Anyone who knows anything about EMS billing knows billers have enough on their plate. EMS billers work hard daily to prepare claims, ensure compliance, address denials, and much more. They do a great job, but often focus so much on taming that mountain of day-to-day tasks that they inadvertently neglect EMS accounts receivable management.
EMS accounts receivable management attempts to resolve debtor balances, but also tracks how much revenue comes in and how long it takes to receive it. When EMS billers don’t consistently perform these tasks, the entire agency suffers the consequences.
What Poor EMS Accounts Receivable Management Does to Your Organization
Consider how much money agencies throw away by not prioritizing EMS accounts receivable management. While EMS billers battle the ceaseless onslaught of daily tasks, accounts receivable age, and the likelihood of full payment plummets.
Without revenue tracking EMS agencies have no idea what their cashflow really looks like and at what interval to expect revenue. You can’t accurately budget nor be fiscally responsible without tracking accounts. Account tracking also plays an important role in customer service. EMS agencies that don’t track accounts often contact the wrong payers, contact them with incorrect information, or fail to contact them at all.
What Gets in the Way of Excellent EMS Accounts Receivable Management
Your organization’s financial health depends on proper EMS accounts receivable management. Thankfully, you can avoid the numerous consequences of poor accounts receivable management, but that requires billers’ time. Ideally, you would appoint an EMS billing specialist to be a point person for each account so that they could build a relationship with the payers/insurance. You would also require that EMS billers track accounts on day-to-day, week-to-week, and month-to-month bases. This may seem impossible without overwhelming billers. Keep reading – it isn’t.
How to Achieve High-Quality EMS Accounts Receivable Management
Think of packing a suitcase. If you just throw your clothing inside, it fills up quickly, but if you fold everything carefully, you save a ton of space and can fit more than you originally thought. Prioritize efficiency. This is the key to achieving high-quality EMS account receivable management without sacrificing quality in other areas.
First, organize receivable accounts according to predesignated protocols (for example, by geographic boundaries or business sectors, then alphabetically). Then, assign a point person based on protocols. They will follow through with the account and create a relationship with the insurance, payer, or self-payer. Manage accounts receivable day-to-day, week-to-week, and month-to-month.
Create a guide outlining the entire EMS accounts receivable process. Standardize all communications sent to payers/debtors at the 30-day, 60-day, and such marks. EMS billers will save time and ensure quality and consistency by using standardized messaging instead of writing new ones.
You’ll save the most time and make excellent EMS accounts receivable management possible by adopting an EMS billing software. Store all protocols, policies, email and letter communication templates within the software for easy access and security. EMS billing software will prompt the appropriate point person when they should send a specific communication or take the next step in the EMS accounts receivable process.
Utilize the countless general and custom reports created by the EMS billing software to track accounts. Ensure the data is correct. With 24/7 easy access to all necessary data, you’ll always be able to approach any budget or cash-flow decision with confidence.
Make time for EMS Accounts Receivable Management
EMS billers have a lot to do, and it may seem like prioritization of EMS accounts receivable management only adds more. Implement the tips in this blog. Your billers will feel like you’ve lightened their load, when you’ve actually just rearranged it with smart tools. The problem isn’t limited time, but inefficiency. Organize, structure, and automate your EMS accounts receivable processing to enable billers, and potentially your entire organization, to do more than ever before.
