In part one of this blog post, we covered two best practices for finding a revenue cycle management system that not only “manages” your clinic billing and collections but optimizes it to increase total revenue and improve your bottom line. Here are a few more ways you can optimize your RCM to bring in more total revenue without adding more work or more patient appointments.
Best Practice: Create Clinical Workflows with RCM in Mind
Many clinics think of the revenue cycle as something that starts when the appointment is over, and you send the information to your coders to submit the claim. The reality is that RCM starts from the moment your patient calls for an appointment. Your clinical workflows should help you send all the correct information to billing to avoid claim denials and rejections.
Managing RCM: hoping your medical coders will be able to spot errors and fill in gaps in information after the encounter is an inefficient way to run a clinic, and will likely result in a lot of delays. Even if you are able to get your claims paid eventually, they may be sent back and require a second round of work to clarify or fill in the missing information. This increases the total days in A/R. There is evidence that the longer you have to wait to get paid, the less you will be able to collect as a percent of total billed charges.
Optimizing RCM: optimize your RCM by creating workflows that ensure good information is sent to your coding team from the start. For example:
- Have your front desk staff verify insurance twice, once when the appointment is scheduled and again the day before the appointment, using software that automates the verification process
- Send check-in forms to your patients via email so they can verify things like their SSN, address, and insurance at every appointment and make updates as necessary
- Create templates in your EHR that allow you to fill in necessary information automatically, and to help you remember everything that is required
- Use patient portals and other technology to better connect with patients and maintain accurate information about follow-up care, insurance coverage, test results, and more
- Use a “claims scrubbing” or a third-party medical billing service to check for simple errors before you submit a claim to the payer
- Find revenue cycle management software that provides reporting to spot claims denial patterns that can help you improve your own workflows to reduce them in the future
Learn More About How Technology Can Help
Technology isn’t the only answer to help you create better workflows, but having the right practice management software solution can definitely help. Learn how AdvancedMD can help your practice create better and more efficient workflows today by scheduling a demo and check out part three for a couple more revenue-optimizing best practices.
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