How We Did It: Capturing Patient Payments Prior to Service

In 2014, 75% of DCH Health System’s patient balances due after insurance went unpaid and ended up in bad debt. This resulted in $17 million uncollected payments. So DCH partnered with AccuReg to turn it around.

AccuReg Consultants and technology experts began working alongside executives, managers, and front-end staff at DCH Health System to implement technology, staff training, workflow, and best practices to improve their ability to estimate and collect patient payments prior to service. The challenge was to do it in such a way that as collections improved, patient experience scores would also.

With only 120 days of implementation and training, DCH went live with the full front-end solution from AccuReg. Our results were amazing:

*DCH collected $1.2 million in pre-service collections in the first 5 months, compared to around $350,000 during the same period a year earlier.
*Tripled their POS Collections to Revenue Rate from 0.25% to 0.75%.
*Reduced early-out collection costs by $51,000.
*Reclassified $64 million of bad debt as charity in 2014, supporting 501r compliance and enhancing patient experience.

How were we able to achieve these results?

*Automated, Accurate Estimates: AccuReg automatically generates patient estimates during scheduling, pre-registration and point of service and alerts each registration employee of collection opportunities in real-time. We also self-validate estimation accuracy against remits with monthly auditing and reporting of results to the client with ongoing recommendations for improvement.
*Financial Policy Consulting: AccuReg Consultants analyze historical patient payment and consumer data to create a segmentation model that fits with the hospital’s policies, and converts it into real-time scripting rules. This allows hospital front-end staff to offer patients financial assistance options specific to patient financial needs yet are consistent to board-approved policies.
*Financial Assistance Screening: Using consumer propensity data and estimated liability to screen for board-approved Financial Assistance Policies, AccuReg alerts the registrar if assistance is available and provides real-time scripting to offer the patient a specific payment option, loan program, discount or charity. By making services affordable to patients who need help, front-end staff are able to collect more and improve patient satisfaction at the same time.
*POS Collections Analytics:AccuReg uses NAHAM’s AccessKeys® to track performance metrics such as POS Collections Opportunity Rate, Collected Accounts Rate, and POS Collections by facility, location, and employee.
*Collections Training: AccuReg Consultants train front-end staff in both the technical and relational aspects of collections, including estimation and insurance terminology, collection scripting, objection handling, and help them understand why estimating and collecting up front is important to patients and the organization. Collections training includes classroom and small group learning, role-playing and in-the-booth coaching. POS collections and insurance courses are also built into the AccuReg Education Module complete with individual testing and scoring.
*Collections Culture Change Management: AccuReg training, services, and support continue after implementation, for the life of the engagement. From the board room to the registration booth, from physician engagement to community perception, we help our clients manage the shift to a collections culture while keeping patient experience scores high.

Clearly it takes more than an estimation tool to achieve great results like these at DCH. It takes a dedicated, experienced partner that will provide more than technology. AccuReg is engaged with our clients to help them solve their biggest revenue cycle challenges by driving front-end performance to deliver back-end results. See what we can do for your health system.