For any private practice, larger facility or hospital, the main goal is and always should be caring for the patient. Unfortunately, in the back office, where billing and collections take place, there seems to more of an “us and them” attitude.
In the long run, this can be damaging to the practice. Especially in a world connected so tightly together by social media, your patients’ satisfaction can be a PR nightmare if legitimate complaints start spreading around cyberspace.
I came across an interesting article written by Sunni Patterson of Medical Bill and Claim Resolution. I’ve pulled out a few key points, but you can read the full article here:
Hospital Business Offices and Healthcare Consumers
This statistic was an eye-opener:
“The number of consumers who gave top scores (5 on a 1 to 5 Likert scale) to hospital billing processes was just 21%.”
That means 79% of patients were dissatisfied with hospital billing processes to some extent. That’s a huge chunk of patients, and a ton of potentially negative publicity!
It was interesting, too, that more patients were dissatisfied with their entire experience after dealing with the billing than those polled immediately after finishing treatment. So issues with the billing process can change the minds of otherwise satisfied patients!
Obviously, billing and collecting on receivables is the lifeblood of the practice. And, it’s not possible to make every patient delighted to pay. That being said, there are a few things every facility should be focusing on during the billing procedure to try to mitigate negative feedback:
- Speed: Make the billing process as efficient as possible so the patient gets the bill quickly, while they’re still in a positive frame of mind and feeling good.
- Accuracy: The bill needs to be correct. Coding needs to be current, with accurate insurance coverage and no erroneous, inflated charges. Nothing makes a patient angrier than being billed for a contractual allowance that should’ve been zeroed out!
- Communication: The patient should be able to understand the bill they’re receiving and why they’re responsible for it, and, they should be able to speak to someone if they have questions.
We’ve been shouting this from the rooftops for years now, but I think these statistics stress the point again. You want to be certain that your entire billing and collections process is running at maximum efficiency and accuracy, while maintaining positive communication with your patients and keeping them satisfied! If this seems like a tall order, or, you’re lacking in one of these areas, you may want to consider outsourcing it to experts.
Have you run into any surprising patient satisfaction results recently? Any thoughts on the stats in Sunni’s article? Let us know in the comments.
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While I agree wholeheartedly that medical bills should be correct and timely, and that any patient concerns should be addressed professionally, one of the biggest issues I see with regard to patient dissatisfaction is related to their general misunderstanding of their own insurance coverage. Patients have an expectation that hospitals or physician offices will re-code medical bills in order to override their insurance company’s coverage limitations. For example, if a provider orders a lipid profile because he is following a patient for their previously-diagnosed hyperlipidemia, we cannot code this as a preventive screening. Coverage for an existing condition is typically paid with regard to a deductible/co-insurance, but a preventive screening is paid 100%. Angry patients call all the time, insisting that they were receiving their ‘routine’ care, and demanding that we re-code their bills. They’re confusing a routine surveillance lab with a wholly preventive service. As a coder who is bound by a code of ethics, I am unable and unwilling to make those diagnosis code changes, and my ethics are causing a great deal of patient dissatisfaction. It’s a lose-lose situation. I have yet to have a patient call with kudos to our billing staff for submitting a clean claim, yet we do it all the time! Although I sympathize with the chronically ill patient, our healthcare reform is designed to reward (rightfully so) the healthy patient, by giving financial incentive to stay healthy through preventive care. If you already have the condition….even if it’s being successfully treated, we cannot at this point (in the coding world) code out for preventive screening.
Great points Pam!! I want to thank you for maintaining the integrity of medical billing and for a job well done. Healthcare needs to also learn that it’s ok to be paid for rendered services. I believe those who respect how they get paid will earn respect their customers. What are your thoughts?