Every dollar counts toward the practice’s bottom line. So, being able to comfortable discuss the cost of care as well as the speed of collections makes a HUGE difference in practice viability; so we need our Patient Care Coordinators to efficiently and effectively collect at the time of service.
As I remind clients every day, people don’t walk into Walmart or Target, fill their baskets and walk out the door saying, “I’ll catch you next time.” So we can’t allow that to happen in our practices or we become the bank; and we cannot afford to extend loans to our patients and remain viable let alone thrive as a practice.
Another thing to consider: it’s actually more difficult to collect from patients once they’re no longer coming in. So we end up spending even more time and money to collect what’s due. And it creates frustration and requires more staffing to ensure that patients pay their responsibility.
You may be wondering WHY it’s more difficult to collect from patients after their care is completed. Well, I’ve found there are two main reasons:
First, when a patient has achieved recovery and then you bill them, they’ve forgotten what they’ve gone through and how you helped them achieve full recovery. At this point they’ve moved on and are feeling good. So while they appreciate what you did to help them, they don’t make it a priority to pay right away and you end up waiting to get paid. Often in this scenario, you end up with upset patients as well. Because if they wait too long, now you’re sending them reminders letters or applying a late fee. Now you’re waiting for payment and a quality referral source is mad at you. (While yes, it’s their fault for not paying, you can avoid this issue by collecting on the front end.)
Second, there’s the patient who dropped out of care (the MIA patient). We all know that when a patient doesn’t achieve full recovery because they stopped care too soon, their pain will likely return or if they don’t complete the actions assigned by the provider to maintain adequate health (for my medical and veterinary practices) they don’t get the desired health benefits for themselves or their pets. And when that happens, they begin to think that PT “didn’t work” or that as their provider, you didn’t help them as expected. Now, I don’t know about you, but if I get a bill for something that I wasn’t satisfied with (or didn’t feel like I got results I was looking for), I get more upset when I receive a bill. You’ll also see this occur with patients and clients. They get mad and to spite you, they make you wait for payment. (Look. One thing to note: people don’t want to own their mistakes. So patients who drop out of care or who don’t do what you instruct them to, or pet owners who don’t commit to the health of their pets, still blame you when they don’t get results. It is the way it is.)
So, the most efficient and effective way to manage patients and ensure your practice is viable, is to collect at the time of service.
How do you do that?
First you must know the allowed amounts or charges per visit and have them posted for your PCCs to use.
Then they need training on how to present the cost per visit in an effective and positive manner. (People respond to positive instruction…)
Next they need to be trained on how to recognize and respond when a patient has a negative reaction to their financial responsibility (remember people won’t get results if you don’t have the opportunity to help them…)
And finally, and most important, they need sales training on how to handle objections to investing time and money in your services and how to effectively ‘close the sale’ and collect what’s due at the time of service.
As always, I hope this helps you and your team. If you still have questions or if you want to take things to a new level, Schedule a FREE Strategy Session and start training your PCCs today.
The best investment is the one you make in your team’s success….
Wishing you the best, today and always,
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