No matter how efficient practices have become for collecting balances from patients at the time of service, they often need to send patient statements to collect patient due balances. Working with many practices across the country has lead us to compile a short list of best practices for optimizing the collection of patient due balances.
1. Timing – Our statistics show Wednesday and Thursday to be the most common days for Sage customers across the board to send their statements. When analyzing this, we found that the largest submission day was not Friday. What we discovered when making some inquiries, was that many practices that actually analyze their payment turnarounds have found that sending statements out on Wednesday or Thursday results in statements being received by patients on Friday or Saturday. Since most personal bills are paid on the weekends, it makes sense that you want your statement to be received just prior to the weekend so it might be paid immediately rather than having it sit until it’s time for the patient to pay bills again.
2. Timeliness – The sooner a patient receives a statement after a visit from your office, the better. Sending a statement 30, 60 or 90+ days after the visit has proven over time to increase patient calls to the office asking for clarifications. Timing the statement receipt to shortly after the explanation of benefits from their insurance should be the ultimate target. It is at this time that the patient has the most recent information and is least likely to make additional phone calls asking for clarification. Sage applications have been designed to cycle bills that allow you to send statements weekly, or even daily, while still maintaining a 30-day period before sending a second statement to any individual patient. The cycle is designed to let you quickly send out patient statements when an item becomes a patient responsibility.
3. Accuracy – Of course, sending out a clear and accurate statement is the easiest way to avoid payment delays. Best practices include ensuring patient payments are posted quickly when received, up-to-date before sending statements, and applied to the correct items.
Following these three best practices puts you in a great position for minimizing your patient due A/R. And reduced phone calls and faster turnaround of patient receipts are two great ways to enhance your productivity and effectiveness.
