Are there loopholes in your AR process? Is your practice facing revenue losses? It goes without saying that unpaid accounts receivable stifle cash flow and rob you of the funds you need to invest in expansion prospects, purchase new machinery, and recruit staff, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Other unintended effects of a poor accounts receivable management process include:
• Missed follow-ups on past-due invoices
• Writing down outstanding receivables as bad debt
• Errors on bills and invoices
• Incorrect payment allocation
All of these factors result in decreased cash flow, which may require you to scale back operations and production. As a result, the company can fall short of its revenue goals as its rivals expand. If you can spot the barriers to effective AR management, you can get through them.
Some of the common AR challenges that hinder practices are –
Unorganized Ledger
Knowing how much money you are owed, who it belongs to, and when they are required to pay you, is dependent upon keeping your invoices organised. For proper AR management, having a system that enables you to have total visibility is essential. Inefficient accounts receivable management can result in a cash-flow deficit.
Lack of Communication with Patients
At the start of every patient relationship, it is imperative to establish communication lines and contact points because this will help you get payments on schedule. To ensure a healthy information flow, we advise keeping note of all the times and channels you have spoken with your customers.
Inefficient Policies
The worst thing we can do is undermine the business by unworkable AR management procedures. Someone, sometimes not on the finance team, can add a new payment option or offer a credit incentive without taking into account how it would affect the accounts receivable procedure.
However, it’s a sad fact that not everyone will be a good fit for your goods or services. You can distinguish between those who would make excellent customers, and people who wouldn’t with the help of a well-designed credit policy. As a result, reviewing and streamlining your AR policies is frequently worthwhile.
Benefits of an Audit
The FPR is improved by the insights obtained through audits (First Pass Ratio). Understanding the different audit standards that apply to each provider setting will help providers choose the appropriate solutions for their particular requirements.
Optimised AR Process
A finance staff can improve a client relationship in a variety of various ways without hindering cash flow. Examples include:
• Providing “Zero-Fee” payment choices for chosen payment methods.
• Implementing a service charge to deter undesired payment methods.
• Automating reconciliation, follow-ups, and invoice mailing.
• Only accepting digital payments.
• Cutting costs, choose flat-rate payment processing solutions.
• Saved payment options by customers.
• Giving customers automated, verified receipts.
Increased Coding Efficiency
Coding staff benefit from billing audits because they can identify and address important problems well before insurance companies express concerns about inappropriate coding. With enhanced billing and coding procedures, conducting an AR audit helps streamline and expedite medical billing process.
Improved Administrative Process
Audits help the administrative staff by guaranteeing that claims are legitimate, accurate, and filed correctly. Medical claims audits safeguard the practice from erroneous billing and claims. Practices may successfully check for ICD-10-CM and Meaningful Use compliance. When they have an internal check and balance system in place, it will enhance the entire process. Medical billing audits are used to reduce or eliminate payment errors. Additionally, the practice gains from expedited file processing, decreased inappropriate payments, and improved claim payment.
Improved Patient Care
The entire medical practice focuses on the standard of care provided by measuring and observing services and practices and training doctors on how to give positive medical experiences to their patients. You can manage your business successfully and spend more time with your patients when the workflow for medical billing and claims processing is improved. Patients get better patient outcomes and the revenue cycle functions more efficiently when they have a better patient experience.
Info Hub Consultancy Services (ICS) comes with expertise in accounts receivable services along with medical billing and coding. Our highly qualified team of A/R experts has experience working with many insurance providers and is knowledgeable about all of their policies. We make sure that our clients receive their compensation for the services they have rendered without any problems.
