Have your patients received a healthcare bill and they do not understand why it was denied or why they were charged what they were charged? Your billing team is the first tier to help your patients sort the questions but perhaps resources are stretched thin. You may not be aware your patients may continue to be frustrated by an unresolved billing claim - only after they have been turned over to your bad debt collection agency partner.
An outside advocacy service, aligned with your practice and your patients, can step in, dedicating the necessary time and filling the gap to help your patients resolve medical billing issues.
What is a Patient Billing Healthcare Advocate?
There are many categories of patient advocacy including one that reviews medical charges after patients have received care to ensure accuracy. A patient billing advocate is a professional whose job is to help patients understand their medical bill charges.
At What Point do Patients Consider Hiring a Patient Billing Healthcare Advocate?
There are several instances where your practice or your patients may want to seek out help from a patient billing healthcare advocate:
Denied insurance claim. Hundreds of people are denied health insurance claims daily. And, reporting a dispute, more often than not, results in a dead-end. Because a patient billing advocate routinely deals with insurance providers, they know exactly what to do to get insurance claims processed successfully or shed light on why the claim was denied.
Jargon medical bill language. We know the healthcare system specializes in using codes to communicate services and procedures but your patients do not understand this jargon. A patient billing healthcare advocate understands these codes, and helps patients interpret them, checks to verify coverage limitations, and reviews billed charges against services rendered for accuracy.
Charges due are significantly higher than the estimate received. When patients receive an estimate for a medical service and the actual billed charges are way higher, they may want to involve a patient billing advocate, especially if no extenuating circumstances warrant the increased actual billed amount.
Patients with no support system. If your patient does not have a caregiver or other person s/he can turn to for medical bill and insurance matters, a patient billing advocate can be a significant resource support. Dealing with medical bills, keeping them organized, and ensuring responses to requested information from insurance or healthcare providers is submitted in a timely matter helps your office reach resolution on an open account.
In conclusion, with the help of a Patient Billing Healthcare Advocate, your patients can better understand how the complex healthcare billing system works and have peace of mind. Without saying, ensure you hire a professional advocate with sufficient knowledge and experience of the billing and insurance decision-making process to best support your patients.