How do you get your money faster?

How do you get your money faster? 

 

This is the question that plagues all companies across all industries.  For healthcare companies trying to get their money from insurance companies, they face a complex host of unique challenges. 

 

A growing number of vendors are touting they can "show the money".  First up, are the RCM vendors who focus on a complete turnkey solution to increase efficiency and effectiveness in collections from the insurance companies. Among these players are companies like athenahealth, a hosted service that allows office-based physicians to outsource the claims management and collections process almost completely. Other vendors such as, Absolute Medical Software Systems, Inc., are touting practice management systems that have functions like eligibility, claims submission and editing built into the back end.

The second group gaining significant interest and traction are companies that are giving providers a leg up in collecting the portion of bills patients must pay directly.  An example is Bluemark, whose platform helps providers assess the financial status of uninsured patients and qualifies them for Medicaid or charity care programs. Another patient-collections option is the hosted application services provider mPay Gateway which helps providers collect patients' portion of their bill at the time of service. Craneware’s Patient Charge Estimator is an example of a company which digs into a hospital's claims databases and helps prepare price quotes for procedures.  Topline Solutions and Proxsys are also experiencing tremendous growth.

 

As patients pick up more and more of their healthcare costs, patient-collections platforms are likely to become as common as those targeting the health plan management process. There's only so much you can do to speed up claims processing—companies helping providers get more cash at the time of service will be key to helping providers stay ahead of the game.