Patient financial responsibility is one of the essential key components of effective revenue cycle management. It is evident that the patient is responsible for the medical billing for the portion not covered by the insurance company. The patient with no insurance is liable to pay all medical bills, and the patient who has HDHP needs to pay a deductible for medical bills until the deductible is met. Before that, the patient needs to understand his/her responsibility and right to good health. Maximize health habits such as healthy eating, exercise, not smoking, not spreading contagious diseases, and working with healthcare providers to make health decisions and take care of treatment plans that are or are not covered by health insurance.

How can we determine the patient’s responsibility:

The patient’s most important responsibility is to pay the portion of the medical bills for medical billing services that are not covered by insurance companies. With the help of the right technology, patients’ responsibility can be determined. Medical billing software helps the provider manage patients’ information with the help of a prior authorization tool and a patient cost estimator to bill for services. A couple of decades ago, providers would have to wait unless the claims were denied or talk to the insurance payer on the phone to get clarity and figure out if the patient would owe something by the end of the visit. Today, quality features of medical billing software help medical billing services maintain patients’ data and inform patients of their liabilities or responsibilities before they leave the office.

A few important patient responsibilities are given below.

Patients need to provide accurate and complete information, including past illness, present complaints, medication, specific allergies, previous surgeries, changes in the patient’s condition, hospitalization, and other matters related to patients’ health.

You can ask questions: The patient is responsible for asking questions when they do not understand anything.

Follow instructions: This is the patient’s duty to understand and follow the proper instructions given by medical billing services. maintain knowledge about treatment plans or services provided by healthcare centers.

Accepting Results: If patients do not follow the care and treatment plan, then they are responsible for the outcomes.

Patient rules and regulations: The patient is responsible for following rules and regulations related to patient care and conduct.

Show respect and thoughtfulness: The patient is responsible for being thoughtful of the facility’s personnel and property.

Fulfill financial commitments: the patient is responsible for financial commitments agreed with the healthcare services.

How medical billing services collect payment from patients:

Educate Patients:

In this case, patients need to be educated at the time of booking how much the service will cost and charge. Sometimes patients may not understand why they need to pay for a telephone appointment. Explain to them that providers give their proper time and expertise.

The practice requires upfront collections:

Medical billing services try to collect upfront payments. So it is very important to brief the patient about it. The account receivable is increased by not collecting upfronts.

Patients need to pay easily:

The patient can pay by any method. In today’s age, most patients want to pay with credit cards. Patient portal-driven online bill pay, online mobile banking, or payment through mobile phones are the easiest ways to pay.

How medical billing and coding services collect payments:

Regardless of whether it is a leftover or past-due invoice, or if the patient is still present, medical billing solution for hospitals are responsible for collecting payments from those patients.

Pay with a credit card:

In this era, patients want to pay with their credit cards or they are not willing to pay at all. Medical billing software comes with the solution. Credit cards are processed by front-line staff from the front desk, which increases the number of patients’ payments collected in the office. Patients can pay with credit cards from the patient portal—the best chance to get paid by patients via credit cards.

Outsourced Difficulty Collection:

In outsourcing difficult collections, medical billing experts take responsibility for the payment balance of time-consuming patients. Billers work with patients’ providers and give them empathy and confidence to pay their medical expenses. So the physician can give more importance to the patients’ critical tasks.

Claims and Denial Management:

When physicians or providers do a joint venture with a medical billing service, they efficiently manage their claims and denials, and the practice can achieve 99% clean claims and help to grow the providers’ business.

Send a collection statement to the patient:

A patient is owed money and has to pay, so medical billing services send the invoice to the patient, and this patient is responsible for clearing all leftover dues. Send the statements regularly for reminders.

Medcare MSO in collecting payments from patients:

Medcare MSO is a medical billing service located in New Mexico. It has skilled and experienced medical billers and coders who perform tasks to reduce denials and maximize healthcare centers’ revenue. Medical billing services give patients full empathy and confidence about who to pay and how to pay. They also explain the payment methods. This Medcare MSO biller and coder must collect and maintain patients ‘ demographics, handle financial responsibility; resubmit denial claims, and keep an eagle eye on follow-ups.

 Some other duties performed by Medcare MSO

Medcare MSO coders keep the patient’s data up-to-date before filling claims, double-check the patient’s demographics and must-mention charges, and send reminders on a weekly and monthly basis. The billing services also verify insurance coverage to maintain data that the patient falls under the services or not. The medical billing service by Medcare MSO uses several CPT codes to pay claims and keep them updated with yearly code changes. The biller has to resubmit the rejected and denied claims and investigate the reason for the denials. The biller’s and coders’ duty is to increase cash flow and streamline the revenue cycle management.

For further information, contact Medcare MSO through email at info@medcaremso.com.