Partner has a wide range of tools that help you keep your personal A/R under control. From collecting copays and generating bills, to bill follow-up and sending accounts to collections, Partner tools can make you more productive.
Collecting personal balances is a big job, but it can be broken down easily into the steps below. You can learn more about each program in the rest of the Personal Billing manual, but this section provides a brief overview:
Step One: Collect Information and Payment at the Time of Service
The best way to handle personal billing would be to never have any personal balances. In a perfect world, every visitor to your office would pay every balance in full at the time of service. This goal may be unrealistic, but you can start by having an excellent financial policy that is regularly reviewed by your billers, managers, and the owners of your practice. A good financial policy encourages families to remember that they are ultimately responsible for all of their charges. You bill their insurance company as a courtesy to them.
There is no better time to collect a personal balance than while the patient is still in your office. Arrange your office and use Partner tools like apptsheet, checkin, and Partner's different insurance eligibility features to ensure that you collect the correct copay at the time of service. Outstanding balances can also be added to the encounter form and are visible in checkin and other programs. Everything you collect while the patient is still in the building saves you time and money.
Collecting information at the time of service is just as important as collecting money. Charges will be billed incorrectly if your staff hasn't collected the correct insurance information. If your demographic information is incorrect, you may never be able to bill for your services. It is vital that your staff understands how to use checkin, checkout, and other tools to make sure every visit confirms important billing information.
Use the bills or ebs program to generate your personal bills. Whether you print and mail your personal bills in the office or send them out electronically, Partner's billing engine has numerous tools and features that can make your collection process more efficient. When you run your bills, you can use automatic or manual cycle billing. You can create custom messages that appear on bills of different aged receivables. You can also review and work on a list of people who need bills before generating them.
Step Three: Follow Up on Outstanding Bills
Use the persview program to work down old, outstanding personal bills. persview will help you isolate troubled accounts, research balances, send out reminder letters, and write off bad debt. The collection report (coll) provides full details about outstanding balances for a specific account. Using status flags along with the cfs report will also help you track problem accounts.
Step Four: Send Accounts to Collections
The final step is to turn delinquent accounts over to collections. There are different methods for doing this in Partner, depending on whether you want to leave the outstanding balance on the patient's account or not. You can adjust off collection charges, or you can pend the balance to the collection agency (using oops). Don't forget to mark collection accounts with an appropriate status flag for reporting and tracking.
Refer to PCC's online documentation to learn more about Step One above. In the Personal Billing manual you can learn how to generate bills, work your outstanding bills, and send overdue accounts to collections. PCC is your partner in the quest for a low personal accounts receivable. Contact us with any questions at 800-722-1082 or <support@pcc.com>.