Patient Billing and Statement Services
Statements, payment plans and balance follow-up your front desk does not have time for.
Patient responsibility has become a large share of practice revenue, and it is collected with the least effort of any part of the revenue cycle. High-deductible plans moved thousands of dollars per patient from the insurer to the individual, but most practices still bill patients the way they did when a copay was twenty dollars.
The economics are unusual. Patient balances are small individually and expensive to chase, so past a certain age they cost more to pursue than they return. That makes timing decisive: the same balance is far more collectable in week two than in month four.
We handle the statement cycle, offer payment plans and several ways to pay, and make the follow-up calls, so the money arrives without your staff spending their day on it.
The problem
Where this usually goes wrong
Statements nobody understands
A statement full of CPT codes and adjustment columns does not tell a patient what they owe or why. Confused patients do not pay, they call your front desk, which costs staff time and still does not produce the payment.
Balances age into nothing
Patient balances decay faster than insurance balances. A balance that goes out once and is never followed up is usually still sitting there at 120 days, by which point recovery is unlikely.
Nobody wants to make the calls
Asking a patient for money is uncomfortable and your clinical staff did not sign up for it. So the calls do not happen, and the balances stay.
What is included
- Patient statements on a defined cycle, in plain language
- Balances explained in terms of what insurance paid and what is left
- Online, card, phone and mail payment options
- Payment plans set up and monitored against your rules
- Follow-up calls on aged balances, made politely and on schedule
- Financial hardship and charity policy applied where you have one
- Bad debt referral only at a threshold you agree in advance
- Monthly patient collections reporting by age bucket
How it runs
Our process
- 1
Set the balance correctly
The patient balance is established at posting, after coordination of benefits and after any adjustment is validated. Billing a patient for money they do not owe is worse than not billing at all.
- 2
First statement fast
The first statement goes out promptly after the balance is final, while the visit is still recent and the patient still connects the bill to the care.
- 3
Make paying easy
Online, card, phone or mail. Friction at the payment step is a major reason small balances go unpaid, and it is entirely avoidable.
- 4
Follow up on a schedule
Statements on a set cycle, then calls on aged balances. Payment plans are offered before a balance becomes uncollectable rather than after.
- 5
Escalate only by your rules
Nothing goes to collections without your agreed threshold and your sign-off. Your relationship with your patients is yours, and it is not ours to spend.
Questions we get asked
How soon does the first statement go out?
As soon as the balance is final after insurance. Speed matters more here than anywhere else in the cycle: patient balances are far more collectable in the first few weeks than after a few months.
Will you send patients to collections?
Only at a threshold and an age you set, and only with your sign-off. Some practices never refer to collections at all, and that is a legitimate policy we will follow.
Do you offer payment plans?
Yes, within rules you define for minimum payment and maximum term. A plan that gets paid is worth more than a lump sum demand that does not.
How do you handle patients who dispute a balance?
We investigate before we chase. Often the dispute is legitimate, usually a coordination of benefits problem or an adjustment posted incorrectly, and the fix is ours rather than the patient’s.
Do patients call you or us?
Us, on a number that reaches our billing team. Patient billing questions are one of the larger interruptions to a front desk and there is no reason for your staff to field them.
What about good faith estimates and surprise billing rules?
We work within them, including estimates for self-pay patients where required. Rules in this area have tightened and are enforced, so this is not an optional part of patient billing.
See what your practice is leaving on the table.
We look at 90 days of your claims data and tell you what is recoverable. No cost, no obligation, BAA signed before anything changes hands.
- Recoverable dollars in your aged A/R, as a number
- Denials grouped by root cause, ranked by value
- A written summary you keep either way
Prefer to talk? (301) 786-0552
Or email info@asesormd.com