19% More Cash and Happy Staff
It’s common for the front desk staff of small outpatient practices to manage billing and collections. In the interest of “saving” money, it’s certainly understandable why a practice owner would staff this way. On the surface, it seems to make economic sense. But, it’s unfair to the front desk personnel.
The Front Desk staff does not have time to onboard new patients, verify benefits, schedule appointments, provide customer service, coordinate the day-to-day activity of the practice and the therapists, collect patient payments AND also call difficult payers about money.
When we did a study of all the clinics we brought onboard in 2015 and 2016, we found that when they let Systems 4PT do their billing and collections, collections increased by 19%.
Impressive, but not surprising, because collecting money from payers requires detailed analysis, calling payors with long telephone hold times, and engaging in “taking-it-to-the-mat” arguments with those payers. There is no time for this in the average practice, and patient service suffers when the front desk staff is tied to the phone. For EVERY practice in our analysis, Systems 4PT increased collections by more than what we charged (and for less than the cost of hiring a biller).
Specifically, when Systems 4PT manages practice billing and collections, many more collection calls are made which is the answer to collecting everything you deserve. Our findings are relevant for every small practice. Make your front desk people happy and keep your patients happy while you collect more money.
