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BUSINESS ADVISOR
Pamela Ledger, MSN, RN, CNE, and Katie Hooven, RN, MSN, MBA
Settle Up Before Surgery
Collecting co-pays doesn't have to be a painful process.
Our co-pay collection rate used to be 84%. Not bad,
right? But consider that bumping it to 96%, where it sits now, puts an extra $10,000 in our coffers each month. That adds up to more than $100,000 annually, a huge sum of money when you're talking cash on hand. Here are the steps we take to ensure patients happily meet their financial obligations on the day of surgery.
1. ID champion communicators
Many nurses are uncomfortable with informing patients about their co-pays and how much they owe. Establish guidelines for how staff should address patients when discussing co-pays. They need to form some sort of personal connection before informing patients of their payment options.
Set goals. We decided that we'd communicate co-pay amounts to patients during every pre-op phone call, and that we'd collect 90% of all co-pays on the day of surgery. Assign your key communicators to head the initiative, the skilled talkers who know how to develop a rapport with patients. They're the employees you want to role model how to interact with patients and ensure the required financial information is
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FRIENDLY REMINDER
Patients shouldn't be surprised by your payment policy when they check in at the front desk.
