St. Paul, MN, December 22, 2011 —Most healthcare providers are seeing an upswing in the number of self-pay patients. That means an upswing in patient invoicing—which often means administrative headaches for the provider if self-pay patients are confused about their bill or simply fail to pay in a timely fashion. Adopting these five New Year’s resolutions in your billing practices can help minimize billing-related calls to your administrative staff and, most importantly, shorten the average time self-pay account balances are outstanding. The resolutions boil down to implementing crystal-clear communications and cutting-edge statement-processing technology.
1. Redesign your billing statements with Clarity, Accuracy, Timeliness, and Simplicity (CATS) An Intuit Health study released in 2011 showed that 41 percent of all patients do not have confidence that the billed amount is correct and 57 percent of all patients have had a bill go to a collection agency. Many patients are unsure whether to pay the provider or their insurance company. Providers can cut down on call center volume—and reduce the percentage of unpaid bills—by ensuring statements are crystal clear.
Follow the “CATS” approach for best practice. Emphasize what, who, when and where. BE crystal clear by choosing easy-to-read fonts and font sizes, use sans serif fonts, and keep serif fonts limited to message areas. Never use more than two fonts within the statement design. Keep font sizes consistent within one area only bolding and enlarging information that needs to be. Make sure patients don’t have to search for their reading glasses to review the basic information. Enlarge the font sizes of the account or guarantor number, amount due, statement due date and remittance address. In short, be sure to make all aspects of the patient’s financial responsibility crystal clear.
2. Brand your billing statement. Your billing statement should present your logo and other branding elements exactly the same way your marketing materials and on-site materials present your brand. Remember that patients deal with multiple providers. Place your logo on both the main body of the statement and the tear-off stub. Think of the billing statement as an aspect of patient “after care”—use the statement to communicate your core brand message.
3. Initiate electronic statements. Younger patients, especially, demand administrative ease. Provide online statements and a portal for patients to pay online. Both providers and patients benefit from online billing—lower cost to the provider, and greater ease to the patient. Ensure your online statement exactly matches your printed statement. If you work with a third-party online-billing provider, be certain the provider can offer you a fully branded payment portal. Every aspect of the “after care” process should reflect your brand identity in the marketplace
4. Make PDF copies of patient statements available to your administrative staff. When billing statements are crystal clear, call center volume drops. To best serve those patients who do have questions about their bills, be certain you have technology in place that allows call center and other administrative staff to review exact copies of patient statements. When a call center representative can see exactly what the patient sees, issues are typically resolved in a single phone call.
5. Archive patient statements. When patient statements are archived, front desk and customer service personnel can review past and current statements with patients at check-in—making the often impersonal billing experience much more personal. In fact, the check-in process at the front desk can become an opportunity for patients to resolve questions, thereby saving call center resources later. And at the call center, when staff members can easily access all previously printed and mailed documents, their patient calls are smoother and more efficient. Providers can also improve their ability to track cash flows when patient statements are archived.
