Improving & Marketing your Service Desk: Doing More with Less (in 5 Steps)
Improving patient payment through front desk staff training
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Transcript of Improving patient payment through front desk staff training
Improving Your
Front Desk Staff Training
Poll Questions
Panelists
Debbie Tomlinson, CCSP, CPC, Business Office Supervisor
Valley Medical Center
Andrea CunninghamDirector of Services
HealthCo Information Systems
Jason PorterVice President
HealthCo Information Systems
Front Desk: Then vs. Now
Patient Billing “Hot Potato”
Setting up your Front Desk for Success
Build consistent processes for patient check in that are followed every time
Build out templates for the PM system process you want adhered to at check in
Identify “risky” coming in the day prior to set up Front Desk/Billing for conversations
Using your Practice Management System
What screen do your Front Desk staff work in while receiving patients?
If you are a Centricity customer, using the Registration Screen instead ofthe Schedule Screen will give your staff access to patient balance data.
When was the last time you sat with your Front Desk staff and observed theirworkflow?
Inspect what you expect…use audit reports
Financial Responsibility Agreements
Train Front Desk staff on the policy
Role play with the Front Desk staff: “Explain our Financial Responsibility Agreementto me like I am a patient.”
When was the last time you updated? Should be reviewed annually.
Stats Training Initiatives
13 Specialties 2 Week Initial Training
2 Locations Video tools
45 Providers Role Play
Over 140 staff Reinforcement
500-600 patient visits a day Evolve and retrain
25% reduction in collections largely due to increased front end collection
Year over year improvement in 0-30 day insurance aging
December 2012= 78%December 2013= 84%December 2014= 90%December 2015= 92%
Fundamentals of Role Playing/Training
Select a location in the clinic where you can work uninterrupted
Explain the “why?”
Use your best staff to train; replicate their behavior
Use role plays….they are uncomfortable, but they WORK
Start early in the training process for new staff
Reinforce training every 60-90 days
Fundamentals of Role Playing/Training
Topics to cover in training
Explaining the Financial Responsibility Statement
Responding to questions from patients (“Can I make a payment,What are my options if I can’t pay today?”)
Transitioning to billing when needed with discretion
“How would you like to take care of your balance” vs.“Can you make a payment today?”
Script Samples
Every practice is unique and must work on developing their own scripting
Front Desk and BillingCollaboration
Can your front desk easily access billing when they need help?
Instant messaging tool
Consider some form of cross-training so that each team understandsthe unique challenges of the other
Resources
• Common Mistakes Made When Training Staff Article
• Sample Scripts Questions
• 7 Best Practices for Employee Training
• HealthCo Blog on Training for Front Desk