Maximize your Collections for Ambulatory Surgery Centres (ASCs)

Collecting from patients has become a growing challenge for ASCs in recent years. A growth replicated the continued rise in patient financial responsibility, even after insurance. As patients' financial responsibility for healthcare costs has shifted, ambulatory surgery centres must commit more attention and resources to collect these higher amounts. In fact, they are making every effort to do so while keeping in mind the stress and struggle that some patients face in covering personal expenses. Regardless of the growing challenges that ambulatory surgery centres collections and their patients face, ASCs must make sure that they have practices in place to assist them in collecting what patients owe for their treatment.

Let’s have a deep dive into strategies that can be followed to maximize the collections for your Ambulatory Surgery Centres (ASCs):

• Devise a defined collections policy

It's critical for ambulatory surgery centres to have a clear collections policy that patients understand even prior to their arrival. The ASC is more likely to collect if patients understand their accountabilities and when bills are due. From the moment patients walk through the door, the ASC must have a written policy in place outlining how they will handle collections.

You should prioritize working with patients to ensure quick and easy payments. For instance, clarify what is reasonable and past due to avoid chaos later. Some practices may keep billing statements for ten months even after services are delivered, which is a big problem. That’s why it is always recommended to concentrate on the patient's responsibilities and the steps you will take to collect the amount for the services provided.

• Revise billing statements

Many ambulatory surgery centres fail to invoice patients correctly or use ambiguous language in their billing statements. The breakdown of the aging budget is one of the most significant flaws in billing statements. Thereby, the patients see this and assume the payment isn't due until the last payment date. In this case, the best solution is to change the statements to remove the aging and include a specific date for the next payment.

Some ambulatory surgery centres have difficulty locating patients who have moved. These facilities can use an address service request — a free service provided by the post office — to have the statement forwarded to the patient's new address. When the patient moves, the post office will notify you and provide you with the new address.

• Go after late payments early

Late payments must always be pursued aggressively. You should have a clearly defined collections policy outlining a specific set of actions to collect late payments, and you must take these steps right away. According to the research, the more you contact a person on the front end for payment, the better your chances of getting paid. In fact, sending a statement every 30 days is unacceptable. You require a system that allows for more contact early in the process.

Furthermore, in-house ASCs billing operations must be more successful in collecting payments. In such a scenario, there is a need to look for budget-friendly systems to digitalize the entire collection process. Preferably, you must contact patients for payment up to five times per month. If this is not feasible, consider outsourcing these collections.

Outsource ASC Billing and Coding to Maximize your Collections!

The success of your Ambulatory Surgical Centre (ASC) depends not only on patient satisfaction but also on an accurate medical billing services. When your ASC loses money due to revenue cycle mismanagement, your facility is put at unnecessary risk of losing more revenue than it earns, resulting in highly stressful conditions.

One of the many issues that plague a private Ambulatory Surgery Centre is the lack of adequate collections from the patients for the services offered. In addition to such issues are the constant changes in medical coding. In fact, regulatory changes are constantly being updated, and they can affect how you handle your ASC billing process. It is costly to be unable to keep up with these changes.

According to a survey, roughly 80% of hospital executives are considering outsourcing their revenue cycle management services. Some ASCs will continue to handle financial services in-house, but there are several benefits to outsourcing your medical billing and coding. Instead of still doubting, outsource your ASC billing and coding operations to 24/7 Medical Billing Services and maximize your collections.

Read more: What Works For Your ASC Billing – In-House Or Outsourcing?