization and referral management and feel confident that they won’t miss anything in the new year.
New Standard for 2020: Zero claims unpaid due to missed authorization or referral.
3. Did we bill under the correct therapist’s credentials for each visit?Every therapist at your practice should be credentialed under your group, including part-time therapists. Billing under another therapist’s credentials is non-compliant and can be a big red flag to insurance companies. Credentialing should be a top-priority when a new therapist joins your practice. Co-signing notes should never be the standard.
New Standard for 2020: Credential all therapists with the insurance companies in which your company participates.
4. Do I have a healthy Accounts Receivable with less than 10% in over 120 days old?If you’re finding that most of your money is creeping into this section of your accounts receivable, your staff may not be working denials or noticing trends as quickly as they should. We recommend starting the collection process at the 60-day mark when you start working on an accounts receivable. This will allow your staff to prevent money from continuously aging and decrease the likelihood of a growing accounts receivable.
New Standard for 2020: Follow up on unpaid claims once it reaches the 60-day category of the accounts receivable.
5. Have you reconciled your billing software to your bank statement monthly?It is important to verify that the money posted into your billing system has reached your bank account. If you are not matching your bank statement to the collected payments in your billing software, you may be missing out on some of your payments. This is a process you should implement immediately. Doing this monthly will give you the confidence that your staff is applying payments accurately and you are receiving all of the money that has been issued to you.
New Standard for 2020: Compare your bank statement with the collected payments report monthly.
Taking the time to assess your current processes and implementing these new standards can greatly benefit your bottom line in the new year. If you believe your billing processes aren’t up to par, our experts can provide a Billing Assessment to identify common problems that are impacting your cash flow and provide solutions to help.
