Healthcare providers concentrate on providing top-quality, fair, and safe healthcare as patients’ satisfaction and care are the primary goals for operating a practice. The insurance medical coding services of patients are a crucial aspect of the patient experience. Many practices are faced with challenges from day to day. A majority of studies focusing on the satisfaction of patients reveal that bills for patients can be difficult to read, are sent in separate forms from various providers, may contain mistakes that are not intentional, may have an unexpected amount and don’t provide access to payment options that are easy.
Medical Coding Services
For instance, in the case of the treatment of breast cancer patients may receive bills from the surgeon, the hospital as well as the anesthesiologist, pathologist, and even the laboratory, based on each provider’s relationship to the health or hospital system and whether they conduct their own bill.
Problems with billing for patients are aggravated by the increasingly complex and complicated policies put in place by commercial health insurance providers which include changing rules for coverage mid-year and complicated cost-sharing arrangements which leave patients confused about the amount they owe and what their insurance will be able to cover. These kinds of issues could cause patients to miss their dues and adversely impact their relationships with their doctors. Recent legislation like the Federal Hospital Price Transparency Rule and the No Surprises Act highlight efforts by policymakers to take care of the concerns of patients. In this piece, we highlighted the most pressing issues in billing for inpatients and explored strategies to enhance the experience of billing.
Challenges in Patient Billing
Patients are seeking straightforward, consolidated bills, various payment plans and options, pre-service cost-out-of-pocket estimates, and better customer service. Research conducted by consumers revealed the following issues that affect the billing experience for patients.
Uncertain bills:
Most patients get confused about how their bills for medical care are calculated. It can be due to insufficient clarity regarding the amount due and the relationship to any other payments received by the person, insufficiently clear explanations of the services, and how various types of coverage, including Medicare and private health insurance workers’ compensation, auto insurance interact in order to cover the cost of care in addition to other concerns.
Many bills. Patients experience confusion after being presented with multiple invoices from various providers for what they believe is a single instance of treatment. They would prefer the bills consolidated and to pay them from various health care providers in one location.
Unexpected charges Over 90 percent of patients who were surveyed reported being shocked by medical bills during the last year, including receiving an invoice they didn’t anticipate or was much higher than they had anticipated. The majority of patients want to know what they’ll owe on medical bills prior to receiving medical treatment. Many prefer to know the information by using an online cost estimate.
Communication channels that are no longer relevant:
A growing number of patients regardless of age like to get and participate in medical bill-related communications via electronic communication, but less than 23 percent receive their medical bills in this manner. It is not surprising that patients younger than between 18 and 34 are more likely to favor electronic billing than those who are older.
The absence of a variety of payment choices:
In the latest survey over one-third of participants thought that the payment options available were difficult to use. Patients are more likely to pay with the internet such as debit or credit card, or directly from a bank or health savings account. There is also an increasing demand to provide mobile payment options like Apple Pay, PayPal Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Google Play.
Improving the Patient’s Billing
When practice owners recognize the billing issues of patients and issues, they are able to find ways to solve the problem. Some of them can be accomplished fairly easily, while others are more complicated and require assistance from billing firms.
Offer accurate bills:
Become committed to accuracy in billing and implement quality control procedures to ensure that the bills are correct before they are delivered to patients. In the event of errors, they should be investigated to determine a solution prior to sending the invoice to patients.
Offer cost estimates:
If there isn’t a way to provide easily accessible estimates of out-of-pocket expenses, try to make it available for shoppable services, for example, those which are scheduled ahead of time generally follow a standard plan and do not depend on specific characteristics of the patient, for example, comorbidities. Technology advancements allow hospitals and health care systems to assist patients access this information in different ways, for example, by using online calculators.
Reduce the complexity of the bills. Try to reduce the patient’s bills. It is possible to work with focus groups and consumer advocacy to increase clarity. It is possible to format bills that clearly identify the amount due and don’t contain charges, allowable amounts, or any other number that might distract from the amount due. The summary should also clearly define the date of payment, as well as the method of paying the bill, as well and include contact information for customer service.
Consolidate billing:
Work towards unifying billing for all of the care provided within the system. It is possible to consolidate bills for the duration of an episode, or alternatively, for 30-day billing cycles. In the second option, the bills that are due over a period of 30 days are bundled and delivered in an email to the patient upon closing each cycle. The providers would have to inform patients clearly about the contents of these bills and ensure the patients know that treatment received outside of the system wouldn’t be included in these bills.
Flexible payment options:
Design and present to patients a variety of payment options, taking into account that some payment options require a modification according to the patient’s preferences. Increase the methods by which patients can pay for their services beyond checks and credit cards via a variety of electronic methods. Get started with electronic communication regarding medical bills. This could include texts, email and in-app messaging, or even a live chat feature.
The biggest obstacle to tackling problems with billing for patients is the absence of healthcare the time of healthcare providers. Practice owners are caught up in the complexities of medical billing which leads to inefficient use of time and revenues. You can make time to provide for patients by outsourcing your medical billing tasks. Medcare Medical Billing Services (MSO) is a top medical billing service that provides a full solution for revenue cycles. We offer insurance coverage reporting that allows you to give precise cost estimates and the responsibility of the patient.
