Significance of Patient Experience
There is no question that patient experience is a huge factor when it comes to the success of your practice. In case of negative patient experience, their word-of-mouth can adversely impact future patients as well as their willingness to pay bills in a timely manner. The patient experience begins as soon as they are scheduled an appointment with your practice, and doesn’t end until they have paid their due balance. The patient experience is an area that needs to be consistently updated and re-evaluated and MedicalBillersandCoders (MBC) can assist you with that. MBC is a leading medical billing and coding company that can assist you, through its various billing services, in prioritizing the patient experience. Let’s see how MBC can help in prioritizing the patient experience.
Prioritizing the Patient Experience
Scheduling an Appointment
As mentioned above, the patient experience begins with scheduling an appointment with your practice. It’s the patient’s first interaction with your practice. If they call to schedule an appointment, ensure your front desk person provides all necessary information and sets the expectations of who will be contacting the patient and what to keep an eye out for leading up to the appointment (such as forms to complete). Ensuring a pleasant first interaction lays the foundation for a pleasant patient experience. MBC can provide you with the list of required documents and insurance details needed to be taken to enroll patients in the billing software. We will also cross-check the accuracy of patient demographics and insurance details provided by the patient.
Few Days Prior Patient’s Visit
Most patients are not aware of the insurance benefits offered by their health plan. They feel once they have shared the required information with the practice, they won’t have to pay for the scheduled visit. Once we receive accurate patient demographics and insurance information, we initiate eligibility and benefits verification. Under eligibility and benefits verification services, we shared complete insurance coverage reports for each and every patient visit. This coverage report will help to identify patients’ health plan coverage for planned procedures. We share patient financial responsibilities like co-payments, co-insurance, and unpaid deductibles (if any).
Educating Patients
With an insurance coverage report, your front desk can clearly communicate with patients about their financial responsibility prior to their visit. As mentioned earlier, most patients are not aware of their insurance coverage and are under an impression that their health plan will cover the visit. Your front desk team can educate patients by sharing their insurance coverage report, highlighting key points like co-pays, co-insurance, and deductible amounts. Your front desk team will also provide information on various payment options and payment plans. Your team can also walk the patient through their estimated balance due and explain the payment plan and financing options available to the patient. Such well-informed patients are likely to make payments at the time of visit only without hampering the patient experience.
Financial Consultation
With an insurance coverage report, your front desk team can assist the patient with understanding their EOBs, deductible, and why they owe the outlined figures. They can also discuss discounts such as pay-in-full discounts, as well as explain your practice’s refund policy if more is collected upfront than the patient actually owes. For most patients unfamiliar with the medical industry, they won’t have the knowledge surrounding their insurance to properly comprehend the charges, discounts, what they personally owe and why. Your team providing a financial consultation to break it down to the basics will not only provide comfort and clarity to the patient but also set them up for better success in understanding the layout of future procedure billing.
Accurate Billing
Sometimes due to an inefficient billing team, the provider has to bill patients even though they have active insurance coverage. In such cases, practices ask patients to submit claims to insurance carriers and get reimbursement from them. Such inefficiency in billing could lead to a negative patient experience. MedicalBillersandCoders (MBC), at the time of sharing insurance coverage reports, communicate with practice owners about patients’ financial responsibility. If the patient has active insurance coverage, then MBC will ensure to get accurate reimbursement from an insurance carrier. In the case of patients having secondary and tertiary insurance coverage, MBC will assign coordination of benefits (COB) accurately to follow the compliances. To know more about how MBC can help in prioritizing the patient experience, contact us at 888-357-3226 / info@medicalbillersandcoders.com
FAQs
1. Why is patient experience important for the success of a practice?
Patient experience impacts patient satisfaction, word-of-mouth referrals, and timely bill payments. A positive experience encourages loyalty and enhances the reputation of the practice.
2. How can MBC assist with improving patient experience during the appointment scheduling process?
MBC provides a comprehensive list of required documents and insurance details to streamline patient enrollment. They also cross-check patient demographics and insurance details to ensure accuracy, ensuring a seamless first interaction.
3. How does MBC help patients understand their insurance benefits?
MBC conducts eligibility and benefits verification to provide detailed insurance coverage reports. These reports outline co-payments, co-insurance, and deductible amounts, helping practices educate patients about their financial responsibilities.
4. What role does financial consultation play in enhancing patient experience?
Financial consultations help patients understand their Explanation of Benefits (EOBs), deductible amounts, and payment options. By breaking down costs and discussing discounts or payment plans, patients gain clarity and confidence in managing their medical expenses.
5. How does MBC ensure accurate billing to avoid patient dissatisfaction?
MBC ensures claims are processed accurately by verifying insurance coverage and coordinating benefits for secondary or tertiary insurances. This prevents unnecessary billing to patients and ensures timely reimbursement from insurance carriers.
