Written by Today it is important to understand that maintaining strong accounts receivable is a key component of staying financially stable and operationally efficient in healthcare organizations. And achieving this requires vigilance on critical Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) Key Performance Indicators. So, let’s dive into those benchmarks and strategies to help keep your healthcare accounts receivable healthy and under control.
Two Essential Healthcare A/R Benchmarks to remember
1. Average Days in A/R
This metric measure the average time it takes for insurance companies or patients to reimburse your practice after an appointment. Industry best practices suggest keeping this figure at 35 days or fewer to ensure a steady cash flow.
2. A/R Over 90 Days
This is the percent of A/R that hasn’t been paid within more than 90 days. according to experienced industry experts suggestion – the amount of healthcare accounts receivable should be kept at no more than 10 percent to avoid revenue bottlenecks and ensure timely pay.
Ways in improving Accounts Receivable
If your A/R metrics are higher than expected then do not worry. Implementing targeted strategies can help you streamline processes, improve cash flow and regain your financial stability easily.
1. Streamline Insurance Verification
Unverified or incorrect insurance information is a major source of claim denials and delayed payments. To address this:
- Use a real-time eligibility (RTE) tool to verify insurance details before patient appointments.
- Implement weekly batch checks for insurance verification to catch errors or discrepancies early.
By ensuring insurance details are accurate upfront, you can significantly reduce claim denials and protect your revenue cycle.
2. Provide Cost Estimates and Collect Upfront Payments
Avoid future A/R issues by collecting payments upfront.
- Share detailed cost estimates with patients before their appointments, giving them transparency and reducing surprises.
Encourage patients to pay at the time of service to eliminate the lengthy invoicing process. - This not only helps manage A/R but also boosts patient satisfaction by improving clarity and trust.
3. Regularly Monitor A/R Trends
Not to forget that tracking your accounts receivable regularly is crucial for identifying issues before they escalate.
Review A/R aging reports to pinpoint problem areas, such as specific payers or contracts causing delays.
Analyze trends to determine where improvements can be made, such as renegotiating payer contracts or refining claims processes.
A proactive approach to A/R tracking can help uncover inefficiencies and streamline collections.
4. Automate Claims Management
Manual billing processes are error-prone and time-consuming, thereby affecting your A/R adversely. Automating claims processing can help improve the speed and accuracy of the processes. Develop automated tools for submitting claims and claim scrubbing, which will reduce denial and expedite reimbursement timelines. Also, automation do reduces human errors so that claims are processed quicker and more reliably.
5. Leverage RCM Experts
If your accounts receivable have become unmanageable, it may be time to consult a professional RCM team.
- RCM experts can take a look at your present processes, find the bottle-necks, and implant best practices that can shave off average days in A/R.
- By outsourcing A/R management, you can focus on taking care of patients while not letting your practice’s finances get out of control.
Effective A/R management is defined by consistency, strategy, and adaptability. Whether it’s verifying insurance, automating processes, or seeking expert help, these steps can revolutionize your revenue cycle and ensure long-term success.
In short, today in this competitive era by outsourcing your healthcare accounts receivable to a reliable RCM team for those feeling choked up and overwhelmed in cases of being unable to go through their A/R accounts. You can minimize the tension of delayed payments by acting proactively and being watchful; you can focus on delivering excellent patient care with a healthy financial outlook.
Take Control of Your Revenue Cycle Now:
If you are ready to optimize your A/R processes, consider partnering with an experienced RCM provider like Sun Knowledge with its various tools and expertise can help you reduce your A/R metrics and improve overall revenue cycle performance in no time. Within 1st month itself there are references that ensures 30% reducing in AR bucket efficiently. So if you are someone looking to get your healthcare accounts receivable in place, get in touch with the experts.
