Improving front desk collections – again

I get so frustrated when I see collection failures at the front desk. If you think it is not that big of a deal your co-pays don’t get collected, think about this.  The average reimbursement for your low level exams is about $35 to $40.  The $20 co-pay is approx. 50% of your income for that visit.  Billing the patient for co-pays after the exam is time consuming and costly.

Add to your overhead the cost of billing staff for phone calls, statements and the collection process of billing for that co-pay after insurance has paid the claim thirty days later.  The cost of sending two reminder statements is about $ 8.00.  You just lost 20% more of your income on that exam.

Have the check-out desk complete a batch report at the end of each day.  List each patient that did not pay co-pay on report.  Have management or the physician sign-off on this report at the end of the day.  Co-pays are likely to be collected if someone is tracking progress.