Physical Therapy Billing | How to be profitable and compliant
Excerpt from Medical Billing Networks and Processes – Profitable and Compliant Revenue Cycle Management in the Internet Age By Yuval LirovÂ
Patient Identification and Targeted Communications
It’s convenient to view targeted communications from the patient visit perspective:
- Patients due for scheduled appointments or who owe you payments need a reminder.
- Patients who recently had an appointment need results, interpretation, prescriptions and follow-up.
- Patients with prescriptions that are about to expire may need to schedule a visit.
- Patients who have not had an appointment for a long time need a reminder to schedule a checkup. A screening process schedule should be generated using procedure (CPT) and diagnosis (ICD) codes.
- Patients with chronic conditions or permanent injuries need literature about recent progress in treating their conditions.
- Patients who have had a long series of appointments need progress reports.
- Patients who receive good progress reports need to be solicited for referrals.
- Patients with bad progress reports need special literature and special appointments.
- Patients waiting in the reception area need access to customized information about their specific conditions.
To generate such unique lists of patients, you system must combine scheduling, medical notes and billing data in a single to access and report from database.
Patient Communications Venue
While traditional phone and conventional mail systems are still in use, the Internet is the most effective Meaningful Use-compliant patient portal is the best and least expensive way to allow your patients to interact with you outside your office at their convenience and privacy. With this type of system your patients can do the following:
- Review reminders and schedule appointments
- Review test results
- Ask you clarifying questions
- Request prescriptions
- Read special literature and progress reports that you send them
- Send you referrals
- Review medical billing history and pay invoices
- Track their medical costs
Active patient loyalty management, based on selective patient identification for targeted communications at the patient’s convenience, is one of the most effective ways to improve practice profitability.”