Know How to Streamline the Best Hospital AR Management Practice

Accounts receivable in hospital billing means the total amount of money owed to practice for services rendered but are yet to be collected. It refers to the outstanding amount of money due from patients, insurance companies and third-party payers. In a dynamic and complex environment of hospital and other healthcare domain, you should focus on ensuring an efficient hospital AR management to enjoy healthy cash flow and financial stability.

Your hospital AR cycle requires you to focus on tracking and collecting payments in a timely manner. The critical steps that your hospital AR involves are-

• Medical bills submissions
• Following up on delinquent claims
• Patient billing
• Payment posting
• Collection management, etc

When it comes to assessing your hospital’s financial health and detecting the areas of improvement, you need measure days for hospital AR and to execute that, you can maintain a Key Performance Indicator that shows average number of days it takes to collect for rendered services.

Now, it’s time to know about the critical reasons why most hospitals lose money-

• Failure to gather patient co-payment and co-insurance fees
• Lack of trained and experienced resources to handle RCM process
• Failure to navigate the reasons of denials properly
• Unnecessary write-offs
• Not giving adequate attention on patient collection
• Not following an efficient insurance eligibility verification process
• Not leveraging the claims edit system
• Inaccurate coding
• Failure to keep up with patient demand
• Not following KPIs consistently

Crucial steps for your hospital AR:

1. Billing and claim submission: To ensure maximized reimbursements and minimized denials, you should submit claims with accurate code and proper documentation.
2. Follow-up on unpaid claims: Always follow-up with payers to identify and resolve any issue with claims that are denied, partially-paid or not paid at all within the right time. This step includes claims resubmission, appealing denials or resolving documentation or coding errors.
3. Patient billing and collections: If the insurance company or payer of your patient says that they have co-pay or deductible, your hospital will bill the patient. This step also requires you to send statements and payment options to your patients. The statement should also include payment process. It’s important for you to communicate with your patients clearly to let them know about their financial responsibilities.
4. Aged hospital ARs and collection management: Your hospital billing team should review and analyze the aging of accounts receivable and spot the delinquent or overdue accounts. You can use various methods like phone calls, letters, collection agencies to collect the payments from overdue accounts.

Read More:

How to reduce Hospital AR days?

Sunknowledge: Your Next-Door Hospital AR Partner

Engage with our specialists to discover why we’re recognized as the ultimate partner for comprehensive healthcare revenue cycle management. Our proficiency in handling your hospital accounts receivable positions us as a leading force in the industry. Trusted by top-tier hospitals and health systems, we tailor our strategies to fit your specific collection needs. Learn firsthand why we stand out among competitors and how we adapt our action plan to suit your requirements.