How to Improve the Financial Health of Your Practice? Financial challenges are increasing for medical practices in the US. Growth of highdeductible health plans and economic downturn has made patient payment collection a daunting task. With patients facing high out-of-pocket costs, cash flow of practices across the country is getting affected. According to a survey by MGMA, bad debt of multi-specialty practices went up by 14% between 2008 and 2012. It has become important for physicians to refine or adjust their billing strategies. They also need to collect patient payment upfront in order to ensure that cash flow doesn’t get disrupted. Setting Clear Financial Policies It is extremely important to set financial policies that are clearly understood by everyone at the physician’s practice. For instance, a patient’s insurance eligibility needs to be checked before every appointment. Practices should keep a tab on patients and try to collect as many co-pays as possible. All financial policies should be communicated in advance and in a clear manner so that patients are not caught off guard. In order to avoid cash flow disruptions practices should also refuse treatment to patients who can’t pay for a routine visit. This policy should be clearly documented and the staff needs to be well-trained in applying this policy to all such patients. Patient Education Financial health of practices can also be improved by educating patients about insurance policies. This will help them avoid surprise charges that they are unable to pay at times. EHR Implementation EHRs also help in improving practice efficiencies and cost savings. Practices with an EHR system run their functions more efficiently. It helps reduce charge lag days, vendor/ insurance denials and also the time and resources required for manual charge entry, resulting in accurate billing.
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