How to manage overpayments by patients efficiently?
Patient payments play a crucial role in the medical industry. It is the payments that come from the patients, which form the largest portion of the total revenue of the healthcare industry. Though with the rise of efficient online patient payment solutions, which a significant number of patients now are opting for, the problem with patient payments has been reduced to a large extent. However, overpayments are still an issue for many medical practices.
What are overpayments?
Overpayments occur in such situations when the payments received are greater than what the party owes. There are many scenarios of overpayments that occur across different industries. The same is also true for the medical industry too.
Healthcare payments are really complicated. Billing in the medical sector is tough and complex. Billing is a complicated procedure that entails healthcare units and practices, it often becomes tough to ascertain the exact amount that the patients owe, thereby leading to overpayments.
These overpayments that ensue refunds are some of the toughest situations to deal with, as agreed by the topmost medical foundations. Along with the numerous disadvantages of overpayments and the repercussions that overpayments have, issuing patient refunds also deal a huge impact on the overall patient experience.
Why do overpayments occur in the healthcare industry?
Overpayments are really common in the healthcare industry. This occurs due to a number of different factors. The patient payment responsibility is regulated by a list of factors like the health benefits of the patient, the insurer rates, the rates of the providers' contract, discounts on them, and more. Here, when the amounts quoted, written, or summed up erroneously, overpayments occur.
Here's checking out some of the most obvious reasons for which overpayments occur:
• The information on the patients' benefits was wrongly added or not updated
• Upfront payment was more and was collected based on estimation
• The coverage for the patient changed in the time between the start of his/her journey and the final billing process
• There was an error in the billing process
• There was an overpayment on behalf of the patients by mistake
Receiving more healthcare payments than what is owed sometimes brings up very awkward situations. However, when overpayments occur at all, it is mandatory for healthcare providers to issue refunds. This is where the medical practices need to be mindful and follow the best practices in order to get the refund process done smoothly.
Effective Ways for Medical Practices to Manage Overpayment Refunds
If overpayments are an issue that your provider faces, and you are thinking of helping your provider manage this problem, then you would be able to absolutely do that.
With the easy and effective ways that follow, tackling the overpayments would not be a hassle. So, check them out below:
Refunds should be open to all
Whenever overpayments are seen, refunds are a must. However, these refunds always need to be transparent for all. To make sure that the refund procedure goes smoothly and would make it easy for future references, the provider needs to ensure that they are transparent and easily accessible for all. Easy access can be ensured for refunds by making the refund receipts easily viewable by both the patients and staff.
Automating refunds is also an urgent requirement for the healthcare unit. This is because it not only saves time but is highly accurate, and efficient and doesn't disrupts the practice workflow.
Proper controls need to be placed
Refunds mean transactions and this transaction is what goes out. Therefore, here medical practices always need to stay cautious because if by mistake, more refunds are made, it will show up as a loss for the medical practice.
To avoid such a consequence of over-refund, medical practices should keep a guard on the persons providing refunds. Here, it is a great idea to limit the number of staff who have the authority and expertise to process refunds.
Besides, it is also really efficient if there is a control set, which monitors and prevents over-refunds. Getting overpaid and over-refunding the patients, and collecting the balance back from them leaves a really bad impression on the patients, which counts as a negative experience.
Transparency is required right from the first step
If it is a matter of overpayments, it is a genuine case of worry. However, what adds to it is significant mistakes on the part of the provider. One real fault of the medical practices is that they delay in informing the patients about the same.
This should be avoided at any cost. The last thing a medical practice wants is to have their patients knock at the doors asking for refunds. Therefore, it is better to reach out to the patients as soon as overpayments are discovered, and bring all in the loop. Calling them that very day or the next business day helps patients know their overpayments and collect their refunds duly without a fuss.
Keep an accurate online billing system/software in place
According to the latest survey on overpayments, it has been revealed that more than 75% of the overpayments can be linked to the billing of higher dosage/units than what is required or is covered under the claims. Hence, to avoid such problems it is better to ease patient payment solutions with the help of a smart and effective billing system/software from a trusted provider like GrowPractice.
Extend a choice to the patients
The choice must be for the patients. In case a practice is overpaid, the provider can offer a choice to the patients that will determine how and when they will receive the payments back.
Here, the medical practices can either pay them back in check or account transfer afterward or can extend credit for the patients, who can utilize the voucher/gift card of the same amount in any future visit to the same facility. Such a choice will not only help proceed with the refund but also empower the patients and help them in many ways.
Now that we have already known some great ways to manage overpayments, it is important that we also learn how to avoid such overpayments because tackling them is not very easy, as we have learned.
How to avoid over-payments?
Overpayments are one of the visible issues that are pretty common in the healthcare industry. As it is tough to ensure proper refunds and in proper time, medical practices should consider minimizing the issue.
Yes, medical practices can limit the number of overpayments easily. Here's delving into some effective ways which can reduce the frequency of overpayments and may also stop overpayments altogether.
Hire experienced and attentive staff
Experience staff makes the base of successful medical practices. The medical staff needs to have the basic technical and job-specific experience to handle mixed job roles and complex scenarios. Therefore, it is essential that when hiring staff, you look for experienced professionals who remain attentive in the work they do.
A major reason why the issue of overpayments occurs is due to inexperienced professionals at work. A large number of medical staff are also caught unattentive at work, which must be a strict no-no. Being unattentive risks a lot in the healthcare sector. Medical staff who are not attentive in their work also result in overpayments at times.
Keep patient information updated
Updating patient information is essential for every other medical unit and practice. Sensitive patient information (PHI) has numerous rules and restrictions that govern the saving and handling of this sensitive information. However, at the same time, a medical unit must note down the patient's information accurately in order to take help from the same in the future ahead.
The patient and practice management solutions from GrowPractice help in updating the patient-specific information accurately and automatically, without letting the practice managers/administrators.
Implement self-service patient software/app
Self-service kiosks, software, or app helps patients stay engaged. With the total involvement of the patients, mistakes can be avoided, and the risks of overpayments can be reduced too.
Handing the patients a software/tool that calculates the payments, the patients would devote a good amount of time to accurately calculate what they owe and make payments accordingly. This will help bring convenience for the patients, with which they can pay the amount when they are free. Furthermore, self-service patient apps/software also help patients pay in full always and make their payments on time.
Calculate accurately
Calculating accurately is a basic that no practice should forget. There is nothing more concrete than calculating accurately. A proper calculation of the patient payments and dues monitors the dues, manages the payments, and keeps track of overpayments too.
Implement a smart patient and practice management solution
Do you know that 80% of all medical bills and over 50% of medical claims have errors in them?
Besides, it has been seen recently that 25% of the identified overpaid claims were due to inconsistencies in the systems used in medical units and healthcare facilities.
If you are still concerned about these statistics then don't worry because we now have efficient practice management software and patient management solutions available from GrowPractice, which aims to get us past the world of errors and bring in accuracy and efficiency.
GrowPractice Aims to Mitigate Patient Overpayments!
GrowPractice offers a range of patient and practice management software solutions that extends optimum efficiency for medical units and practices. The efficient payment system that GrowPractice offers practices enables them to collect copays or payments via SMS payment links, thereby letting the patients pay online with ease.
The instant and efficient payment option that GrowPratice extends takes all the worries of practice revenue losses. According to the reports of the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH), the healthcare industry could save $9.8 billion annually with automation. So, don't wait any longer, reach out to GrowPractice now and reap all the benefits!
