Hospitals throughout the nation are continuing to face an important problem. This has to do with collecting payments from patients in a timely manner. Statistics gathered from the Medical Group Management Association found that 60% of the total owed by patients is never collected. Unfortunately, this makes it difficult for hospitals to receive adequate funding. This can create a slew of problems for a hospital. In this post, you’ll learn four wise ways to optimize your medical claims department.
- Utilize Healthcare Claims Processing Software
Unfortunately, many hospital employees are wasting time performing tasks that could be handled by software. Considering that, you’ll want to consider the current state of your hospital’s healthcare claims and processing software. If you’re using outdated software, it’s time to consider an update. Current healthcare claims and processing software is able to automate many billing related tasks. In turn, your hospital will likely begin receiving prompter payments. - Know Best Practices for Insurance Providers
It would make thing easier if everyone used the same insurance provider. However, you know that this certainly isn’t the case. Statistics show that two out of five adults under 65 in the United States receive insurance from their employers. With that in mind, your employees are likely going to be sending information to a wide range of insurance providers. Considering that, it’s wise to learn what information these companies typically need based on the situation. In turn, this helps to expedite communicating with insurance providers. - Ensure Patient Information is Current
It’s important that your hospital is able to avoid costly errors. Unfortunately, many of these errors occur due to outdated patient information. Considering that, it’s wise to ensure that patients fill out and confirm their current medical information is accurate. This process should only take a few minutes. In addition, it helps to save your hospital from missing out on payments. - Ditching Paper Payment Systems
As a manager, it’s important to ensure your company or organization is changing with the times. With that in mind, you might want to consider following what other businesses are doing. one of these changes involves choosing environmentally friendly ways to operate. You can do this by working to move towards paperless billing systems. Many health organizations are continuing to use this outdated method with less than great results. You’ll find that medical claims software can help ensure your hospital is using a paperless billing system.
In closing, there are several important ways to optimize your claims department. This will become crucially important throughout the near future. In fact, a recent study from Kaufman Hall found that many hospitals and health systems will need to cut costs up to 30% over the next five years in order to compete. Many hospitals are taking care of this growing concern through implementing healthcare claims and processing software.
