Are you monitoring Web 2.0 reviews?

One may want to  dismiss  social networking Web sites and other Health 2.0 media. But consumers and patients are not.  In a desire to learn more about providers either before or during a course of treatment, patients are looking to online review for more information to make their decision.

Health Plans are also joining the fray.  Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Consumer Aware launched theHealthCareScoop.com about a year ago.  Neil Chaffee, vice president, market development for Consumer Aware an affiliate of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota recently told INSIDE CONSUMER-DIRECTED CARE ,“… we conducted over a hundred focus groups on how people were using the site. And people told us … what they really wanted was first-hand information from other consumers on their experiences with providers, the kind of stuff you’d get around a water cooler or over the back fence.”  

And if you visit their site, that is exactly what you see.  Both praise and horror stories. There are other health plans and on-line directories offering similar consumer review opportunities. It is best to check with your contracted payers to see if they have launched similar sites.  Also regularly assign someone to do a Search Engine searches on your clinic and individual provider names to see what the buzz is about them.

Alternatively, be proactive and provide easy ways for patients to give  reviews and testimonials directly to you.  Provide a feedback form on your website and tell patients about it. Provide a computer kiosk for patients to complete a survey before they leave or ask for an email address to which you can send a link to an online survey for them to complete later.

Deepen the patient relationship experience through increased interaction.  By using social media and websites, patients are desiring to be part of a care community; use your website to create that community for them.

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On Call Medical seeks to improve healthcare practices through offering healthcare consulting and outsourced medical billing.  The company is a one-stop-resource medical billing, practice management and consulting service working with healthcare providers, helping them become more efficient and cost-effective by employing innovative business strategies.

Medical Billing: Outsource or In-House

There are several reasons why outsourcing your medical billing to a professional medical billing company makes sense. 

1.  Reduce Employee Turnover:

Whether you have stable staff now or it seems there is a revolving door in the billing office you will eventually be faced with replacing your medical billing specialist.   This often means hiring someone with less medical billing experience and often not experienced with your specialty. Training is neccessary and costly.  The new person may also create errors that can cost you money.  

Outsourcing helps you avoid these problems.  While the billing company may experience turnover, it is normally less frequent for a number of reasons.  They have a greater number of staff across which to divide work while a new person is fully trained and should be invisible to the practice.

2.  Need for more staff

As a practice grows so will the need for additional billing staff. However, you may not have the revenue to cover the fixed costs of an entire full or even part time employee which can be significant.  And what about when the business takes an unexpected down turn, now you are faced with fixed costs that are more than what your revenue can bear.  

By outsourcing, your costs vary with the ups and downs of your business.   When your revenues drop, your costs drop; when revenues go up, your costs are only  relative to that increase. 

3.  Reduce administrative costs and stress

When you outsource the following adminstrative function cease to be yours to worry about:

 - employee salaries and benefits, worker’s compensation, employee taxes, performance, computer maintenance, claims submission fees and expenses, office space, employee training, recruitment costs, other.

4.  Get your money more quickly

Billing companies are able to invest in systems that are able to better edit claims prior to submitting them to the payer.  Clean claims get paid faster.  Remember too that billing is the only thing we do which makes us experts in claims processing and getting payment from carriers.  This helps with follow up which is typically more consistent and done more often.

So as one can see, outsourcing your billing can significantly reduce costs and increase revenue for your practice.

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On Call Medical seeks to improve healthcare practices through offering healthcare consulting and outsourced medical billing.  The company is a one-stop-resource medical billing, practice management and consulting service working with healthcare providers, helping them become more efficient and cost-effective by employing innovative business strategies.

 

How loyal are your patients?

Put yourself  the shoes of your patient.  

Do you encounter a friendly receptionist that knows your name?  Do you wait less than 20 minutes in the waiting room?  Do you wait less than 15 minutes in the exam room? Are you treated with compassion and concern?  Do you feel your primary physician and specialists are speaking to each other?

How did you do?  

These are among the most basic measures your patients are evaluating each time they visit your office.  And in tough financial times, even more attention must be given to these as competition grows as patients start reducing their healthcare utilization.

A renewed commitment to basic patient relationship practices will go a long way to make sure you remain the provider of choice among your established patients.  And going the extra step will tend to cause the loyal patient to recommend you to family and friends.

1. Start with the basics – a welcoming appearance.  A clean office and exam room; and professionally dressed staff.
2. Be consistent and accurate with information – if one doesn’t know the answer, admit it and let patient know you appreciate the question and that you will find the answer and follow up with them.   Set patient expectations and live up to them.
3. Be willing to help and follow through.  Providing prompt responses to inquiries is essential.
4. Be assuring through the ability to engender trust and confidence.  
5. Show empathy by providing caring and individual attention.

Everyone intuitively knows these are important because this is what WE want in a care provider.  So the golden rule still reigns as the best adage for outstanding patient care.  What happens is that in the rush of a busy healthcare organization day, one loses attention to these important actions.

Patients are more knowledgeable and demanding and showing no signs of letting up.  The increasingly quality conscious consumer expects consistent service and treatment.  And so, each interaction with the patient must add to the patient’s experience.

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On Call Medical seeks to improve healthcare practices through offering healthcare consulting and outsourced medical billing.  The company is a one-stop-resource medical billing, practice management and consulting service working with healthcare providers, helping them become more efficient and cost-effective by employing innovative business strategies.