Patient Payments Blog

Have you seen the recent stories about Chick-Fil-A? Not the ones that bash them for their stands on hot button issues. But the ones that report they are America’s favorite fast food restaurant? And the ones that talk about how they train their employees? 

Topics: patient retention, Patient Centered Care, Ideas, improvement

Our most popular graphics, in fact, our most popular posts are about scripting. Knowing what to say and when to say it is essential to collecting from patients. We published this graphic a couple of years ago and thought it was worth a revisit. 

Topics: Patient Balances, Patient Engagement, Patient Payment Solutions, Patient Collections, Patient Centered Care, Front Desk Tips, Front Office

A new study hot-off-the-press makes the same conclusion I’ve seen studies make for the last ten years. The percentages are a little higher but the trend continues. Patients don’t like phone calls concerning their balances. They prefer anything BUT a phone call. Consider this key finding from the study:

Topics: Patient Balances, Patient Centered Care, practice management, Patient Satisfaction

 Worry is growing about the staggering costs of healthcare and unexpected medical bills. I read a study, column, or white paper on the topic at least once a month. The statistics just keep climbing.

Topics: Patient Engagement, Patient Centered Practice, Patient Centered Care, Patient Satisfaction, Missed appointments, Fear

For some of your patients it’s their health, that’s why they are your patients. But for up to 75% of your patients it’s MONEY.

Topics: Patient Centered Care, practice management, communication, accounts receivable, Stress, Ideas

Do your patients love the doctor but hate to deal with the front desk staff? Many practices make the mistake of putting the employee with the most seniority (or fewest back office skills) at the front desk, regardless of their people skills. Patient satisfaction and retention can be permanently damaged when the wrong person or people occupy your front desk.

Topics: healthcare payments, patient retention, medical practice management, Patient Engagement, Patient Centered Practice, Patient Payments, New Healthcare Consumer, Patient Centered Care, Medical Office Administration, Front Desk Tips, Front Office

As a follow-up to last weeks video we have created a printable graphic with the five essential questions for securing on-time patient payments. We know how important it is to ask the right questions at the right time. Staff members often get stuck when discussing payment with patients. This graphic will give them a place to start and a way to ensure that payment will be made in a timely fashion. 

Topics: Patient Balances, Credit Card On File, Patient Engagement, Patient Payment Solutions, Patient Collections, Patient Centered Care, Front Desk Tips, Front Office

Topics: healthcare payments, Patient Balances, medical practice management, Patient Collections, Patient Centered Care, practice management, Front Desk Tips, Front Office, Payments

Last week I compared your medical practice with a day spa to introduce an idea. The idea is that medical practices make an extra effort to connect with patients early to prevent issues later. If you haven’t read that post you can here. I’m expanding on the idea in this post.

Topics: patient retention, Patient Balances, Patient Relations, Patient Engagement, Patient Collections, Patient Payments, Patient Payment Policies, Patient Eligibility, Patient Centered Care, practice management, Front Desk Tips, Front Office

---

 

You’ve likely heard it said many times and in many ways; your front desk is the face of your practice and what happens here carries all the way through your practice. It’s true. Succeed here and everything that happens after will build on the success.

If your desire is to set your medical and billing staff, as well as your patients, up for success then a careful review of what happens at your front desk is in order. Your plan should start with a simple checklist of essential questions for your staff to ask. The questions should be patient friendly, not difficult to answer, and easy to follow through.

Questions like the following fit the description and are easy to include on a checklist:

Topics: healthcare payments, patient retention, Credit Card On File, Patient Relations, Patient Engagement, Patient Centered Practice, Patient Payments, Patient Centered Care, practice management