Practices not collecting all money due at time of visit

Practices are losing money every day due to the fact the staff is not for sure on the amount of money to collect at time of visit. Most the time they just collect the patients copay and nothing else. Good communication is essential between billing, providers and staff. Your billing staff should keep the provider and front office up to date on what is covered by insurance companies and what is not covered. Also, I cannot stress enough the importance of verifying patient information before the patient is seen. A patient might have a policy that has a $20 copay for office visits but anything else (test and/or procedures) may be subject to deductibles or they may pay 80% and the patient be responsible for 20%. Knowing this information better prepares your front office staff to know how much to collect at time of visit. Statics show once the patient leaves your office you have a less chance of ever collecting from them.