Patient Care and Billing

In my 20 plus years of experience I have seen many practices fail because they did not balance their focus in patient care and billing.  They focused a tremendous amount of time and resources in their patient care which do not get me wrong is important but they failed to focus an appropriate amount of time and resources to their billing.  Patient care should be a focus.  Patients are coming to your practice in hopes of receiving some relief from their ailments.  The care they receive is very important to them.  They want to feel that they were treated with respect and dignity.  They also want to know that your staff has a sufficient knowledge to manage their insurance coverage or lack of coverage.  Nothing is more frustrating to a patient who receives a bill that is incorrect.  It also is a sure-fire way to lose patients.  Ensure your staff is focused on ensuring that all the necessary steps are managed prior to them receiving a bill.  One important step if the patient has insurance coverage is to verify their benefits.  It is the physician’s office staff responsibility to bill the patient for their share of the cost of care.  This would include copays, coinsurance, and/or deductible amounts.  These can all be verified prior to the visit.  A physician’s office should have this information available to the patient when they appear for their office visit.  The patient should know up front what their share of the care will be.  The other aspect of the billing process is to ensure that the visit is coded correctly.  This requires a close relationship between the physician and their billing staff to ensure if there are any coding issues that arise they can be corrected immediately.  Coding issues cause timely delays and can in some instances cost the practice money.  Many practices do not perform due diligence when they consider their billing staff.  Many focus more of their resources to their clinical staff than their billing staff.  There is the old adage “you get what you pay for”.  Ensure you are hiring the most competent and knowledgeable billing staff.  Do not just hire the first one that comes along.  Many practices are utilizing billing services for their billing needs.  Billing services are great way to ensure that you are getting the most qualified biller for your practice.  As always, do your due diligence.  Check references on the billing service to ensure they do a good job.  Ask them questions prior to contracting with them.  The most successful practices are the ones that balance their patient care and their billing to ensure the patients are receiving the best care they can receive.