Effective Financial Policies And Procedures
Effective Financial Policies and Procedures
Andrea Muller
HCR/230
November 9, 2014
Rebecca Robinson Bragg
Effective Financial Policies and Procedures The basic elements of an effective medical office financial policy are that it should be clear and concise and leave no room for misunderstanding. These policies should be posted in the patient waiting room, given to patient in a paper form and explained to patient so that they know what is expected of them. An effective medical financial policy will include every possible financial scenario and address effective ways to handle them that will not burden the medical office staff members nor embarrass the patient. The policies should coincide with state and federal updates. Co-payments,
deductibles or balances due should be advised to patient upon making the patient’s appointment or at an appointment reminder telephone call. In addition, staff members should be trained on what the patient options are as well as policy and procedures for processing billing, contacting insurance companies for needed information, working with medical coding or billing staff on billing issues, and closing out any residual billing or account issues. When these policy and procedures are not followed by the office staff, it can lead to patients not having a clear understanding of what is expected of them and result in the patient not paying the bill that is due. By developing and implementing a financial policy for your office, it will help reduce the amount of unclaimed revenue as well as enable you to maintain a good relationship with the patients when issues arise. These procedures should be kept up-to-date and formatted in a way that changes can be easily made when updates arrive and backup by the office manager and owner. In conclusion, clear financial policies are a very real part of customer service, especially when presented by a warm, empathetic, and knowledgeable staff. The end result is that your office is able to collect necessary payments so that they can focus on the main priority of serving the patients.
References Valerius, J., Bayes, N., Newby, C., & Blochowiak, J. (2014). Medical insurance: An integrated claims process approach (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
Andrea Muller
HCR/230
November 9, 2014
Rebecca Robinson Bragg
Effective Financial Policies and Procedures The basic elements of an effective medical office financial policy are that it should be clear and concise and leave no room for misunderstanding. These policies should be posted in the patient waiting room, given to patient in a paper form and explained to patient so that they know what is expected of them. An effective medical financial policy will include every possible financial scenario and address effective ways to handle them that will not burden the medical office staff members nor embarrass the patient. The policies should coincide with state and federal updates. Co-payments,
deductibles or balances due should be advised to patient upon making the patient’s appointment or at an appointment reminder telephone call. In addition, staff members should be trained on what the patient options are as well as policy and procedures for processing billing, contacting insurance companies for needed information, working with medical coding or billing staff on billing issues, and closing out any residual billing or account issues. When these policy and procedures are not followed by the office staff, it can lead to patients not having a clear understanding of what is expected of them and result in the patient not paying the bill that is due. By developing and implementing a financial policy for your office, it will help reduce the amount of unclaimed revenue as well as enable you to maintain a good relationship with the patients when issues arise. These procedures should be kept up-to-date and formatted in a way that changes can be easily made when updates arrive and backup by the office manager and owner. In conclusion, clear financial policies are a very real part of customer service, especially when presented by a warm, empathetic, and knowledgeable staff. The end result is that your office is able to collect necessary payments so that they can focus on the main priority of serving the patients.
References Valerius, J., Bayes, N., Newby, C., & Blochowiak, J. (2014). Medical insurance: An integrated claims process approach (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.