Mar 10, 2021 | BillFlash, Claims, collections, Credit Card Processing, Fullsteam, Medical Billing Software Blog, Revenue
How to Modernize Your Medical Billing Payments Now
It is now very important to modernize medical billing payments capabilities since upwards of 80% of medical services that don’t get paid by insurance, never get paid!
Are you tired of providing medical services and not getting paid? Have you billed patients for their medical visit or co-pay just to find out that the bill showed up in collections? Are you looking for a better way to use modern technology to increase the number of medical claims being paid on time? If you own a medical practice or work in the medical billing industry, then chances are you have answered each question with a hearty “Yes!”
Last month, medical billing industry leaders came together to discuss how medical practices can streamline their payment systems and integrate credit card processing into their billing system. [ Participants: Dan Loch (VP of Sales & Marketing, EZClaim), Tony Peterson (VP of Business Development, BillFlash), and Michael Jones (Payment Services Analyst, FullSteam) all joined host Susan Martinez (Sales Consultant, EZClaim) ].
[ Click Here to LISTEN to the Exclusive Podcast ]
[ Click Here to VIEW the Exclusive Video ]
KEYS That Came Out of the Discussion:
• CHANGING SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES: The practices that are winning in the payment collections game, and seeing the highest percentage of claims paid, are the offices that have updated their systems from the old school and traditional forms of payment collection to the modern, state-of-the-art systems with payment integration. Plain and simple, this means first educating the patient from the moment they walk in the door and streamlining your payments into one medical billing system to prevent human error. [ Click here to LEARN MORE ].
• STREAMLINING CREDIT CARD PROCESSING: Practices often have jumped headlong into credit card processing by using simple systems with variable fees like Square or Stripe. The problem with that is two-fold: First, understanding processing fees, and secondly, avoiding the errors that occur in the steps of processing those purchases over to the billing record. However, now EZClaim’s medical billing software has an integrated payment feature—which streamlines the billing and simplifies the fees. [ Click here to LEARN MORE ].
These are only a few of the very informational topics that were discussed during this podcast. If you are interested in learning how your practice can put these systems in place, increase patient payments, and simplify your billing process in your office, then click here to listen to the podcast and prepare to learn some new, up-to-the-minute ‘insights’ on modern medical billing systems.
ABOUT EZCLAIM:
EZClaim is a medical billing and scheduling software company that provides a best-in-class product, with correspondingly exceptional service and support. Combined, they help improve medical billing revenues. To learn more, visit EZClaim’s website, e-mail them, or call them today at 877.650.0904.
Jul 14, 2020 | Administrative Safeguards, Uncategorized
Credit card collections are a BIG part of any successful medical practice, and there has been a shift, in the last decade, that more insurance policies are adding co-pays with higher deductibles—which makes getting paid even more challenging.1 One industry report said that “73% of physicians shared that it typically takes at least one month to collect a payment, and 12% of their patients wait more than three months to pay.”2 With the current trend, more medical practices and their billing departments (or outsourced billing firms) are going the route of processing payment via credit cards, which has its PROS and CONS.
In light of this new information, the following are a few pros and cons for credit card processing that we anticipate in the near future and some insights for choosing the best billing software that supports the credit card processing needs of medical practices:
- PRO: To protect against the dangers of stolen data, fraud, or other compromises in security, practices should seek out medical billing software that has credit card processing built-in, which can help safeguard against these dangers.
- CON: Security is a big risk, and a leak in data leading to stolen funds can end up in a physician paying out-of-pocket for the breach. It is also important to note that breach of credit card data is also considered a violation under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
- PRO: Implementing credit card processing will reduce long waiting periods for payments from the majority of your patients, and will also reduce the additional effort your billing staff has to extend to collect on overdue notices.
- CON: Practices cannot require patients to share their credit card information to receive medical care, and even if patients do share their credit card information, physicians cannot continue to charge the credit card without a patient’s consent.
- PRO: Physicians can end the process of being a “line of credit” to unpaid or underpaid claims, and collect on funds immediately.
- CON: You will need to implement internal processes that include, but are not limited to proper personal information storage and security, establishing guidelines on maximum percentages charged per bill, and personal consent forms.
Overall, there are definitely MORE ‘PROS’ than cons for implementing credit card processing for your medical practice, and all the trends are pointing to this being the PREFERRED METHOD of payment in the near future. EZClaim is proud to announce that it will release an integrated credit card processing solution, EZClaimPay, that is backed by a national merchant services vendor. [ EZClaim will be sharing more details about EZClaimPay in the weeks to come, via their social media platforms, their monthly newsletter, direct communications, and more ].
In addition to the credit card collections PROS and CONS above, we reached out to one of our partners, Live Compliance, to gather some regulatory and security advice. They suggested the following:
- When accessing, transmitting, storing, or receiving any Protected Health Information (PHI), the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) mandates that you are to maintain HIPAA compliance.
- When accepting, processing, or maintaining credit card information and debit card information, you must ensure that your organization is PCI DSS compliant (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard).
- In addition to the above Federal regulatory requirements, most states require privacy and security compliance requirements to be implemented, along with strict adherence to the privacy of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Breach Notification requirements.
For more information on your compliance requirements, visit Live Compliance for a Free Organization Assessment to identify and uncover your organization’s vulnerabilities.
If you are not a current customer of EZClaim, we would very much like to connect with you. You can either schedule a one-on-one consultation with our sales team, view a recorded demo, or download a FREE 30-day trial right now. For detailed product features or general information about EZClaim, visit our website at ezclaim.com.
[ NOTE: If you would like a quote on the upcoming merchant services, please e-mail sales@ezclaim.com your last three merchant statements. For more on our ongoing updates and industry news, you can follow EZClaim on Facebook and LinkedIn ].
Source Material:
1 – America’s Health Insurance Plans” report that there were 20.2 million co-pays in 2017, which was up tremendously from just over 1 million in 2005.
2 – Source: From InstaMed’s annual “Trends in Healthcare Payments” report.
> For more on this topic, read a previous article, “Why Do I Have A Balance? – Patient Payments”
