It’s not only patients who feel financial distress, but hospitals, healthcare services, and other providers as well.
COVID-19, which has led to financial stress for many patients, has been increasing in recent months.
COVID-19 put many families in our local communities at risk for unemployment and loss of their insurance coverage.”Marvin Mickelson Systems director of the shared income cycle. The University of Kansas Health System Kansas City, Kansas. Health leaders You can also email us
Patients’ unpaid bills may be for treatments received before pandemic. These bills are being put off as other expenses rise.
“The last thing people who are unemployed want to do it is to pay for their health care bills,” saysMatt Seefeld MedEvolve’s executive vice president in Little Rock Arkansas. “I’m going the pay for what keeps my family alive. It’s not worrying me that I have a bill from six month ago.
Hospitals, healthcare system, and other providers are also subject to financial stress. A new Search TransUnion Healthcare studied visit volumes between March 1, 7 and August 16, 22. The inpatient volumes showed a 8% decrease in volume than the preCOVID-19 volumes. It was the same level that was observed at the June end.
Discover three ways to increase your income while reducing bad debt in a struggling healthcare organization are available.
1. Be even more flexible
Many providers including the University of Kansas Health System had previously offered more flexible payment terms patient financing.
The University of Kansas Health System allowed patients to choose between a shorter-term interest-free payment plan or a longer term plan through Consolidationnow. These plans were available even before the pandemic. Installed.
COVID-19 quickly demonstrated that patients need even more flexibility.
“Our call centers answered a lot of calls from patients, who said they had lost work due to the pandemic. We knew we had to change how we approached financial services. Mickelson spoke out to alleviate financial stress that patients were experiencing.
Mickelson says that patients now have the option to receive a 30% to half-off discount when they call about billing problems.
Patients were also given longer-term payment options with affordable monthly payments that covered the balance of their balance.
The system has taken other measures such as offering more training to staff regarding complex financial discussions, informing patients that they could combine hospital and physician’s bills on one bank account, and being generous with its charity policy.
Mickelson noted that the system has seen improvements, and not only for patients.
“Our healthcare system has seen a decrease in bad debts during times of crisis. We also see a significant decline in accounts receivable as self-payment. He stated that our take-up rates for payment plans are still extremely low. We will continue to offer these options to patients for as long time as is necessary, especially during a pandemic. “
2. Take downtime to stop revenue losses
Although patients’ out-of–pocket expenditures are given much attention, they make up only a small proportion of overall income.
“It has increased quite substantially in percentage terms. But at the final analysis, 85% to 90 percent is still owed the third parties.James Bohnsack HealthLeaders interviewed a senior vice President and chief strategic officer at TransUnion Healthcare.
Leaders in revenue cycles can capitalize on the period of declining volumes by fine-tuning their processes to capture any revenue due to them. Revenue leakage should also be an area of concern.
Bohnsack explained that the volume drop has provided people in the revenue cycle with an opportunity to rethink how they allocate resources against areas where revenue leaks are occurring.
Executives might now have the time and resources to concentrate on other areas of what Bohnsack calls “the additional category on your financial classes that tends to have leaks, extra opportunities to capture funds.” income and reduce bad debts. “
These venues could include Workers’ Compensation, Liability Funding Programs and Out-of-State Medicaid.
These areas are not always easy to capture, but they can make a big difference in terms of the total revenue you receive for the services provided.
3. Receive what is owed already
Most health care consumers expect to pay the cost of their care, particularly if they are coming for scheduled appointments.
Seefeld recommends that patients with unpaid balances are collected or set up a payment plan.
He suggests that you monitor your patients and see who is owing you money. He suggests that you either get a credit or card to pay off your past debts.
Flexible payment plans again prove to be important as they can allow income cycles to create a payment agreement and start collecting before patients start increasing balances. This is particularly true during a pandemic. People may not be able pay a large check.
