Patient Payment Collections
Patient Payment Follow up
CORE OBJECTIVE SOLUTIONS has set up high availability and rational team that allows your business to function smoothly without worrying about collections.
In recent years, the entire healthcare industry has become more aggressive in its collection practices. With the ever-rising costs associated with health care, it is extremely important to the livelihood of any facility to get the maximum reimbursement which largely relies on patient payments.
We use the right combination of onshore and offshore services for connecting with patients and payers to ensure every dollar that you need to collect comes to you without jeopardizing your patient relations.
Deductibles, copays, and coinsurance amounts can add up to lots of dollars lost if sufficient efforts are not made to collect these out of pocket expenses from your patients. Collecting from the patient responsibly is just as important as collecting from the insurance companies. But when do aggressive collection procedures cross the line to delivering poor customer service? We are committed to follow gentle but consistent follow up practices so that patients do not feel the stress and at the same time, they pay on time.
Do’s followed by CORE OBJECTIVE TEAM:
- We advise patients prior to their visit of your collection policy preferably during scheduling. This allows the patient to prepare to make payment prior to arriving in the medical office. This is especially important for patients that have to meet a deductible or coinsurance dollars towards the out of pocket expenses. When patients are aware in advance, they are more likely to make their payment upfront.
- We make sure you have signs posted in your office advising patients of your collection procedures. One important part of encouraging patients to make upfront payments is to consistently remind them whether through documentation, signs, information pamphlets` or during the scheduling process.
- On your behalf and with prior permissions, offer discounts for self-pay patients as an incentive to pay their bills in a timely manner. Insured patients receive discounts through their insurance companies but self-pay patients are responsible for their full payment. Offering them a discount to pay in a timely fashion can help improve cash flow.
- Based on your practice’s standards, make available different payment options for patients that have high out of pocket expenses. Out of pocket expenses can sometimes be thousands of dollars. Offering payment plans is good for patient satisfaction.
- Require patients to make “good faith” payments. If your patients are not paying their balance in full, having them pay a portion of the payment upfront is a show of commitment to their financial responsibility and their health care.
List of Don'ts
- We ensure that patients don’t to accrue bills they cannot pay for unless it is an emergency. Letting patients continue to receive payment without making any payments sends the wrong message.
- We ensure that accounts are to collections with adequate time for patients to make payment arrangements. Collection agencies do not have the best reputation and can discourage patients from returning to receive treatment. We make sure to allow them adequate time to make payments before turning them over.
- Our teams don’t ignore delinquent bills. Once services have been provided, patients don’t have the urgency to pay without some prompting. Before patients arrive for their visit, we remind them of their past-due bills and encourage them to make payments.
Let's talk about your challenges.
CORE OBJECTIVE teams are trained in a manner that allows saving time, revenue, and aggravation, each procedure that is out of the normal scope of an office visit hence we ensure that such visits are preauthorized well in advance, or within the time limits of the specific insurance plan.
Any payments that are due from the patient are discussed and collected prior to the procedure, test, therapy, or treatment.
CORE OBJECTIVE teams ensure that copays are always paid before a patient is seen by the physician as well, in order to avoid any problems later.
