Accounts Receivable is not a payday. When too many bills for service are held up in the accounts receivable cycle, your practice can suffer. Steps need to be taken to help you get those bills for service cleared up and your practice to receive more revenue. Here IBEX Medical Billing shares how to improve your medical practice accounts receivable.
To get a handle on your accounts receivable headache, continue reading our article. It outlines several steps you can take to improve your cash flow and keep your practice financially sound.
Common AR issues
The reason you are not getting those bills paid is that your patients and their insurance companies are not paying what they owe. There are several reasons for this situation:
1. Insurance Claim Denial
These denials are made for the following 5 reasons:
1. Missing or inaccurate information
2. Duplicate submissions
3. Procedures are not covered
4. Coding errors
5. Late filing
On top of that, insurance companies work hard to find reasons to not pay you which is why you need good AR work to overcome these challenges.
2. Unwarranted Write-Offs
These are usually done after a significant amount of time has passed. Unfortunately, they are also done without looking for alternative payment options and that can cost your practice a lot of money.
3. Bad Debt
Because of rising costs, many patients are not in a position to pay their bills. This leads to bad debt.
4. Avoiding Collection Agencies
This is done primarily for the reason that medical professionals want to help their patients. Avoiding using collection agencies only puts your practice at financial risk. The different practices also fear negative online reviews which would impact future business.
Steps To Take To Improve Accounts Receivable (AR) Issues
1. Analyze your AR
Do this in detail so you have a very good way to track all the outstanding bills. Use a 1 to30, a 31-60, and a 61 to 90-day categories to help you organize those bills and keep track of them. The goal is to not have more than 20% of those outstanding bills over 90 days in arrears.
2. Increase Your Billing Cycles
If you are one of the many offices that bill on a monthly cycle, it may be time to reconsider that strategy. Billing on a bi-monthly or weekly basis to insurance carriers and patients helps you get paid faster. The faster the invoice arrives, the faster it can be paid.
3. Make Sure To Be Accurate In Your Information
Errors in submitted claims can slow down payment. Have your staff check the claims closely to make sure there is no erroneous information on those forms. Also, double-check to make sure all coding is done correctly. Proofread all claims to make sure they are accurate.
4. Verify Insurance Coverage
This goes for the type of treatment the patient is requiring. Before you see the patient verify with their insurance company that it is covered under the patient’s coverage. Notify your patients before the appointment of their costs so they know what is expected of them.
5. Hire An Outside Billing Company
They will take the stress off your shoulders and help you manage your AR much better. They will handle the hard job while you can concentrate on treating your patients. Plus, these companies will look for errors in your paperwork and clean them up for you while increasing your cash flow. Take all the steps we’ve shared above on how to improve your medical practice accounts receivable.
Some Final Words:
For some medical practices is hard to go after an unpaid debt. They do want to help their patients and do not want to be seen as a bad guy or girl. However, all you are doing when trying to get patients or insurance companies to pay their bills is go after the money you already earned.
This is not something you do that is personal or vindictive but something that has to be done if you want to continue your practice and continue to help people.
And to be honest, doctors are not trained for that. If you are among the ones whose medical practice is getting impacted because of increasing Accounts Receivables, then you are at the right place. At Ibex Medical Billing, we provide billing services to doctors and healthcare professionals. We handle all your billings and reimbursements so that you can focus on your practice.
Get in touch with us for more information and to get a Free demo.