Create team responsibility and reward - Patient collections

Problem: Staff members don't have a clear understanding of how much each patient owes--and how these uncollected balances impact your practice.

Solution: Set clear targets for patient collections and monitor them closely. Indicators to watch include:

• Over-the-counter collections percentage
• Gross collections percentage
• Adjusted collections percentage
• Total accounts receivable
• Days in accounts receivable

Because the work is hard and the benefits great, many practices choose to adopt incentive programs to keep the effort going strong. Depending on the practice, the reward might be a set lump sum, salary percentage or portion of above-goal collections delivered quarterly, annually or even randomly. What all incentive programs should have in common, however, is that they should benefit every employee of the practice, including physicians and other clinical staff.

Managing patient collections is the entire practice's responsibility-and each member, from receptionists to nurses, should be able to answer patients' questions about what they owe, says Mary Pat Whaley, a Roanoke Rapids, N.C.-based practice administrator and blogger who specializes in patient collections.

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