Four strategies to optimize patient collections

Product featured in this article: Coverage Discovery As of the end of March 2021, more than 53 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, allowing for cautious optimism as we prepare for the next phase of the COVID-19 journey. Unfortunately for pharmacists, the vaccination program has compounded many of the challenges of the last 12 months. Shots may be free to patients, but someone has to pay for them – and getting reimbursed is proving to be a major pain. Complicated billing processes, extra billing audits and mountains of extra paperwork, rejected claims and slow payments are not exclusive to pharmacies helping vaccinate America. With the coronavirus pandemic continuing to muddy the insurance landscape, getting hold of missing dollars is challenging. Healthcare reimbursements haven’t been straightforward for other providers either: widespread coverage loss and uncompensated care is putting extra strain on hospital revenue cycles. With the coronavirus pandemic continuing to muddy the insurance landscape, getting hold of missing dollars is challenging. Providers must find ways to quickly and accurately determine each patient’s coverage status to minimize bad debt. Navigating the complex world of post-COVID healthcare coverage What does the reimbursement landscape look like, one year on? After a long wait, elective procedures are back. But the surge in patient volumes means providers must be on their toes to keep track of coverage. The process for doing so must be streamlined and precise. Ramping up capacity to verify and check coverage without burdensome paperwork is a must. Patient intake is under pressure. More patients are coming through the doors as a result of elective services and vaccination programs (though not always to their usual facility). COVID-19 hasn’t gone away, and with pockets of infection spikes, safety remains a top priority. Capturing adequate insurance information in this context is no mean feat. Running automated coverage checks as soon as the patient arrives will minimize face-to-face contact during admissions and avoid delays. Patient access and collections staff are overburdened. Manual checks are difficult when staff are operating remotely or in a socially distanced environment, and patient information might be incomplete. Automated self-pay scrubbing can help handle the volume. A tool with built-in reporting can also offer insights on workflow and productivity, to help spot opportunities for quicker claims processing. New digital healthcare technologies aren’t always covered by insurers. Telehealth, a life raft during COVID-19, tends to be covered less often by private insurers, compared to Medicare and Medicaid. Coverage checks must factor this in to avoid errors and wasted time. Providers should opt for tools that sweep for payer updates to telehealth coverage to avoid unnecessary delays or denials. Employment levels may be inching upwards again, but tracking coverage remains a challenge as patients start new jobs with new health plans. In addition, checking for Medicare coverage in the midst of changing codes and protocols is time consuming and confusing. A third-party resource such as Coverage Discovery can look for all coverage options and make sure the right bill goes to the right payer. Find missing dollars with Coverage Discovery Hospitals, pharmacists and other healthcare providers can’t afford to continue losing money at a time when every dollar is needed to prepare for “after COVID-19.” Experian Health’s Coverage Discovery is a proven system for tracking down missing coverage quickly and easily, to avoid unnecessary revenue loss. Using billions of data assets and intelligent confidence scoring, it combs through multiple government and commercial payer accounts to maximize actionable coverage. Staff can trust the outputs and focus their attention where it’s really needed. By making coverage identification more efficient and accurate, it’s a shot in the arm for providers in need of faster reimbursements. Contact us to see how Coverage Discovery can be easily integrated into your revenue cycle, so you can maximize reimbursements over the coming weeks and months.

Other blog posts in this series: Segmenting your patient population for the COVID-19 vaccine Engaging patient segments with convenient, secure scheduling solutions Authenticating portal access with automation As the vaccine management process continues to ramp up, providers are focused on how to administer the vaccine to as many people as quickly and efficiently as possible. While certain features like online self-scheduling have helped to speed this process up, especially for those locations that are servicing thousands of patients per day, there are portions of the intake process that are being left behind that will consequently cost providers in the end. We interviewed Dustin Whittier, senior director of product management at Experian Health, about how providers can increase reimbursements for both the vaccine itself and the administration of the vaccine.  How will the volume of patient traffic and offsite administration of the vaccine challenge the reimbursement process? What we’re seeing, particularly at some of these large-scale roll outs, is the entire registration process being stripped. With so many individuals presenting at once for the vaccine, on site staff have significantly less time than usual to collect patient information such as insurance. Many are focused on capturing the bare necessity to quickly and efficiently serve patients. Some are even choosing to forego collecting insurance entirely. Obviously, rushing through the eligibility and insurance process, or bypassing the process itself, will have an impact on a provider’s ability to submit for reimbursement. The ability to confirm identify insurance after the fact may be feasible for a small number of patients, but at this volume, it is nearly impossible. Think of the volume a major vaccine pop-up site might see in a single day, maybe upwards of 20,000 patients. Imagine having a backlog of 20,000 patients to identify and confirm insurance for. It’s a nightmare. What can be done to mitigate these issues? A tool like Coverage Discovery automatically finds available coverage that was previously unknown or forgotten, whether Medicare, Medicaid or commercial insurance. Scans for coverage can be done in bulk, before or after services are rendered, helping providers better identify insurance for patients receiving vaccines. Providers are not only paid faster but can also avoid the collections challenges of self-pay receivables. Interested in learning more about how Experian Health can help supercharge the COVID-19 vaccine management process?

If President Biden’s two trillion-dollar stimulus package is approved by Congress, support will include funding for a national vaccination program. While the arrival of the vaccine is an immense relief, the logistics for rolling it out across the country present a major challenge. Even at a rate of one million shots administered per day, it could still take 18 months to vaccinate 80% of the population. There are numerous supply, distribution and communication challenges to overcome, both at national and state levels. And for individual healthcare providers, mass vaccine administration calls for a holistic approach, to make sure the right patients get the right dose at the right time and place. Could data analytics and digital automation tools be the key to identifying, engaging and supporting patients as the vaccine program is rolled out? Here are 6 ways digital technology could help your organization improve vaccine management. 6 digital tools to include in your vaccine management plan Segment patient groups with consumer data Deciding who gets the vaccine first is only hurdle number one. Providers must then segment patient populations according to risk categories (such as age or occupation), so they know who should be at the top of the list. Without accurate consumer data, there’s a risk that some vulnerable patients will be missed out. The answer lies in data analytics. By synthesizing thousands of data points for more than 300 million Americans, ConsumerView gives providers the detailed insights needed to segment and target patient populations. At the tap of a button, providers can find out which patients are essential workers or in high-risk groups, so they can be channeled into the vaccine program without delay.  Improve patient access and engagement with data insights According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, six in ten older adults say they don’t know when and where to get the vaccine. Many patients also face access barriers such as lack of transportation or childcare, or poor digital literacy. If providers don’t account for these in their outreach and engagement efforts, their vaccine program will fall flat. Consumer data can again help providers understand who their patients are, to identify those who might have trouble getting the vaccine. Insights on the social determinants of health can point to the best communication channels and support services to offer.  Keep track of patient identities with secure patient portals If providers are reaching out to patients and encouraging them to schedule vaccine appointments through their patient portal, they must have confidence that the person signing up and logging in is who they say they are. The right security protocols can help validate and protect patient information. One example of identity proofing technology is Precise ID®, which uses knowledge-based authentication (questions only the real person would be able to answer) and device recognition to verify patient identities. Prompt patients to book a vaccine appointment with automated outreach Imagine if patients could receive a text or voice message notifying them that it’s time to schedule their vaccine, with a link and simple instructions on how to book. With automated outreach, providers can proactively text or call a segment of patients with self-scheduling options and specific messages about the vaccine and its safety. Not only will this help to increase vaccination rates, it’ll reduce call center volumes at a time when staff are already under pressure. Make it easy for patients to schedule appointments with online self-scheduling In order to meet daily goals for vaccine administration, it has to be easy for patients to book appointments. The last thing any provider wants is no-shows. By deploying scheduling software that ties vaccination qualification rules into the booking process, providers can match patients to a convenient slot, ensure they meet the correct segmentation criteria prior to booking, and confirm whether the appointment is for the first or second dose. And of course, an online self-service scheduling tool such as Patient Schedule allows this part of the patient journey to be completed with minimal face-to-face contact, minimizing risk of infection. Speed up reimbursement with automated coverage discovery Finally, providers must make sure that vaccine-related reimbursements run smoothly. CMS has ruled that every American should have access to the vaccine without incurring any out-of-pocket costs. But although the government may be footing the final bill, providers still need to seek reimbursement by payers, which means they still need a reliable way to check a patient’s coverage status. With Coverage Discovery, providers can run quick, comprehensive checks of commercial and government coverage, and identify the right payer for administrative services. Digital software and analytics can provide efficient, secure and convenient ways for providers to guide patients through the vaccine management process, without delay. Contact us for more information on how Experian Health can support your organization to deliver a vaccine management plan.