Maintaining Patient Interaction in the Medical Billing Process

When you are managing a practice, your biggest concern is hopefully with overall patient satisfaction. Aside from providing excellent service and care, how can you extend that level of satisfaction to all the corners of your office? While most patients don’t like paying their medical bill, it is a fact of life, and you can make that process easier for them – something they are likely to appreciate.

Patient interaction is key when it comes to creating a medical billing process that is efficient for both your practice and your patients. With electronic medical records (EMR), this step is made possible in today’s hi-tech, digital age. EMR and patient interaction go hand-in-hand when trying to create a billing system that keeps patients involved and satisfied with your practice.

The Benefits of EMR and Patient Interaction

An EMR system is a wonderful tool for virtually any kind of medical practice, as it is a great way to keep all records stored in a safe and organized manner. Patients that return to your office can rest assured knowing that their accurate records are accessible, allowing for appointments to run more smoothly. While most institutions already use this method of record keeping, did you know that it could improve your patient interaction when it comes time to process the medical billing?

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As EMR keeps ahold of all records, mistakes in billing can be kept to a minimum. If an error does occur, the patient’s file can be easily located and the problem can be fixed. Additionally, most systems have a separate side that patients can access on their own at home, in order to update personal information and to view their bill, keeping them interacted with the billing process.

Consider Your Mobility Options

Continuing the thought that patients can access their own patient portals from home, mobile billing options for EMR solutions are on the rise. With the ability to view and access their medical bills on mobile devices, patients will have a simplified version of what they owe. This will make the payment process easier on them, encouraging them to stay involved throughout billing.

Much like how utility bills can be paid online, this would be a similar solution for patients, in regards to their medical statements. Instead of mailing complex forms to the patients for them to figure out on their own, a mobile billing option could prove to be beneficial to both you and the patient. It will provide them a level of convenience, keeping them involved in the medical billing process ( for more information click here ) , so that you don’t have to hunt them down for collections on payments.

Keep Your Staff on the Same Page

Whether you are at the doctor’s office or the local coffee shop, patients and customers alike hate dealing with employees who can’t seem to keep their rules and regulations in order. If you keep your staff on the same page in regards to billing, things in the office will run so much better. For instance, if a patient has a question about billing, every employee in your office will be able to give them the same, accurate answer.

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If a patient feels like they are having to jump through flaming hoops just to pay you money, they could easily grow tired of the process and give up entirely. When this happens, you have to extend the extra effort of reaching out to them to receive the correct payment. By keeping your entire office well-versed on the process of your medical billing, this fate could be avoided and patient interaction will remain in good standing.

Outsource Your Medical Billing

When you run a larger practice, see a high volume of patients, or deal with a specialty, billing can get complicated, thanks to ICD-10. When you outsource your medical billing, you can have peace-of-mind knowing that all of your billing is being handled and done so correctly. As far as patient interaction is concerned when it comes to outsourcing medical billing, you can reassure them that the process will run smoothly and efficiently, making things easier on everyone.

Typically, if you outsource medical billing then it also means that patients have a more streamlined process for payments. If they have a question, it can be answered by billing professionals. And when they receive their bill, everything is clearly laid out, from the procedures they receive to their health insurance and more. Your patients can stay involved throughout the billing process, in the hopes of paying their bills on time, so that your practice does not have to worry over the loss of revenue.

Majority of the practices report a jump of 16% in their revenue after outsourcing their billing process. An affordable EHR solution coupled with an outsourced billing can do wonders for your practice.