Using efficient techniques for managing accounts receivable is essential to operating a successful medical business. The benefits of streamlining and optimizing the accounts receivable process are numerous. It affects medical billing procedures as a whole as well. Using an effective approach leads to significant changes in the low-dollar AR (accounts receivable) process, which have exciting advantages for the company.

What Does Medical Billing A/R Mean?

The amount owed to the clinic after a patient or the patient’s insurance company is billed for services is known as accounts receivable (A/R). The practice can calculate A/R in a number of different ways. First, a practice often calculates “Days in A/R” by dividing the entire amount of A/R by the average daily charges of the practice. Two, age-based account classifications often include the following:

• 31 to 60 days.
• 61 to 90 days.
• 91 to 120 days.

Some important strategies to efficiently improve Low-Dollar AR management:

Here are some tips to improve low-dollar AR.

Make Insurance Eligibility Verification a Top Priority:

Controlling the insurance verification process is a simple strategy to prevent expanding accounts receivable. In the event that insurance verification indicates there is no coverage, you must obtain payment in advance from the patient. Accordingly, if the treatment is administered and your insurance verification is unsuccessful, the payment will be placed in the accounts receivable area.  Use of software and outside assistance is the most reliable approach to ensure that insurance verification is error-free. Important details like the date of coverage, the co-pay amount, in-network and out-of-network coverage, the amount of the deductible that has been used, and so on should always be double checked.

Identify the reasons for denial:

The analysis of reason for denial can help identify what is incorrect and what has to be fixed right away. After the modification is implemented, the growth of accounts receivable is halted. There are cases where denials occur due to inaccurate patient data, duplicate claims, improper pre-authorization, wrong charge entry, improper credentialing, inadequate paperwork, etc. By getting to know them, you can prevent a recurrence and stop account receivables from growing.

Establish Payment Terms and Quickly Gather Patient Portions:

Making the proper decisions from the start is a tried-and-true method of preventing the growth of accounts receivable. The simplest way to accomplish this is to inform patients in advance of their financial obligation prior to their planned appointments and to pick them up as soon as they arrive. By doing this, you can prevent revenue from entering the receivable books and leaving the building. One part of the AR cycle ends when funds are collected in advance. In the later phases of the AR cycle, it also facilitates tracking. Patients may find themselves unable to pay for all of their treatment. Providers are required to give them partial payment options in such circumstances. Receivables will be less burdensome as a result of locking up some reimbursement.

Charge Entry:

Though it has an immediate effect on it, charge entry has no direct connection to accounts receivable administration. The procedure that clinicians use to provide listings of the services patients receive in medical billing is known as charge entry. In order to submit claims, this list is coded. erroneous charge entry results in erroneous coding, which in turn causes payment to be denied. After then, the account receivable logbook is updated with the due payment. Because charge input and coding are inconsistent, on average 1% of net charges are recorded erroneously. This can be a significant amount for large hospitals with high annual income. In certain cases, mismatches can lead to audits, particularly if they result in overcharging the payors. Penalties may result from this.

Submission of Claims:

In order to receive payment from payors, claims must be filed after charges have been recorded and coded. A mistake at this point may cause a claim to be moved to accounts receivable. In addition to code faults, there is another type of error that is highly prevalent at this point. This is an error resulting from having many insurance policies. Various problems may arise from this, such as incorrect Medicare bills being received by the supplemental insurance companies, which prevents payments from being made, Medicare not covering patient collections, and so forth.

Outsourcing Account Receivable Management:

Outsourcing accounts receivable management services is the most tried and true method of optimizing the function. Through outsourcing, one can gain access to a group of accounts receivable specialists who have experience in the industry and are well-versed in managing accounts receivable services effectively.  The primary benefit of working with a third-party partner for medical accounts receivable billing is that they handle the fundamental problems, such as low-paid, rejected, and underpaid claims. This keeps the amount of accounts receivable under control and the cash flow steady. They can help you identify recurring problems such as invoicing discrepancies, coding errors, and operating expenses.

Choose The Medicators for Account Receivable Services:

Improving and reducing your low-dollar AR in healthcare is not as facile as it may seem because it demands a lot of effort, concentration, and time. Despite employing multiple maintenance strategies, AR may still negatively affect your revenue cycle, drastically creating a considerable difference between given services and reimbursement. At this point, you should outsource your medical billing and RCM to an experienced company. When it comes to trust and experience, The Medicators Medical Billing and Coding Services is a partner that cannot be neglected because of the experts that streamline your whole billing process. In addition to experts, our experience in reducing accounts receivable is also extensive, leading to profit for you.