When is the last time you reviewed your practice’s billing and collection policies? More importantly, when is the last time you tested those policies to ensure that they are as effective as they should be?
Some issues you may want to consider:
- Collecting payments before services are rendered. Any opportunity to reduce receivables after a patient visit also reduces the practices exposure to uncollectible accounts.
- Credit checks. Are you conducting credit checks for new patients? What are the next steps if a credit check flags a credit concern?
- Proper segregation of duties for office staff. If one individual is responsible for multiple stages of the billing and cash collections cycle, they could conceal fraudulent activity.
- Formal documentation of internal accounting policies. This should begin at the initial acceptance of a patient and end with collection of the payment.
- Remember that even though you may have policies in place, there is no guarantee that your staff is following them. This is why we recommend testing the policies periodically.
- Be aware of the warning signs of fraud. According to the 2012 report to the Nations issued by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, organizations typically lose 5% of annual revenues due to fraud. The organizations that are most susceptible to fraud are small business where there is a high level of trust in a small group of employees. Some warning signs that you should be aware of among your employee group are: living beyond ones means, financial difficulties, excessive control issues, and employees that never take a vacation.
Don’t allow your practice’s profit to disappear because you haven’t paid close attention to your billing and collection cycle.
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