Are you really maximizing the value of your practice management system to get the best billing performance? Even some top-notch billing staff can get mired in doing things a certain way because they know what they are doing and it has always worked for them. But in today’s environment, everyone needs to take a closer look at the processes involved in what they do. The objective is to get the job done better with less effort and your billing system just might be your best friend in making this a reality. If the system falls short, it might be time to start looking ahead.
Don’t get stuck in the way these are currently done in the office. Too often I visit a practice that hasn’t even invested in the upgrades of their existing system, let alone explored what different technology capabilities are available for the medical practice to do a better job of managing the revenue cycle. One thing is for sure, if you haven’t upgraded your system when you could have, you are losing out on opportunities that are costing the practice plenty.
Start digging.
The first thing to help you down the road to maximizing the billing tools you have is to dig deeper into your practice management system’s features. Think about the things that require manual steps to track and accomplish with the current practice management system. Make a checklist. It could be anything from eligibility and verifying benefits to patient reminders and dunning messages placed on patient statements, or it might be automated collection letters and re-set reminders on outstanding claims. Perhaps it is electronic remittances or the ability to sort data and provide meaningful management reports that are laborious to obtain manually.
These are features you should expect from a good practice management system today, along with ease of use, accuracy and reliability across the board. If the vendor tells you theses feature are in research and development, it may be a long wait and time is not on your side. Regardless, you need to know if there is an opportunity to get more out of the current system and your vendor is the one to tell you. With the cost of running a medical practice, efficiency and reliability of the practice management’s system is vital to your future.
If you discover there are available system features the practice hasn’t tapped into, work with the vendor on how to get the staff trained and up to speed.
What if you are maximizing the billing system and it simply falls short? Then it is time to start exploring alternatives that apply more sophisticated technology. The most costly overhead expense in running a medical practice is staffing, upward to 30% in some specialties, so doing things manually costs you far more in the long run than upgrading to a fully automated system for managing the patient and claims revenue cycle.
This will take the practice on a journey that is likely to reveal billing systems and billing service companies with incredible features you never dreamed were available. For example, checking on eligibility and verifying a patient’s insurance benefits with the click of a mouse and in less than a minute; or scheduling specific reports to run automatically at a pre-determined date and time.
An important goal in your search for a better system is to leverage today’s sophisticated technology by simplifying administrative duties, increasing staff productivity, and improving the quality of outcomes that are compromised with manual processes and an inadequate system.
Think about the advantages of dramatically reducing administrative hassles and costs while potentially increasing the practice’s revenue.
The American Medical Association provides a detailed checklist for researching and selecting a billing system, available at www.ama-assn.org. It is a roadmap to help medical practices research and select the most appropriate system for their current and predicted future needs.
Embracing sophisticated technology in the medical office is no longer a lofty idea, it is a necessity; and whether you prefer an in-house system or a billing service, there are amazing solutions available that can take you into the future. If you can get the job done better for less, then what are you waiting for?
Judy Capko, who contributes this monthly column to “Getting Paid,” is the founder of Capko & Company and author of the popular book “Secrets of the Best-Run Practices,” Greenbranch Publishing, September 2005. Judy has specialized in medical practice operations and marketing for more than 20 years, and is a certified risk management specialist. www.Capko.com
