There is one feature of EZClaimPay that has received universal acclaim from our clients, and that is the ability to send SMS text message-based payment reminders to patients. By reaching patients where they are—on their phones—we’ve seen that billers can increase their payment rates and get paid more quickly. This feature has increased patient satisfaction too, reducing payment friction, and allowing them to make a payment in the EZClaim portal with one tap. One client told us:
“We sent out the first SMS payment requests last week, and within several hours had generated 9 payments for a total of over $2,400 back from the patients! The provider is thrilled. After 2 days we had over 11 payments and more than $2,600! What a testament to how well this payment option is for providers and patients.”
With the average business owed $300,000 in late payments, utilizing a two-pronged payment reminder approach is critical to reducing late payments. EZClaimPay automatically generates a payment portal link which can then be sent out via email or SMS. On average, emails receive a 25% open rate, while SMS messages have an average open rate of 98%. Text messaging has proven very effective, with high open rates and engagement rates. However, email notifications are not going away. In fact, using both mediums is the best way to get paid, as each has pros and cons. With email notifications, you get deliverability to every device that your client has, whether it is their computer or the email app on their phone or tablet. With SMS text messaging, you are only getting deliverability to one device, but it is the device that is most likely to be in their pocket right now. When it comes to time sensitive requests like payment reminders, the ability to use SMS text messaging is critical.
Why choose SMS text message payment reminders for patients?
Invoices get paid faster and are more convenient for patients
Reduce payment friction by making invoice payments seamless for customers. EZClaimPay generates a direct link to include in the email or SMS communication that allows your client to make a payment instantly. Making payments easy for patients is a quick and low-cost way to increase patient satisfaction and results in greater engagement overall.
Reach patients with ease
Patients are used to providing their phone numbers to providers, and it is the one piece of contact information that is most likely to be on file. Stop getting stuck in spam and go straight to notifications.
Time savings & reduced operational costs
It gets expensive having patient statements printed and mailed out multiple times. Don’t waste any more time following up with customers manually and making repeated phone calls they may not answer. Give patients a notification right in their pocket and let them pay in one tap with EZClaimPay.
There are so many benefits to using EZClaimPay, and specifically the SMS text messaging functionality for payment reminders. EZClaimPay allows patients to pay online, increase revenue, and a simplify the payment process. For more information contact us or call directly at 877.650.0904.
As we move into the new year, we wanted to take a moment to share the most popular articles of 2021. We’ve ranked them below so that you can be sure that you haven’t missed out on any resources that EZClaim clients have found useful in the past year.
This interview was by far and away the most popular blog post over the past year. Jennifer and Maura provide some great insight and best practices, including their “investigative” approach to medical billing and the problem-solving skills that are necessary. Here is a summary of that article:
Are you working in the medical billing industry as a biller or an owner of a billing company? If so, the key medical billing insights and best practices that came out of our interview with Maura Jansen (VP of Operations) and Jennifer Withington (Director of Revenue) at Missing Piece Billing & Consulting Solutions will be very valuable for you to consider.
Jennifer, an expert in understanding the problem-solving techniques and the investigative nature of medical billing, offers insights that both educate and inspire. Maura, an executive member of the billing community, also added an important perspective about EZClaim’s medical billing software. The following are some highlights from our interview.
Getting patient billing information quickly can be a big pain point, so it makes sense that this article was among the most read of the year. We walked through some tips and ticks for saving time including the EZClaim eligibility feature:
Can you add up the number of hours your billing team spent during any given week or month waiting on-hold with insurance companies to get patient billing information? Does your staff invest hours of their valuable time seeking out the smallest of details to get paid? Are you aware that integrated eligibility, through EZClaim’s medical billing software, can reduce that time on-hold to a fraction of the total?
It is estimated that the average biller can spend up to 2-hours on-hold just to get an insurance company on the phone. Add to that an average of 10 – 15 minutes to talk through a patient and most companies will only address one or two patients at a time.
In this interview with a medical billing expert and co-owner of Elite Billing Resolutions, Vicky Greenwood, we talk about dealing with the challenges in owning a billing company, some important skills that every medical biller needs, and the value of choosing the right medical billing software. In our time speaking with Vicky, we focused on topics that will aid, contribute, and help grow the skills of the medical billing community. We at EZClaim believe in highlighting the best practices in the industry and sharing those with the larger community. We encourage you to consider these insights, and then let us know what topics you would like to learn more about.
Double data entry is frustrating. Luckily there is a better way—integrating your EHR with EZClaim.
Are you or your staff having to enter every patient into your EHR program and then again into EZClaim? There is an easier way! Integrating your programs will put an end to duplicate data entry, saving your practice time and money!
So, what exactly is an interface and how does it work? An interface is a way for two programs to share information. For EZClaim clients, the interface can be set up to share data from your EHR program to EZClaim. Your EHR can give you specifics on how to send the data to EZClaim.
Minimizing and preventing claim denials is a challenge that providers are increasingly running up against. We put together four strategies to address this growing problem:
Reducing claim denials has long been a challenge for providers. In the worst case, denied claims end up as unexpected—and sometimes unaffordable—bills for patients. The challenge only seems to be growing. A recent survey conducted by the American Hospital Association (AHA) found that 89% of respondents had seen a noticeable increase in denials over the past three years, with 51% describing the increase as “significant.”
Minimizing loss will be top of mind for providers as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to put a strain on their resources, and minimizing or preventing denials will need to be a core part of that strategy. With that in mind, we’re offering four tips to help guide revenue cycle strategies for better denial reduction in 2021.
There you have it, the most popular posts on the EZClaim blog in 2021. We look forward to keeping you up to date on everything medical billing in the new year!
From year to year, EZClaim’s Support Team has one thing in mind—to improve continuously—and 2021 has been no different. EZClaim’s Support Team has implemented a new Service Desk—powered by Hubspot—which includes enhanced automation, automated surveys, a comprehensive Knowledge Base, and more. In 2022, we will launch an interactive online chat and more.
Hubspot has allowed EZClaim to go to another level in supporting customers, and with our customer’s help, we can get even better! EZClaim launchedan updated ticket website (www.ezclaim.com/ticket) that provides categories to choose from when creating a ticket. These categories are linked to a group of team members that are experts in those categories. That means, if you select the category ‘Importing from EMR,’ your question will go directly to the importing experts. For more tips to help get your answers quickly, please view this support tickets tip page!
EZClaim can also use your help by providing feedback from your support ticket experiences and how easy EZClaim’s Support Team makes it to get your issues resolved. After a ticket, you submit is closed, you will receive a survey in your email. The survey asks you to rate the experience on a scale from 1-7 and provide any comments that you may have from your experience. These survey responses help tremendously by giving us feedback for things we’re doing right and things we need to improve. EZClaim’s mission is to improve continuously, and the best way to improve is to get feedback!
EZClaim is excited to continue to improve the customer experience and we look forward to implementing new and better things in 2022! We would like to thank each and every one of you for your continued support and patronage throughout each and every year.
We hope everyone is safe and healthy going into the holiday season!
All the best,
EZClaim Support
ABOUT EZCLAIM: As a medical billing expert, EZClaim can help the medical practice improve its revenues since it is a medical billing and scheduling software company. EZClaim provides a best-in-class product, with correspondingly exceptional service and support. Combined, EZClaim helps improve medical billing revenues. To learn more, visit EZClaim’s website, email them, or call them today at 877.650.0904.
In a post-2020 world, consumers now expect every purchase and transaction they make to be personalized, digital, and simple. Groceries can be delivered and paid for with one click of a button. You can try on clothing virtually, get fitted for glasses, and even visit your doctor through your mobile device. To remain competitive, consumer-driven industries have had to create new and innovative ways to engage customers.
The healthcare industry has seen this shift as patients are behaving more like consumers in their healthcare interactions. Switching to a customer-centric mindset can be tricky for the healthcare industry as balancing patient communication and adhering to HIPAA and other regulations is essential. However, these new expectations have opened the door for the medical billing industry to innovate and move forward.
For the medical billing industry, consumers are asking for simplicity and convenience, but they still want choices. According to Healthcare Finance, fewer patients are paying their medical bills by check as the shift to online payment accelerates. It is important for the medical billing industry to understand that while a large segment of older Americans still pays bills through the mail, in-person, or by check, there are growing numbers of patients who prefer an online and mobile bill payment option.
As a solution to the ever-changing environment of payment reconciliation, in 2020 EZClaim launched EZClaimPay with the following features:
Allows medical staff to text and email patients with payment reminders
Allows patients to make payments on their mobile devices or online
Save credit cards online for fast easy patient payments
Gives patients the ability to save and print their own receipts
Patient payments made online import directly to your EZClaim Billing program
Collect payments 24-hours a day with no change to your “schedule”
In a rapidly changing world that is becoming more technology-based, the medical billing industry must keep up with current consumer trends. EZClaimPay is an excellent tool to keep your practice cutting edge and offers your patients the latest in bill-paying options.
ABOUT EZCLAIM: As a medical billing expert, EZClaim can help the medical practice improve its revenues since it is a medical billing and scheduling software company. EZClaim provides a best-in-class product, with correspondingly exceptional service and support. Combined, EZClaim helps improve medical billing revenues. To learn more, visit EZClaim’s website, email them, or call them today at 877.650.0904.
If you’re thinking of investing in medical billing software, there’s no better person to give you the answers you need than Chelsea Graven, a revenue cycle director for Alert Medical Alarms. With over ten years in the medical billing industry, she’s been in numerous roles including billing and claims submissions. A longtime customer and champion of EZClaim since 2013, Chelsea has referred the software to many other partners because she knows firsthand not only how simple it is to use, but how effective the software is.
Recently, we found time to interview Chelsea about her start in the industry, why she continues to recommend EZClaim, and her advice on anyone starting out in medical billing.
EZCLAIM: Working with EZClaim’s medical billing software platform, what role does their software impact your work?
GRAVEN:“The company I currently work for was originally either submitting paper claims or billing through portals. EZClaim has allowed us to transition to electronic billing and it cuts the amount of time we spend in provider portals or filling out those forms. I would say seventy-five percent of the workload has been cut using EZClaim. Previously, it took one person three weeks to bill 6,000 claims. Now, we are billing 7,000 claims in a matter of minutes just by submitting and using the features within EZClaim, such as the recurring claim option.”
EZCLAIM: If you were going to share something with your colleagues about EZClaim, what would it be?
GRAVEN: “How spot on the name ‘EZClaim’ is. It’s exactly what it’s called, EASY. Other software programs do not accommodate the simple recurring billing that we need. EZClaim is the only software I have used that does that and makes it easy. Of all the billing software platforms I have used, EZClaim is the simplest to use and the most user-friendly.”
EZCLAIM: What would you say are some strengths needed to be an effective medical biller?
GRAVEN:“Analyzing, troubleshooting, and resolving. There is a lot of that involved. You must be able to troubleshoot and independently find resolutions in order to be effective at billing. I think EzClaim has customized reporting capabilities that allow the companies to better follow current trends that they are seeing in claims, denials, and payments. Tracking the trends is what will lead to the troubleshooting, analyzing, and resolving of any issues, having customizable reporting makes all the difference to successful billers. You can’t fix something if you don’t know it’s wrong, EzClaim reporting brings all of that to the biller, so you don’t have to go looking for problems/solutions on top of your daily billing processes.”
EZCLAIM: Do you have any advice for anyone who is starting out in the medical billing industry?
GRAVEN:“EZClaim is my go-to for anyone who is doing medical billing and is wanting to learn and get into the industry because it is the simplestsoftware to use. EZClaim makes it easy to grasp the electronic billing end-to-end process without feeling overwhelmed by the complexity of the software. I would say for anyone starting out the first thing I would do is find an electronic billing solution and a clearinghouse.”
EZCLAIM: Why did you get into the medical billing industry?
GRAVEN:“I actually fell into this industry by default. I was working on private pay collections for a company and at the time the state of Illinois in 2010 transitioned to manage care programs, and no one was really prepared for that. I was then asked to take on the role of billing manager. It grew so large that doing HCFA 1500 forms was not efficient, so I started looking for electronic billing solutions. What I enjoy most about the billing industry is closingthe claims entirely. Getting that amount to zero dollars. Most people wouldn’t say it’s the money coming in, but for me, it’s the gratification for the end-to-end process of the revenue cycle. It’s all about getting the receivables closed.”
EZCLAIM: Final thoughts?
GRAVEN: “With EZClaim, the value is beyond just the software. Yes, it’s easy to work with, but the IT team and all the people involved make the experience favorable.”
[ The above answers were paraphrased as closely as possible to the original answers given by Chelsea Graven on October 22nd, 2021. ]
ABOUT EZCLAIM: As a medical billing expert, EZClaim can help the medical practice improve its revenues since it is a medical billing and scheduling software company. EZClaim provides a best-in-class product, with correspondingly exceptional service and support. Combined, EZClaim helps improve medical billing revenues. To learn more, visit EZClaim’s website, email them, or call them today at 877.650.0904.
EZClaim has been at the forefront of the medical billing software industry since 1997 with one goal in mind: to simplify the billing challenges for all providers. We at EZClaim understand that the healthcare billing process can be time-consuming and arduous, which is why we offer software that is easy to use, will focus on customer’s needs and can be specifically tailored to your practice.
Here are three essential reasons why you should be using medical billing software in your practice.
Improve Your Practice’s Billing Revenues
Did you know thatthe Academy of Healthcare Revenue estimates that providers have a 70 percent chance of collecting patient responsibility either prior to or at the point of service, compared to a 30 percent chance after the patient leaves? EZClaimPay not only saves you and your team time but makes it easier to collect and record payments.
EZClaimPay allows your patient to make a payment at the point of service, and if they owe less than what they paid, you can offer a partial refund right from EZClaimPay. You can also keep a patient’s credit card on file, so if they owe more, you can get consent to charge the card on file. Additionally, there is no need to send out a statement; you can text or email the patient directly.
Useful in Processing and Tracking Medical Claims
There is no question that medical billing software is helpful for tracking and processing medical claims. If you are currently not utilizing a PM system, it is probably difficult to keep track of patient and insurance balances and claims that are under and overpaid, which means your practice could be losing money. With EZClaim, you will have much better control of your billing data.
Check out the video with real customer’s firsthand experiences on how easy and flexible EZClaim software really is:
Ease of Access
Using medical billing software allows your practice greater and easier access to all your patient data. By only logging into one program vs. numerous programs, you and your team will find it easier to answer questions for your patients. In addition, having your data seamlessly accessible will make processing payments more efficient.
Here at EZClaim, we understand that not all provider offices work the same. EZClaim software allows you to choose the additional tools and services that work best for how your practice operates. You can utilize the software as simple as you want or customize it to fit your practice’s specific objectives. With EZClaim Billing, you always have the option to grow.
ABOUT EZCLAIM: As a medical billing expert, EZClaim can help the medical practice improve its revenues since it is a medical billing and scheduling software company. EZClaim provides a best-in-class product, with correspondingly exceptional service and support. Combined, EZClaim helps improve medical billing revenues. To learn more, visit EZClaim’s website, email them, or call them today at 877.650.0904.
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