Accounts Receivable follow up (AR follow up) is one of the most critical parts of RCM. An AR follow up team is basically responsible for chasing behind problematic claims and getting closure on these. Accounts Receivable (AR) is the money that the practice is due from the payers and the patients. AR follow up should ideally keep AR low and ensure balances are paid on time and in full.
There are so many reasons why reimbursements or payments could be held up from the payer's end.
· The claim did not reach the insurance providers
· The claim was sent in delayed
· The bills were not submitted in full
· The claim was incomplete
· The payer has a follow-up question about the claim
It is the duty of the AR follow up team to understand the exact reason behind the holdups and try and resolve them so that the practice is paid on time. When most reimbursements are delayed or held up, this will affect the cash flow and lead to financial instability.
Below are some of the importance of AR follow up.
1. Reduce AR cycle - The AR cycle is the time between submitting a bill and getting paid for the same. The idea is to keep this shorter and get bills paid quickly. This will help maintain a consistent cash flow for the business. AR follow up will help reduce the AR cycle.
2. Identify and handle denied claims quickly - A claim could be denied for so many reasons. The insurance providers usually deny a claim and send out a paper trail with reasons explaining one in about a week's time. Instead of waiting for so long, your AR follow up team could actually get back to them asking for an explanation and make relevant changes and resubmit the claim quickly. This will save time.
3. Handle pending claims - Some claims could be pending because of bottlenecks at the client's end and other claims could be pending from the payer's end. The trick here is to identify where it is held up and try releasing channels. AR follow up helps achieve this systematically.
4. Improve financial stability - Healthcare is an expensive industry, and cash flow is important for any practice to survive. AR follow up helps reduce the AR cycle and ensures the business has enough money to handle day-to-day activities.
Choosing the right AR follow up team
Many healthcare practices hesitate to hire AR follow up teams because of the poor ROI the process brings, especially in the beginning. However, there are third-party service providers that improve the AR cycle and start generating higher and quicker reimbursements on claims from day one, thanks to their expertise and technological skills.
Such providers have tools that would be able to predict AR outcomes and make the right decision on claims in an instant. This will prevent wasteful touches and high costs behind AR follow up.
Conclusion
AR follow up is very critical for healthcare practices that struggle with steady and stable cash flow. It is important to hire billers who understand the process and take all necessary steps to reduce the AR cycle and collect reimbursements quickly and efficiently.
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