Successful billing begins with efficient collection of information by the triage area/ front desk staff. Are you keeping your staff abreast of changes in healthcare reimbursement that will affect payments?
Specifically, consumer-directed healthcare plans, now 5 percent of claims, are expected to double to 10 percent in 2008. Under these plans, high deductibles are placing more financial responsibility into the hands of the patient. In many cases, the patient is given a fund for his or her for medical care, and a debit card to access that fund. It’s up to the urgent care office staff to recognize a patient with a consumer-directed healthcare plan, and to get payment from a debit card as appropriate. With the patients shouldering a higher percentage of cost of healthcare, facilities should also be prepared for “sticker shock” from patients unaccustomed to the true cost of medical treatment.
In the blossoming era of consumer-directed healthcare, payor complexities should be reviewed for each patient before the physician encounter, so you can circumvent payment problems later in the cycle. It is also imperative that the front desk staff get a copy of the patient or guarantor insurance card and verify identification. This may be the only opportunity you have to interface with this person. Dead mail piles do not net payments. If you are seeing a minor, make certain the person signing the child in is the person with benefits covering the minor or get that person on the phone.
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