Running a financially successful medical practice requires managing every aspect of your business—especially billing and collections. Whether you are starting a new practice, facing a transition in your organization or looking to improve your financial performance, there are times when medical practices find they need help with:
- Revenue Cycle Management – full service billing and collections on your software (or ours)
- Ongoing accounts receivable (A/R) follow-up (e.g., all claims > 60 days)
- One-time special project A/R follow-up work (e.g., Medicare claims >90 days and >$50)
- Provider Payer Enrollment/Credentialing
Understanding when your practice needs assistance and being able to identify the type of help your practice needs is critical in keeping your operation financially sound.
CASE STUDY: MRG recently assisted a private practice that was in danger of closing its doors. By ensuring charges were being captured and claims were being appropriately worked, this practice experienced a significant increase in collections, while provider productivity held steady. In short order, this practice went from at risk to profitable.
To help you determine if your practice may benefit from outsourced revenue cycle management services, here are 6 questions to help you get started.
- Do you experience denials or low collections due to provider credentialing issues?
- Are your days in A/R greater than in previous years indicating poor or slower collections?
- Do you experience vast swings in collections each month with no real explanation?
- Is a large percentage (e.g., over 20%) of A/R over 90 days past due?
- Does your billing staff communicate insurance company denial trends and coding related issues to you to improve accurate billing and faster collections?
- Do you receive frequent patient complaints regarding billing issues?
Through the course of this blog series, we will investigate the cause behind each question, provide a case example, and summarize the benefits outsourced revenue cycle management services provide.