5 Proven Strategies to Reduce Legacy Hospital Accounts Receivable

Reducing old hospital accounts receivable is vital for your hospital's financial health. These legacy accounts are patient balances that have been unpaid for over 90 days. You need to take a proactive approach to ensure those legacy accounts are efficiently managed. Let us guide you about five proven strategies that can enable you to reduce hospital accounts receivable that are more than 90 days older.

5 strategies for reducing legacy hospital accounts receivable-

1) Prioritize accounts: You need to prioritize accounts based on their age, size, and collectability. Older accounts are more likely to become uncollectable than newer ones, therefore, you need to prioritize older accounts over newer ones. You also need to consider the size of the A/R. Larger accounts have a significant impact on the financial help of your hospital. Finally, you should prioritize accounts based on their collectability. Focus on accounts that are most likely to be paid quickly. This includes accounts with insurance coverage and those that are not subject to any dispute.

2)Billing information verification: When it comes to ensuring timely payment, you must verify the billing information of each account. You should thoroughly check the accuracy of patient information, insurance information, and billing codes to avoid any potential mistakes. To ensure billing information accuracy, you should check all the practical details of patient information, review claims carefully, check payment history and communicate with patients. By thoroughly verifying billing information, you can avoid payment delays and claim denials.

3) Follow-up regularly: Following up regularly with patients and their insurance companies is the key to ensuring effective accounts receivable management. It is important to set up a regular follow-up schedule for accounts with outstanding balances. You can follow-up with your patients and their insurance companies by sending reminders or via phone calls. By setting up a follow-up schedule, you can make your patients and insurance companies aware of their financial responsibilities.

4) Write off uncollectible accounts: Writing off almost uncollectible accounts is a critical component of your hospital accounts receivable management. However, make sure your decision to write off an account is based on sound reasoning and follow all applicable guidelines. You should make all the attempts to collect the outstanding balance and ensure all legal requirements are met.

5) Train staff: Professionally trained staff members are crucial for effective hospital accounts receivable management. Make sure your staff members are trained for follow-up, communication with patients and insurance communication and collection. By methodically investing in staff training, you can improve the overall efficiency of your collection process and avoid claim denials.

Efficiently managing hospital accounts receivable can ensure a steady revenue stream. hospitals offer indispensable services, but failing to optimize revenue can lead to a growing list of receivables that may eventually turn bad or need to be written off if not effectively managed.

Sunknowledge Services Inc., a HIPAA-compliant revenue cycle management (RCM) company, assists hospitals in reducing accounts receivable days and consistently lowering outstanding dues month after month.