How easy is it for patients to schedule and receive care from your providers? A lack of accessibility can make it tough to get them into the revenue cycle. If you can effectively increase patient access, revenue cycle management will benefit as well.
Patient access sets the stage for everything that follows and marks the beginning of a patient’s journey with one of your providers. You can improve your organization’s overall financial health while ensuring better outcomes for those in your care by making it easier to book and obtain treatment.
Rivet Health co-founder Andrew Harding joined the Medical Money Matters with Jill Arena - Podcast to explore the connection between patient access, revenue cycles, and overall organizational well-being. Here are some key takeaways. You’re also invited to check out episode 90 of the podcast to learn more.
Patient access refers to administrative tasks that start a person’s interactions with your organization and its providers. Some examples include scheduling an appointment and verifying insurance coverage.
In essence, patient access represents the beginning of someone’s care relationship with your providers and kicks off the revenue cycle. The more efficiently you can get patients scheduled and registered, the easier it will be to bill and collect for services rendered.
Before digging deeper into the connection between patient access, revenue cycle management, and your organization’s fiscal health, consider the factors that have the biggest impact on accessibility.
In the 2021 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report, researchers found that four variables had the greatest impact on care accessibility:
1. Health insurance (or lack thereof)
2. A usual source of care
3. Difficulties when seeking treatment
4. Timeliness of care
You can use data to open the door for patients and make it easier for them to receive treatment.
Let’s say a particular person only comes to your facility for urgent care. If you can connect them with a reputable primary provider, they may seek treatment more frequently and feel more comfortable working with your team.
Think of patient access teams as the ambassadors of your healthcare facility.
They’re often the first point of contact for patients, and their interactions can significantly influence a patient’s perception of your organization. More importantly, the efficiency and accuracy with which patient teams perform their duties can have a direct impact on the revenue cycle.
Among other things, your patient access personnel are tasked with verifying insurance information, collecting demographic details, and educating patients about their financial responsibilities.
Insurance verification ensures that the provider will be reimbursed for the services they provide. Without proper verification, claims may be denied or delayed, leading to increased accounts receivable (AR) days and, potentially, bad debt.
You need to educate patients about their financial obligations, especially those with high-deductible plans. It’s up to patient access to communicate these costs clearly and ensure that patients understand their responsibilities before services are rendered.
Despite its value, patient access can be fraught with challenges. One of the most significant issues involves the accuracy of information collected during the initial encounter. “Sometimes the littlest mistake might cause a claim rejection or denial,” cautions Rivet Health co-founder Andrew Harding. If one of your patient-access employees makes an error in a patient’s name, that can be enough to delay payments.
To complicate things further, there’s also a major communication gap between patients and providers regarding who pays for services.
Many patients are unaware of the costs associated with their care until they get the bill. A lack of transparency can lead to confusion and potential non-payment. Some patients may even avoid or delay care due to concerns about their financial obligations.
You need to equip your team with the skills and tools necessary to educate patients on their responsibilities. Make sure they have the knowledge and tools to communicate effectively with patients.
Making your services as accessible as possible can improve the revenue cycle and promote long-term financial stability. Here are some strategies that can help.
One of the most effective ways to improve accessibility involves investing in your team.
You need patient access personnel to be well-educated and highly trained. They should be familiar with the nuances of different insurance plans and equipped to handle complex patient interactions. Regular training can help keep staff up to date on the latest industry changes and best practices.
Every time one of your team members inputs data the old-fashioned way, it opens the door for errors. Even if they get it right, manual data entry can be tedious and inefficient. Automation tools save considerable time and allow patient access team members to spend more of their day interacting with and educating patients.
Most importantly, you must communicate clearly with your patients. Be up front about everything from wait times to the availability of providers and services. If you provide patients with clear, transparent information about costs, payment options, and what to expect during their care journey, you can create feelings of trust.
If you’d like more insights about how to enhance patient access, revenue cycle efficiency, and overall profitability, download a whitepaper or ebook from our growing library of content.
You’ll need to carefully measure several revenue cycle performance indicators to determine whether your patient access strategy positively impacts revenue. The two primary metrics to consider are reduced days in accounts receivable and decreased bad debt write-offs.
The less time it takes to collect a payment, the better your revenue cycle will be. By improving patient access processes, you can reduce AR days and guarantee that your organization receives payment more quickly.
You need to ensure that patients understand their financial obligations before their appointments — you don’t want to surprise anyone with steep bills or high out-of-pocket costs.
If you’d like to zoom in on the connection between patient access, revenue cycle management, and your bottom line, our suite of solutions can help.
Schedule a demo with Rivet Health to learn more about how to use our technologies and services to optimize your revenue cycle.
In addition to checking out Rivet Health co-founder Andrew Harding’s recent podcast appearance on patient access, we also invite you to sign up for upcoming live webinars. Receive actionable industry insights that can give your medical practice a decisive edge.