7 steps to prevent overdue payments

Practice Pointers. By Karen Schechter, AMNews contributor. July 28, 2003.

PRACTICE POINTERS

Answers to questions about the business side of your practice

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Question Our practice's percentage of outstanding accounts more than 60 days old is increasing each month. What could be a potential source of this problem?

Answer The billing and collection process consists of seven steps, any of which can trip you up, and cause an insurer not to pay you.

Step 1: Appointment scheduling. When a patient makes an appointment, the staff should make sure the physician is on the patient's insurance plan. Every day a designated staff member should verify that all authorizations required for the following day's appointments are in the patients' charts. If not, a reminder call to the patient might be in order.

Step 2: Registration. It is critical that the patient complete a new patient information form or verify and sign an existing form at least once a year. It is important to politely insist that the entire form be completed and verified.

Each time a patient signs in, the receptionist should ask to see an insurance card and verify demographic information. The receptionist should compare the card with the copy in the patient's chart. If there are differences, the new card needs to be copied.

It also is important to enforce the policy of collecting co-pays at the time of service.

Step 3: Charge collection. Charges and associated diagnosis codes should be documented on the superbill. Codes should be well-documented in the patient's chart. All superbills for a day's worth of appointments should be accounted for no later than mid-morning the next business day.