Simple solutions = best solutions.
At the Revenue Cycle Solutions Summit on Sunday at HIMSS 2015, you heard that collecting medical bills wasn’t always about dealing with impoverished patients. It was more often an information problem.
Robert H. Wagner, director of revenue cycle at Methodist Health System in Nebraska, said Methodist increased its advanced collections from $250,000 in the fourth quarter of 2012 to $1.6 million in 2015’s first quarter through two tactics: call five days ahead with the out-of-pocket cost, and put the hospital “on the same team” with the patient.
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“When we call a patient we say, ‘We see that you’re scheduled for this procedure and as a service to you’ – that’s a key phrase in our mind, ‘as a service to you,’ ” Wagner said. Then, they say, “Your insurance has determined” and Methodist provides the price.
“It kind of puts us on the same team – we and the patient are on the same team,” Wagner said.
That approach is the reason why Methodist is collecting more money up-front, Wager said.
Many discussions in the early portion of the Revenue Cycle summit were about simplifying and communicating with patients – with only a smidgen of technology.
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For example, front-desk workers often didn’t know patients’ co-pays – and neither did the patients. So in many case patients didn’t pay their co-pays.
As soon as a health system’s tech vendor prominently displayed the co-pay prominently on the screen, up-front co-pay payments went way up.
