Top 5 Strategies to Work on Growing and Aging Accounts Receivable
Any medical practice requires continuous cash flow to ensure the smooth running of the facility. Therefore, the need of the hour for any medical facility is to have an effective revenue cycle management to have an effective practice and provide the best services to the patients. A part of managing the revenue cycle is to maintain the records and keep them up-to-date, manage the physicians' compensation, ensure correct billing and coding for reimbursements and invest in the new technology for a seamless flow of revenue. Undoubtedly, effective revenue cycle management is crucial to decreasing the time period of Account Receivables (A/R) and increasing efficiency. Therefore, understanding your practice's business model and optimizing the A/R will help you to support and improve your cash flow while consolidating the working capital. A part of such process must include optimizing the AR and collecting the revenue from the aging Accounts Receivable.
Let’s have a deep dive into the top five strategies that can help you work on growing the A/R and increase the collection from aging A/R.
1. Making the Revenue Cycle Patient-Centric
One of the best ways to increase the A/R growth and improve the collection from aging Accounts Receivable is by developing a patient-centric revenue cycle. It will help the healthcare facility distinguish between clinical and administrative work easily.
The process also helps in enhancing the experience of the patients and the clinicians. The building of a patient-centric revenue cycle means after the confirmation of the appointment is received from the patient; staffs get informed automatically. They can then start checking the eligibility and the necessary documents the patient needs to provide for proceeding with the claim after the treatment is done.
In addition, it allows the facility to inform the patient about any required pre-pay or any documentation that will result in the rejection of the claim or any issues that can curtail cost collection. The overall feature lowers the risk of having lousy debt exposure.
2. Training the Staff
Proper staff training is essential to optimize the A/R and ensure the smooth financial operation of the facility. But once in a while, training is not enough. Since medical billing and coding are changing continuously, the staff must be trained regularly to be updated about the changes. In addition, if new technology or software is installed for medical billing and patient management, training for that is also mandatory.
Apart from this, the proper workflow must also be maintained, which means a correct allocation of the work among the staff.
3. Data Analysis
For managing any revenue cycle management, a robust collection of data and its analysis is a must. The collection of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and analyzing them gives the medical billing team much-needed insight into the claim status. A part of the process also requires using Aged Receivable Report or Aged Trial Balance reports to ascertain the debtors' outstanding claims. Also, the goal of any A/R management is to contain the outstanding A/R between 60 and 90 days.
4. Investing in Technology
The practice needs to invest in technology to ensure that a healthcare facility keeps up-to-date with its A/R and also get the money from the aging Accounts Receivable. Mainly automated technology gives overall support to medical billing and is multi-dimensional. It collects and analyses the data, provides a reminder per the claim timelines, and helps with appealing for claims denied. In addition, the technology helps keep the financial records on track by reminding the staff about the deadlines.
5. The Time Blocks
When it comes to A/R management, preparing for time blocks is essential. It helps in staying updated with the data. Typically, a professional medical billing company that manages the A/R divide the accounts into four receivable blocks –
- 0 – 30 days
- 30 – 60 days
- 60 – 90 days
- 90 days and beyond
The collection must be prepared between 7 and 14 days of invoicing because it helps with on-time revenue flow. Also, part of it includes the billing team being ready to appeal if the claim is denied immediately.
How to Manage the Aged A/R?
The experienced and the top-most medical billing companies such as 24/7 Medical Billing Services are known for managing aged A/R. They have helped recover thousands of dollars from aged A/R, thus improving the financial health of the medical facility.
Also, when you hire such an expert medical billing company, you can rest assured they will take care of the entire revenue cycle management with a dedicated team to look after your medical billing and coding operations. A company such as 24/7 Medical Billing Services has the latest billing software with advanced technology to warrant minimum claim denials and rejections. Outsourcing the medical billing process for your medical practice will earn an improved revenue cycle with on-time A/R.
Read more: Does Your In House Team Lack Deep Insights Into The Revenue Cycle?
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