Efficient revenue cycle management is essential for the financial health of small practices. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to see inadequate revenue cycle management leading to lost revenue, delayed payments, and long A/R cycles. With that in mind, today we outline some strategies that small medical practices can use to optimize their revenue cycle management.
1. Verify Patient Insurance Coverage
Verifying patients’ insurance coverage before services are rendered is crucial to guarantee timely payments. Small practices can use tools like electronic eligibility verification or paying portals to avoid mistakes and ensure correct billing.
Double-checking insurance coverage helps ensure that the billing process is accurate from the outset, thus improving collections.
2. Keep a Strict Check on Billing and Coding Accuracy
Consistently accurate medical coding is crucial to optimizing revenue cycle management. Lost/inaccurate billing can lead to delayed or denied payments.
Regularly reviewing billing and coding systems can help rectify any errors and make sure they are fixed in a timely fashion. Conducting internal audits or hiring a third party coding specialist can also contribute to ensuring coding accuracy.
3. Streamline Your Billing Procedures
Small practices can benefit enormously from automating their billing systems. Some common but effective practices include:
- Enabling online payments
- Using specialized software
- Creating a patient portal that allows patients to manage their accounts online
Automating these and other aspects of your practice not only reduces administrative costs but also improves the experience of your patients.
4. Outsource Your Revenue Cycle Management
Outsourcing revenue cycle management is increasingly becoming popular among small practices.
The reason is simple outsourcing saves time, cuts administrative costs, reduces billing errors, and improves the recovery rate of your claims.
At Practice IQ, we offer a comprehensive suite of services for practices like yours. Contact us today to get started!
Practice IQ: Medical Billing Services in California
At Practice IQ, we understand the challenges healthcare professionals face in today’s fast-paced world. That’s why we have made it our mission to take care of the administrative side of medical-legal reports and billing so you can focus on what you do best.
We are located in Pomona, California, and serve clients all over the Golden State. Contact us today by telephone (424-433-5704) or email (piqusinfo@practiceiqusa.com), or fill out the contact form to learn more about our services.
