Ask any hospital CFO what keeps them awake at night and the most probable answer would be the sluggish inflow of cash in present times. Gone are the days when these providers could bank on government or commercial payers to bear the burden of majority of medical expenses.
Presently it is the era of high deductible health plans (HDHPs), where nearly 45% of the patients are willing to wait for more than a month to pay the medical bills. And this is putting unnecessary strain on hospitals’ cash inflow. Also the increased patient responsibilities are not helping the cause of these providers. It is forcing their in-house staff to juggle between their primary function that is to provide care to the patients and handle the responsibility of collecting unpaid bills. Experts say the only way out is to outsource payment collection and allow in-house employees to concentrate on their core functionalities. This way they will be able to save money and reap in other benefits such as-
1. Higher Revenue Generation
By outsourcing payment collections to a reliable service provider, you get access to competent professionals who are specifically trained to handle payment collection and revenue generation. These professionals have a complete understanding of the entire revenue generation cycle, and are equipped with state-of-the-art tools with which they can bring the average number of Account Receivable (AR) days down, thereby giving you access to timely funds.
2. Allows In-house Team to Focus on Patient Care
Your in-house team is busy providing better care to patients. Burdening them with additional responsibility of managing payment collections can significantly weigh them down, thereby hindering their ability to provide care. However by outsourcing payment collection you can give some breathing space to your front-line staff and allow them to concentrate on maintaining a healthy relationship with the patients.
3. Saves Time and Human Resources
Medical staff are educated and trained to provide care to the patients and chances are that they have little or no formal understanding of how to keep records, collect payments, and so on. So they can take significantly longer time to complete non-core tasks than someone experienced in handling these tasks. Also, the rules governing healthcare billing and collections are constantly in a state of flux, and this makes it extremely difficult for your in-house staff to keep up with all the changes in a timely manner. However by outsourcing, you can keep up with all these complications, thereby freeing up your staff’s valuable time and saving lot of money.
Given these benefits, it makes perfect business sense to offshore payment collection services to favorable offshore destinations.
