Knocking at the door of someone repeatedly to pay you your money may embarrass them, and you may lose the amount they owe you. But, if you politely ask them in a particular frequency, there is a 100% chance of receiving your amount.
Similarly, after providing care services to patients, you should send a billing statement, including clear and concise information via proper channels, mail, email, or text, to convince them to pay you instantly. The primary purpose of sending billing statements to patients is to remind them of patient responsibility, i.e., the amount they have to pay and to expedite the process of payment collection from patients.
If you ask how often a patient should get a billing statement, we suggest reminding them about their payment once a month. Sending statements infrequently can impact your practice’s finances. Sending them repeatedly within a week or less can increase costs because of the expenses involved in creating and sending billing statements. This may also discourage patients from paying their bills, as they could feel overwhelmed or annoyed by the constant communication. Therefore, it’s important to find a balance that encourages timely payments without overburdening your practice or your patients.
This comprehensive guide will discuss how often you should send patient billing statements, what should be included, and how to craft a compelling billing statement to convince patients to pay you for the health care they have received.
What is a Patient Billing Statement in medical billing?
Healthcare providers, hospitals, clinics, nursing centers, and other healthcare organizations send patient billing statements to patients after providing care services to inform them about their responsibility. In terms of medical billing, the statement is called a patient billing statement.
How often should patients receive a Billing Statement?
You need to get paid to grow your practice’s revenue, and patients need to know how much they owe you. So, it would be best if you keep informing them timely to get payment for your services. However, it is recommended that you should remind them once every 30 days by sending a patient billing statement.
Sending more or less times can negatively impact the ratio of payment collection and cause you to face low income. It is essential to send patient billing statements, but sending them with accurate information, concise dates, and easy-to-understand payment instructions is more important.
What should be included in a Patient Billing Statement?
As a healthcare provider, you should send billing statements to patients incorporating all the relevant information clearly and concisely. Here, we discuss what should be included in a patient-friendly billing statement.
✅ Practice Information
The patient billing statement should include your practice’s name, address, contact information, and the name of the healthcare practitioner who cared for the patient. When patients receive bills with this information, they will have a clear idea of how much they owe and to whom the amount is payable. However, remember the effective frequency of sending bills to patients while sending the statements.
✅ Patient Details
Including patient details, i.e., patient’s name, address, date of birth, and other relevant information in billing statements, helps you maintain patient history and records, which may be required in the future for treating the same patient. Mentioning patient details will also let them know that the particular patient owes the amount if there are many patients having the same address.
✅ Service Breakdown
Include all the care services and procedures provided to a patient for which you will charge them. Also, include the dates of services provided so the patients can understand.
✅ Mentioning Charges
Mention the total cost associated with each care service.
✅ Clear Payment Instructions
Instruct patients clearly and adequately in billing statements about payment due date and payment method, and provide them with contact information to facilitate easy and effective communication related to the patient statement.
Purpose of sending Billing Statements to patients
The main purpose of sending patient billing statements is to receive the amount of healthcare or charges of services that are provided to patients in-network or out-of-network in a healthcare practice. Some of the purposes of patient statements are:
- To enhance communication between a patient and a healthcare provider to avoid confusion
- To inform patients of their responsibility, how much their insurance is liable to pay, and how much they will pay as a copayment, coinsurance, or balance amount.
- Inform them about the care services they receive and the charges of each service, and improve the collection ratio by reminding the patients of the proper frequency.
Patient Billing Statement best practices
If the billing statement cannot convince the patient to pay, how many times you send billing statements to the patients is useless. Unclear patient statements and inconvenient channels of sending bills are the two most common reasons for obstacles to receiving payments from patients, even though you have been reminding them promptly.
It is necessary to use compelling billing statements easy to understand for patients and streamline financial transactions to enhance the instant payment process for patients.
You are a healthcare provider and know many medical terms, but your patients might not. Therefore, here are some practices to follow for clear communication between you and your patients regarding payment collection after sending them billing statements. Applying these practices, you can craft a responsive patient billing statement that brings 100% payment.
☑️ Verify the Amount Mentioned in the Statement
Double-check the patient billing statement for accuracy before sending it to patients, and verify the amount you have charged for services with the amount mentioned in the statement to build and promote patients’ trust in your practice.
☑️ Offer Various Payment Options
Patients can quickly pay you when you offer multiple payment options, as more than 70% of patients prefer digital payment. If you facilitate them with online payment options, there are more chances to get the balance amount.
☑️ Provide Clear Payment Instructions
Patients may be unable to pay you when they do not understand billing statements. Send them statements with easy-to-follow payment directions, such as payment method, due date, fine if paid after the due date, and contact information for any queries about the billing statement.
☑️ Craft Easy-to-Understand Medical Statements
There might be many terms of which only you are aware. Including complex and confusing terms in the billing statement may kill the statement’s purpose, as patients may find it hard to grasp. So, one of the best practices while crafting a patient billing statement is avoiding jargon and using simple terms that patients can easily understand. This way, they can quickly become ready to pay you the charged amount.
Here are some of the tips while crafting a patient billing statement that can convince patients to pay:
- Use clear, easy-to-read fonts instead of fancy ones that are hard to decipher.
- Avoid underlining or italicizing sentences to ensure clarity.
- Follow a proper and standard format for medical billing statements.
- Provide additional information in the statement, and link specific terms to related web pages.
- Use a plain white background to keep the statement professional.
- Maintain a polite tone even if the patient hasn’t responded to previous billing statements, to preserve a positive relationship.
Did you fail to receive health care amounts from patients after repeatedly sending billing statements?
As a healthcare provider, getting payment from patients after providing their services may be challenging despite being reminded of them repeatedly. The final option is consulting a third-party payment collection agency to do the job on your behalf. Best Medical Billing company (BMB) can be your trusted partner, providing you with a 98% success rate in revenue collection. They have experienced and professional staff who know precisely the mentality of patients. They can accurately receive payment from patients by managing all the processes, including preparing and sending patient billing statements.
