Improvement

Financial Policy

Add value and cash flow to your practice

Ever thought about establishing a financial policy for your practice? Actually, all physician practices have a financial policy that is well known to patients. Whether the policy is written or not, patients understand what is expected of them at the front desk. The policy the patients know, however, may not be the same as that understood by the front desk and the physicians.

A clear financial policy that is shared with staff, physicians and patients results in happier patients and a healthier bottom line. Billing disputes, haggling, and triangulating are decreased making for more satisfied patients and staff. Setting up a consistent expectation of payment makes patients more comfortable with the physician reimbursement process.

Patients that are asked for and pay the balance due are generally happier since small balances do not snowball into huge balances.

Hardship cases can also be addressed in the financial policy. Consistent determination and documentation of hardship discounts enables staff and physician to defer to the policy when receiving a request. Medicare acknowledges that hardship discounts are legal and desirable. Although Medicare does not indicate a cutoff for hardship discounts, any method that is properly documented and reasonable would meet their criteria. The best documentation available is a copy of the patients most recent US 1040 (not much of a price or inconvenience in exchange for your generous discounts).

As employers look to decrease the cost of insurance benefits, patient payments will continue to become an increasing portion of physician revenue. A clear financial policy is required to capture this ever expanding portion of the payer mix.