Increasing productivity in the office

Every office manager and business owner wants to do all they can to insure their staff are fully productive and that they make the most out of an 8 or 10 hour day. I walked into an office this week that was completely frustrated and feeling like the world was weighing in on them.

After an hour of asking questions and listening intently I knew that I could help take some of the burden away. I found that the medical practice had three office staff and they see anywhere from 100 to 200 people a day. I asked what the majority of their time was spent doing and they said it would be making sure all the insurance claims were in good order and tracking whether or not they have been paid. The rest of the time was spent trying to collect on debts that were long over due.

They were so busy with these task they barely had time to keep the office in full production and because of the number of terms they were actually looking to outsource their billing, which would have cost them a percent of their bottom line.

My first suggestion was to turn all claims and delinquent accounts over to a collection agency software that could help track each demand that is sent out. This would also relieve them of having to send out invoices and continually re initiate medical claims to insurance. They could also enter their insurance claims and watch them get paid much faster that simply sending in a claim.

Another problem I noticed is that they were not flexible enough for some patients payment plans. If a patient did not have money in a checking account until Monday, they did not have the ability to set up an auto withdraw on Tuesday. For those patients that could not afford a full payment on their credit card they did not have the option to set up payment options and auto withdraw from the credit card either.

By implementing these two suggestions they are now able to concentrate their time on all claims and accounts that are under 60 days. They also have fewer accounts going delinquent because they now have our software that allows them to set up a payment plan on both checking accounts and credit cards. By automating the office they are now able to concentrate on the necessary duties of the day, like taking care of patients.