Avery Hurt

The front desk staff is essential for checking in patients, collecting copays, and verifying insurance. But there’s more to the story, and out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind. Much of the heavy lifting for billing and collections is done in the back office, so it’s even more important to have a deep bench of talent, says Tammie Olson, manager and coding and compliance strategist at Management Resource Group.

In this two-part series, Olson, who works at the Ocean Springs, Miss., firm, offers financial management and support services for the healthcare community. She shares six ways to get your back office team to bring their best game to your billing and collections efforts.

Six back office billing strategies

Be sure to check out part one of this series for

tips on improving your front office billing strategy!

Slideshows

Expert advice for turning your back office staff into billing and collections all-stars.

If you want your billing and collections to be as smooth and effective as possible, you need to make sure everybody on your team is doing their part.

Sometimes small tasks can fall through the cracks, and large ones can seem like more trouble than they’re worth. But when everyone on the team is focused on the goal, small tasks get done quickly and large ones seem easier. And when everyone is on top of their game, work runs more smoothly and your bottom-line will be healthier for it, says Tammie Olson, manager and coding and compliance strategist at Management Resource Group.

Olson, who works at the Mississippi-based firm, offers financial management and support services for the healthcare community. She offers four suggestions to jump-start your billing and collections process, starting with your front office staff.

Four front office billing tips

tips on improving your back office billing!

Advice to help your front office staff start the billing process off right.

Pre-authorizations are never going to be fun, but if you make these few small tweaks they might not create quite so many headaches.

Making prior authorizations less burdensome

There’s no doubt prior authorizations are a major time suck. Here are five ways to make them a little less onerous.

Money isn’t everything. When it comes to motivating employees, money may be not be nearly enough. Psychologists are increasingly discovering that money is not the best motivator.

Sure, people have to make enough money to pay their bills. But when it comes to getting them to go the extra mile for the team, it takes more than a good paycheck.

Fortunately, for practice managers, often the best motivators are relatively easy, inexpensive, and often a whole lot of fun. Try a few of these ideas at your practice, and see if your team is more willing to go the extra mile.

Six ways to motivate your team for free

Money talks; it’s true. But people are far more motivated to do their best work when they love their jobs, have fun at work, and know that the leadership notices and appreciates what they do. It’s not that hard to give them that.

Articles

Getting the best employees requires offering an attractive salary and benefits package. Getting the best work from those employees requires something more.