Without a doubt, billing remains the most critical component of your organizational workflows. It is the backbone of a productive and profitable medical practice. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has inevitably transformed how healthcare providers practice medicine and bill for it. Therefore, providers are increasingly adopting a consumer-centric approach to managing their billing cycle.

Medical practices are progressively becoming more entrepreneurial about how their patients view their processes. By introducing easy and user-friendly billing processes, the practices will eventually thrive. Here’s how you can streamline your billing cycle to make it more patient-centric and streamlined:

Communicate with your patients

Communication is the key to a profitable business. With the entire crisis prevalent in the country, patients are utterly confused if they should contact a physician online or visit an ER for their healthcare needs. Therefore, providers should aim to alleviate patient anxiety by reaching out to them and explaining everything clearly, from the billing procedures to the final treatment plans. Additionally, as older patients might be struggling to adapt to the technology necessary for a televisit, you may need to coach and mentor them through phone calls. Implementing systems like PBX SIP trunking can further streamline these communications, ensuring clarity and reliability. Hence, strong and effective communication will help keep your billing patient-focused.

Moreover, providers should keep a keen eye on tomorrow, because eventually, everything will return to normal. Hence, identifying patients in several tracks might help, COVID-19 track, chronic care management track, etc.

Stay updated about marketplace changes

It is necessary to stay abreast of all the guidelines coming out of the CMS, state Medicaid, and all other big players. You should be aware of the state legislations governing telemedicine, the waivers offered by CMS to previous guidelines, and the varying coding guidelines for billing purposes. This will provide you with more opportunities to bill and be overwhelming when it comes to accommodating the number of changes.

Having a dedicated staff at the practice to keep a close watch on these guidelines and changes might be a plausible strategy. This resource should be entirely dedicated to maintaining a check on the coding guidelines and reimbursement trends while rebuilding claims and reducing billing errors. No matter how profound your credentials are and how professional a doctor you maybe, if you use the wrong code, you’re not getting paid.

Pay close attention to claims and denials

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided you with an opportunity to critically examine your billing function and revenue cycle foundations to correct any inefficiencies. If you’ve got the best practices employed, you’re inevitably going to be augmenting your practices despite the challenging times. It is advised you watch your billing clearinghouse like a hawk. Ensure your billing system complies with the guidance issued from Medicare, Medicaid, and other commercial payers. Make you’re your system is efficient, safe and secure, and employs the best practices of the industry. This will help you prepare strong claims and minimize the chances of medical errors and claim denials.

In an era of digitally-driven competition, medical practices need to understand how their patients feel about the touchpoints contributing to their overall healthcare experience. Billing is one of the most critical touchpoints that shape a patient’s overall experience. Therefore, keeping your billing cycle patient-centric will take your practice to new horizons, that’s a promise!