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Tailoring medical billing procedures to ensure positive patient experience
Ineffective billing procedures are some of the most common complaints received by medical practices, negatively impacting patients’ perception of a practice and rendering them reluctant to return.
Some of the most common frustrations experienced comprise not knowing upfront what consulting and treatment fees accumulate to, confusion regarding payment policies and procedures, not being told what treatments will result in additional costs and having to fight with insurance providers to fully or partially cover treatments.
Considering that patient experience directly impacts the sustainability of a practice, health professionals need to ensure that they create trusting environments where patients feel safe in terms of their health and wallets.
Therefore, the following considerations should be taken to heart when it comes to billing operations:
Medical billing companies handle patient billing queries full-time and are well-familiar with medical insurance requirements and treatment codes. They are also skilled at negotiating with insurance providers and, therefore, a great asset to any medical practice. Using a billing company, however, does not excuse medical staff for being uninformed. Staff still need to know the basics regarding treatment and procedure costs and policies and should inform patients accordingly.
The alternative to outsourcing billing operations is having a full-time employee, that specialises in this service, stationed at a practice, responsible for assisting patients with statements, claims, negotiations and payment plans.
All in-house staff should be confident answering questions that arise regarding treatment and consulting fees as well as payment policies. While staff cannot be expected to know everything regarding a patient’s particular insurance provider, they need have the ability to point patients in the right direction.
This will establish more trust in service providers and won’t leave patients feeling that they are left in the dark once they walk out the door.
In addition, billing statements need to be as simple and clear as possible, thereby, reducing the amount of queries received and causing less frustration for staff and patients. Placing payment procedures and policies on the statement will also make it easier for patients to comply.
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that running a medical practice is expensive but this, however, is not the patient’s concern. While patients understand that medical services are expensive, they will lose trust in healthcare providers if they feel that they are being charged more than the services received are worth.
Also keep in mind that, owing to the accessibility of information in the modern age, patients can easily compare fees and the quality of services received, stressing the importance to ensure patients feel valued and taken care of.
When patients fail to pay for services received, healthcare providers have every right to recover these fees. Patient experience, however, will greatly be improved if healthcare providers recognise the challenges experienced regarding payments.
Common challenges comprise; getting insurance providers to fully cover treatments and consultations, disagreement regarding fees charged, confusion regarding payment procedures and, in some cases, patients are not aware that fees are outstanding.
Most of these challenges can be mitigated by ensuring that patients are informed regarding the cost of services before consultations or treatments occur. In addition, patients need to be made aware of payment policies and procedures, and a dedicated billing company or in-house staff member needs to ensure that patients are informed of outstanding fees and assisted with insurance issues.
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Healthcare over the last fifty years has been greatly dictated by the expectations of the baby boomer generation; visits to the doctor were met with the same enthusiasm as a night out with patients dressed up for the occasion and the diagnosis given was accepted without even a second thought.
Millennials, however, were born into an era where information is simply a search away and, as this generation starts to spill out into the world, the trust between a doctor and patient is no longer as easily earned.
With one in four people using the internet to self-diagnose instead of visiting a doctor, one can only imagine what patients do with the health information available to them on the world wide web. Comparing, researching and discussing symptoms and diagnoses should be expected from healthcare providers in the age of the Millennial.
The world wide web offers an array of information regarding the human body, the illnesses that attack us and the medication and natural remedies available to assist. Online groups, discussion forums and portals have also enabled people to connect with those facing similar challenges and compare information.
The responsibility of health diagnosis and treatment is, therefore, now divided between doctor’s and their patients with mutual respect and knowledge shared between the two parties, proving that the demission of one-way communication is not only applicable to the world of branding but has entered the GP’s office as well.
Health practitioners are expected to explain a diagnosis and are often questioned on how they reached a certain conclusion and why they choose a particular method of treatment. Should they offer advice that is not up to standard or unknown treatments, that information will, in all probability, be dissected by thousands in online health discussion forums.
The amount of knowledge hosted and shared on the World Wide Web has placed new demands on healthcare providers with patients no longer seek only a diagnosis, but also demanding conversations, guidance and good service.
As a result, healthcare practitioners are obliged to either heed to the demands of Millennials or suffer the digital consequences which comprise the risk of popping up in online discussions, bad online reviews, and an overall questionable reputation.
To run a practice in demand in the digital age, practitioners need to keep the following in mind:
A survey undertaken by a health insurer indicated that patients’ satisfaction with their healthcare providers directly correlate to their satisfaction with the billing procedure. Survey participants indicated that not knowing upfront what the cost of treatments are, treatment inclusions and exclusions, and billing procedures and policies lead to the most unhappiness and unwillingness to use the service provider again in future.
This stresses the importance for health practitioners to ensure that patients are informed regarding their treatment and their wallets, highlighting the need for two-way conversation and excellent service as demanded by millennials.
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