During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical practices have had to be creative in order to adapt, survive and ensure continued access to medical services for patients. examples of this include telemedicine, curbside immunizations, and drive-up testing for the virus. The main challenge posed by all of these methods is collecting patient balances.

Here are 4 tips to help practices overcome these issues:

1. Educate patients on the cost of virtual services

Providers must get used to having conversations with patients regarding the cost of virtual health services. Though some payors have waived cost-sharing for virtual services during the pandemic, these policies will expire soon. Due to this, patients might be surprised at the cost of virtual services in the near future. Providers must be proactive and explain the cost associated with these services and the expertise and hard work that goes into them.

2. Make a Decision on Upfront Collections

During the pandemic, many practices became slack with regard to collections in order to either rebuild or maintain patient volumes. It is time, now, to reevaluate these strategies in order to maintain a strong flow of revenue into the practice. In order to do so, they must decide whether or not they will adopt a policy of upfront collections.

One of the major challenges of upfront collections in cases where patients are unaware of their problem. Without a diagnosis already in place, it is hard to know what treatment will be required, making it impossible to determine how much patients owe. The patient might only come in for a simple follow-up appointment and in the course of the visit, providers might discover a completely new required procedure, one that must be billed separately.

Even with such challenges, however, it is important for practices to continue to seek upfront collections. Doing so reduces the chances of patient balances lying in accounts receivable for too long and ensures that the practice is able to keep a steady stream of revenue coming through the door.

Learn More: Strategies for Patient Collections

3. Make payment easier

As soon as an account includes patient responsibility, practices must be proactive to ensure patients make their payments. Most patients who do not make their payments on time will not be doing so out of malicious intent in any manner, with simple forgetfulness being far more likely. A simple text or email reminder offers an easy solution to this specific problem.

4. Payment plans

Another common reason patients are late on their payments is that they are unable to afford them. It is in the best interests of the problem to be flexible enough in their payment plans to accommodate patients who are unable to afford to pay their full balance all at once. Payment plans ensure that practices receive their full payment and that patients are not faced with too great financial pressure.