Enhancing Patient Awareness in the Medical Billing Cycle

The patients are the drivers of the medical billing cycle. They are one of the significant factors in deciding the pace of your billing cycle. Also, a satisfied patient serves as the attraction for bringing more patients to your organization. As the patient is one of the core elements of medical care, they need to know the how-tos of a medical billing cycle. The awareness of health insurance and how medical billing works in patients can improve the interaction regarding patient's eligibility and benefits. Interacting with the patient at the start of care regarding various elements of their care is supposed to improve patient satisfaction. It helps in educating the patient about the medical services. Along with patient interaction, the healthcare provider can create various educational resources for improving patient awareness in the medical billing cycle. The educational resources or materials can be in various mediums, such as visual, audio, or written. The most effective form of educational resources is the informative videos published on social platforms and the organization's website. Like informative videos, podcasts are also considered an effective tool of education that uses an audio medium. In terms of written/printed content, the healthcare provider can produce posters, charts, blogs, articles, etc.

Along with the videos, podcasts, and written/printed content, one can create interactive models for rendering the basic working of anything. Models can greatly help educate the patient effectively during the interactive sessions. For example, a cardiologist can effectively use the heart model to inform the patient about areas that need medical attention.

Implementing such strategies has proved to improve the patient-physician relationship effectively. A satisfied patient significantly assists in word-of-mouth marketing. Such practices enhance patient adherence to the organization. It is especially the case for pediatric clinics or hospitals. Feeding a person's curiosity has been believed to improve their attention span. Overall, educational resources can serve as a significant driver of revenue generation.

In the medical billing cycle, a relatively complex and highly regulated process, educating patients about the claim filing process, coinsurance, copayments, denial appeals, insurance authorization, etc., can improve the quality of earlier documentation. An educated patient can effectively provide the required information, thus helping to reduce the possibility of claim denial.

As a healthcare organization, the following points can massively help improve its billing cycle.

• Interacting with the patient regarding their eligibility for the service and the benefits offered under their insurance
  Verifying the patient's eligibility and benefits is a physician's primary task. The physician should do the verification before 48 hours of the appointment. Prior verification of such details helps in effectively planning the patient visit. It also helps the patient understand his responsibilities, such as coinsurance and copayments.
• Using the right educational tool during the appointment
  Every patient is different. Hence, their capacity to understand and learn something new is also different. Therefore, the healthcare provider should use the correct form of educational material that can effectively help understand the medical service, billing process, or other related topics.
• Taking feedback from patients
  The healthcare professional should always take the patient's feedback after completion of the care and medical billing. Feedback is the report card for the healthcare professional. It helps in understanding the areas of improvement. Also, it improves patient satisfaction, as asking for feedback provides a sense of importance and involvement.

Addressing the patient effectively and following the above tips during patient interaction can improve the patient-physician relationship in any healthcare facility. One should prepare educational resources as per the type of patient. For example, pediatric patients are likelier to understand through videos and models than podcasts and printed content.