Taking the Pain out of Patient Payments

Taking the Pain out of Patient Collections

Presented by:

Jason Porter, HealthCo Information SystemsKayleen Homewood, POS Professional Office Services

• National Partner for GE Healthcare

• Support thousands of physicians in their use of the Centricity EMR/PM platform

• Founded in 1997

• Located in Portland, OR

• Mission to improve patient care and financial performance of independent physician practices

The HealthCo Team

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Today’s Presenters

Kayleen HomewoodProduct ManagerPOS Professional Office Services

Jason PorterVice PresidentHealthCo Information Systems

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>Poll Question

Today’s Agenda

• Discuss the changing nature of patient payments

• Tips for improving your practice’s processes

• Wrap up /Q&A

The world of collecting patient payments is changing.

OWE more today than ever before

WANT TO PAY differently depending on the amount owed

DON’T UNDERSTAND their bills, insurance… what they owe

CALL YOU when they have questions

DON’T KNOW they have options for paying down high balances

Patients…

A GREATER NEED to collect payment up front

PAYMENT PLANS to administer

PAST DUE BALANCES to collect

PHONE CALLS to answer

TIME AND RESOURCE RESTRICTIONS decreasing the number of payments you could be taking

Your Practice Faces…

Financial Communication is a Critical Driver of the

Patient Experience

.55 patient accounting staff per physician

1 back-end business office employee per

10,000 claims

75% don’t call delinquent accountsof practices

Challenges to the Patient Experience

Source: MGMA, Woodcock & Associates

National healthcare reform measures are forcing practices to focus on improved patient health outcomes.

Proactive vs. reactive when it comes to patient health and wellness.

So why should your practice’s A/R be any different?BE PROACTIVE!

Patient Health and Wellness

Patients Owe More

40%

$1,500-$2,000

$3,000-$6,000

75% of patients can’t pay an unexpected $1,000

Patients Need Options

Payment Plan

Plan Start Date: Payment Amount: Payment Amount: Date of Last Payment:

$100 $100 $100

$88.25

Patients Need to Understand

Their responsibilityTheir billsTheir options

You Need

To take more paymentsIn less timeWith fewer resources

So What Can You Do?Improve Your Communication

WHAT is your monthly outstanding A/R?What would you like it to be?

WHAT systems are in place to collect patient-owed balances?

What improvements could be made?

WHY do patients call with questions?

HOW are you communicating financial information?

Know Your Data and Your Goals

TIP #1Start with the Welcome

Do you have a welcome packet?

Are you including financial communication in the registration process?

Financial PoliciesInsurance CoverageBilling Department Information

New Patient Communication

• A financial agreement or policy.

• Provide estimated fees when possible.

Include Financial Information in Welcome Materials

Share Insurance Coverage Information

TIP #2Gather Payment up Front

Check eligibilityCo-paysDepositsSet up payment plansCard on file

Taking Payments Up Front

The “How” is Important

Ask with confidenceAsk “how” they would like to payOffer payment plans when needed

TIP #3Improve Your Patient Statement

Does Your Statement Look Like This?

>Poll Question

Practice logoPatient responsibility $$

On the portion patients mail AND on the portion they keep

Payment due date (no aging buckets)Fewer columns, fewer codesImportant messagesUse the back side to educateDrive patients to pay online

Optimize Your Statement for ROI

Why No Branding?

Brand Your Statement

GE Centricity Custom Statement from POS

Use YOUR Logo & YOUR Colors!

Why No Due Date?

GE Centricity Statement

Why List Aging?

Eliminate Aging and Add a Due Date!

Custom Statement from POS

• Diagnosis Code?• Reference?• Location?

Which Columns Matter to the Patient?

Use Heading Descriptions That Work!

Custom Statement from POS

Make the Account Balance Easy to Read

Use the Back to Educate

Share Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Educate Whya Patient May Receive Multiple Bills

Promote New and Existing Services

TIP #4Make it Easy for Patients to Pay

&Make it Easy for Your Staff to Take

Payments

You can expect to get only 10 cents of every dollar that remains unpaid after 120 days – no kidding.

According to the MGMA, the medical industry has $40-$60 billion “bad” patient debt.

Practices send an average of 3.3 statements to collect payment – by the third statement, the chances of getting paid are drastically reduced.

Alarming Statistics

Drive patients to pay online

Make it Easy on Everyone

Drive patients to pay onlineKeep online bill pay URL short


Your Online Bill Pay Website is Printed on your Patient Statements

Drive patients to pay onlineKeep online bill pay URL shortMake “Pay My Bill”

Easy to find“Above the fold”




Enable Guest Pay


3x MORE patients pay online when Guest Pay is enabled

Enable Guest Pay

Go to: www.abcmed.comAnd enter your Online Bill Pay Code:

bpc0d3

bpc0d3



Enable Guest PayAutomate payment plans




Enable Guest PayAutomate payment plansAllow payments to auto-post


>Poll Question

Online Bill Pay ROI15% payments made online

6 minutes to take and post a payment

15 hours saved/1,000 statements sent

TIP #5Implement a Past Due and Final

Notice Strategy

Accelerate and increase patient-owed payments.

Lower billing and collection costs.

Improve the patient experience.Allow patients to pay and receive their statement in their preferred method.Reduce the number of billing-related patient calls.

Improve Your A/R with a Partner Like POS

About POS

PRINT+

PATIENT PAYMENT SERVICES+

DIGITAL MESSAGING+

PATIENT SURVEYS

You provide the care. We provide the communications.

Current HealthCo statement customers?

Current HealthCo customers using a different statement vendor?

Current HealthCo customers interested in Online Bill Pay?

Not a HealthCo customer but would like to learn more?

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Contact Information

[email protected]

[email protected]

For product questions and information:

For pricing details and questions about your current statement program: