Listening in on break room conversation at healthcare practices across Orlando, the conversations have similar themes. With Medicaid continuously cutting reimbursements, a growing number of uninsured and underinsured patients coming through the door, concerns about President Obama's healthcare reform agenda, and other economic factors affecting the local economy, practice administrators are buzzing.

 

"All I know is, the insurance companies continue to post record profits while primary care, in particular, continues to get less. Clearly, a true lack of equity!" said one.

 

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Even though the proposed reform remains in debate and discussions, and there's no certainty the plan will be passed, Fogg said "the reality is the perpetual decline in practice income has been and continues to be a problem among physicians."

Another chimed in: "If you've noticed, not one of the insurance carriers on a national or local basis has come out directly in criticism of any 'socialized' healthcare platforms promoted or pursued by this administration. There's a reason for that."

 

Practice administrators are more focused than ever on bettering the bottom line. For instance, in addition to closely monitoring expenses and streamlining the products they use to get better volume discounts, while also focusing on their public "face" with an updated Web site and recently developed marketing materials that reflect a cohesive representation of the group and the services they provide, Florida Orthopaedic Associates in Orlando is increasing and maximizing collection efforts in the accounts receivable department, said Paige Adams, practice administrator.

 

"For example, we've begun utilizing electronic insurance verification within our practice management system to make it easier for our staff to verify benefits and determine patient co-pays," she said. "We review all our insurance claims before they are sent to ensure there are no obvious errors that will delay our payment.  This has been particularly effective. Our practice has become even more aware of the importance of collecting the patient portion of our office visits and surgeries up front. In today's economy, it's crucial to collect before services are rendered."

 

More specifically, Adams explained that five individuals enter charges on a daily basis. Three employees enter hospital charges; two staffers enter office charges.

 

"One of these ladies arrives early each morning to review the prior day's postings," said Adams. "If she finds errors, she emails them to the individual who posted the charge. They fix it and report back when it is corrected. At that point, we release our claims."

 

Adams said the streamlined process works well. 

 

"In some cases, we discover that the poster didn't know or understand something. In other cases, it's simple input error. Some of these posters enter

an incredibly high volume of charges. We have seven doctors in our practice and three offices. Now that the system has been in place for a couple of months, we find very few errors each morning. But each error corrected means we get paid in two to four weeks, instead of two to three months while we identify and correct the error the hard way."

 

Florida Hospital DeLand recently unveiled a program aimed at reducing accounts receivable.

 

Through their partner, City National Bank, Florida Hospital DeLand is offering patients affordable monthly payment plans that will help reduce the pressure of healthcare obligations. The new program offers a zero percent interest rate to qualifying patients.

 

"The new program is based on the same concept that department store charge cards use: You make a minimum payment each month, but can pay off the entire balance if you wish," said CFO Nigel Hinds. "You'll receive a monthly statement from City National Bank and send payments directly to them." 

 

For self-pay patients who pay their bill in full at once, Florida Hospital DeLand offers a 44 percent discount on all transactions. 

 

Florida Hospital DeLand also has a non-insured 50 percent discount available for services through their exclusive Partner Program. The program is free to anyone, insured or not.

 

"We recognize the financial difficulty (that) unexpected and expected medical problems can cause our patients," said Hinds. "We're here to assist patients in finding resources that may help pay their hospital bill, through different discount programs."

 

Generally speaking, added Hinds, "we have more patients that are able and willing to pay their bills timely, which helps to streamline our efforts to collect payment and reduce cost."

 

"Any of these options can help patients and their families who are uninsured or who have a balance to pay after the insurance company has paid its portion," he said. "Our financial department is happy to work with any patient to set up a payment plan."