Healthcare Accounts Receivable Management Services- Crucial Benchmarks

It’s pretty obvious now that keeping up with accounts receivable (AR) in healthcare is super important! Good AR management means you’ll keep cash flowing and your practice financially healthy. Here are some simple steps to help you improve your healthcare AR, with tips from Sunknowledge to make your Accounts Receivable process even better. 

Know about healthcare accounts receivable management services:  

Accounts receivable is the pending payments that you are supposed to receive from your patients and their insurance companies. Managing A/R well is super important these days! Here are a few reasons why accounts receivable matters so much in healthcare: 

Smooth cash flow: Good A/R processes keep the cash coming in, so you can keep your practice running, cover your costs, and even put money into giving better care! 

Optimized operational excellence: With smooth A/R processes, you don’t have to worry so much about all the billing stuff. It means less work for you on the admin side, so your team can focus more on helping patients instead of dealing with billing and collections! 

Healthy relationship with patients: Talking clearly and on time about billing helps patients trust you and feel happier. In healthcare, you can do healthcare accounts receivable management services in a few ways. First, “Days in A/R” means you divide the total A/R by how much your practice charges daily, on average. Then, accounts are also sorted by how old they are, like this: 

• 1 to 30 days 
• 31 to 60 days  
• 61 to 90 days  
• 91 to 120 days 

Now, you must know about the key benchmark and frequently used terms in healthcare accounts receivable management services- 

Critical benchmarks of healthcare accounts receivable management services:  

Keeping your accounts receivable healthy in healthcare means you need to keep an eye on a few important numbers, called RCM KPIs. Some key things you should check are: 

The average days in AR: This number shows how long it usually takes for you to get paid by patients or insurance companies after an appointment. Experts say it’s best to keep your average days in A/R at 35 days or less! 

Delinquent accounts over 90 days: This percentage shows how much of your A/R is still unpaid after 90 days. It means there are bills or claims that haven’t been paid for a while. Experts say you should keep this number at 10% or less! 

Keeping up with A/R reports is super important for managing your revenue. The goal is to keep A/R days low, which means you need to track things carefully. By checking A/R data every month, you can spot any problems with getting payments on time. These reports should include: 

• Average cycle of accounts receivable
• Gap between services rendered and invoice generation  
• Aged accounts  
• Rate of collection  

You can improve your overall accounts receivable collection by leveraging all the benchmarks mentioned above.  

Know about the frequently used terms in healthcare accounts receivable management services- 

Formula of measuring accounts receivable days: The A/R Days formula helps you figure out how long it usually takes to get your payments. When you calculate the average days it takes, you get important clues about how well your practice is doing. If your A/R Days number is short, that means your collection process is working well. But if it’s longer, it shows you where you need to do better! 

Accounts receivable follow up: You can reduce the number of overdue accounts by contacting your patients and their insurance companies for payment updates.  

Aged accounts: Accounts that have unpaid balances for a long time show that you might have some trouble collecting those payments. 

If you do not have adequate staff members to handle your accounts receivable, you can outsource your healthcare accounts receivable management to Sunknowledge.  

Our top areas for healthcare accounts receivable management services include Hospital A/R, DME, HME, Ambulatory Services, Radiology, Cardiology, Urgent Care, Mental Health, Oncology, Immunology, Neurology, Sleep Therapy, and more! 

Our awesome team is here to make sure you get paid on time and help you collect both old and new payments for healthcare organizations. Plus, we help you save money on labor and admin costs. 

When you partner with us, you don’t have to worry about accounts receivable anymore. We want your practice to thrive! While we take care of your billing and A/R management, you can focus on giving the best care to your patients and making your cash flow better! 

How Accurate Pre-Billing Enhances Healthcare Accounts Receivable Management Services

“Quality is Job 1”. Thus ran the famous ad campaign by Ford in 1980. It underscored a simple truth viz. doing things right from the start leads to better results. The same idea works for your healthcare revenue. If you want to collect more from your payers and your patients (in cases involving co-pays), you must get the first steps of billing right. These early steps are like the foundation of a house. If they are weak, everything else will fall apart in the end.

This is why pre-billing is such an important part of the entire revenue cycle. It helps catch errors early, reduces denials, and speeds up payments. It also effectively shrinks your accounts receivable (AR) and keeps cash flow steady.

A strong start means fewer problems later. With clean claims, you avoid denials and delays. With accurate data, you get paid faster at the first opportunity. Small mistakes in the beginning can cause big revenue losses. An immaculate pre-billing process makes sure you don’t leave money on the table.

Now, you must know what pre-billing in healthcare is and how it can improve your overall healthcare accounts receivable management services.

What is Pre-Billing in Your Healthcare Practice?

Pre-billing includes all the steps you need to complete before you set out creating the final claim to an insurance company. It starts with verifying patient details. You must accurately capture details like names, dates of birth, and contact information of your patients.

Next, you need to confirm insurance eligibility. This step makes sure the patient’s plan covers the proposed service. It also involves finding out if the policy is in force and has not lapsed.

Then come prior authorizations, the bane of healthcare practices for all the usual reasons. Some treatments need approval before you provide them. If you skip this step, insurers may deny payment.

Charge entry is also an important task that needs to be done with great care and accuracy. It is a continuous register of every service that the patient avails.

Accurate coding is also key to creating a perfect pre-billing experience. Each procedure needs the right codes to avoid claim rejections.

If you get these steps right, your claims will be cleaner. That means fewer errors, fewer denials, and faster payments. A strong pre-billing process also improves cash flow. It helps avoid resubmissions and follow-ups. When claims are correct the first time, you can avoid delinquent accounts and your revenue stays steady.

Now, you might be wondering how your pre-billing methods can directly improve your overall healthcare accounts receivable management services and why you should focus more on improving the pre-billing mechanism. Let’s take a closer look.

How Pre-Billing Improves Accounts Receivable

1. Fewer claim denials: Most claims get denied because of missing or incorrect patient details. A simple mistake, like a wrong birth date or insurance ID, can lead to rejection. Pre-billing, done right, helps prevent these errors. It makes sure all patient information is correct before submission. This, in turn, reduces claim denials, speeds up payments, and saves time on rework.
2. Faster reimbursements: When claims are correct the first time, insurers process them faster and release the money quicker. Fewer errors mean fewer rejections and less time spent fixing mistakes and re-appealing. Faster payments improve your accounts receivable (AR) and ensures a better cash flow. It helps you cover expenses on time, and removes the need to chase payments or deal with long delays. Moreover, your team can focus on patient-care instead of reworking claims or chasing unpaid bills.
3. Excellent cash flow: A smooth billing process keeps the revenue flowing. This helps your practice stay financially stable. When claims are error-free, insurers pay faster and the right amount due to you. You spend less time chasing overdue payments. Your billing team can focus on new claims instead of fixing old ones. A healthy cash flow also allows you to invest in better services for patients and grow your practice.
4. Reduced administrative burden: Fixing denied claims takes time and effort. Each mistake means more work for your team. A strong and meticulous pre-billing process reduces errors before claims go out, ensuring the best response from the payer. Quick payments effectively decrease your accounts receivable (AR).

Many healthcare practices are turning to dedicated healthcare accounts receivable management services to reduce delinquent accounts. Always remember that denied claims and delayed payments hamper your cash flow and increase the number of delinquent accounts. It takes up a substantial amount of time to fix those issues. However, a professional healthcare accounts receivable management company knows what it takes to ensure clean claims, faster payments, and minimum denials. It also reduces administrative burden, improves cash flow, and keeps the revenue steady.

If you are looking for the perfect healthcare accounts receivable management company, look no further than Sunknowledge Inc. At Sunknowledge, we help you manage your healthcare accounts receivable efficiently. Our end-to-end A/R management ensures timely follow-ups and billing, keeping your A/R days low. With advanced analytics, you get insights to spot inefficiencies and fix them. Our patient engagement solutions simplify billing and send reminders for timely payments. We also help integrate modern billing technology to automate processes and improve efficiency.

What makes Sunknowledge stand apart from others?

• Lower payroll costs by cutting direct expenses on salaries and benefits
• Reduce accounts receivable days and lower the cost of collections
• Increase revenue with effective healthcare accounts receivable management strategies
• Improve the Collection Effectiveness Index (CEI) for better financial performance
• Access expert accounts receivable specialists without hiring or training new in-facility staff
• Save on office space and equipment with outsourced support
• Boost cash flow with higher collection rates
• Fewer claim denials, thanks to expert claim scrubbing and denial management

So, are you ready to optimize your healthcare accounts receivable management services? Contact Sunknowledge today for a consultation, and let’s work hand-in-hand to elevate your medical billing processes.