Computers in Medicine Online

Computers in Medicine (sm) - Online Newsletter is a quarterly online newsletter on computer applications for the medical profession (Published on the Web since 1996)

1st Quarter '2010 Edition

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1/5/2010

Tips for Revenue Management and Control

The current economic climate has hit most businesses very hard, and medical practices are no exception. Brickell Research has prepared the following tips and information relating to revenue management and control using Brickell Medical Office:

1) Improving Collections

Many medical practice management systems focus solely on billing and scheduling, and rely on aged A/R reports to assist the staff with the collections process, but these reports do not show you the whole picture, nor do they actively assist you to collect. Years ago, Brickell Research noticed the need for a software module designed to help the staff with the collections process. Originally sold as an optional module, the Collections Module demonstrated that its usefulness to most practices was apparent, thus it was included it as a standard component within the Brickell Medical Office practice management system. The Collections Module remains a vital, yet standard component of Brickell Medical Office.

The Collections Module is designed as a focal point for staff members assigned to the collections process within your office. Its flexible initialization screen allows you to define what you consider to be delinquent accounts. It allows you to work both the patient and insurance sides to collections, and it allows you to document all of your collection activity and remind you of when to follow-up. From this module you can send collection letters, generate insurance claims, generate patient statements, view account details, view patient information, and more. Diligent use of the Collections Module will help your office to increase your cash flow by shortening your collections cycle and can even increase revenue by reducing and possibly eliminating often overlooked or neglected collections issues.

2) Monitoring your Practice

As the owner or manager of a medical practice, it is important to stay on top of business matters. It is important to routinely monitor your practice in order to insure your continued cash flow.
All too often one is distracted by a multitude of issues on a day-to-day basis, to pay continuous attention to routine matters. At any time, staff neglect, if left unattended, can escalate into a financial catastrophe.

Having witnessed this first hand with some early clients, Brickell Research created the System Watchdog. For optimum results, the System Watchdog should be set up according to the specifications of your practice consultant or accountant. Once you have it set up and enabled, it will monitor vital financial and operational conditions pertaining to the practice and notify you via email or on-screen notice, of potential problems before they get out of hand.

Office managers are often neglected by many practice management systems, as they tend to focus strictly on the functions pertaining to your billing and scheduling personnel. Brickell Medical Office includes an Administrator’s Desktop that serves as a focal point for office managers. From this screen you can monitor user activity; obtain an instant real-time “Financials at a Glance” or an “Administrative Transaction Summary” to examine what has recently been posted. There are Hot Buttons to access various parts of the system commonly used by administrators. A collection of Security Tools is included to assist in detecting possible internal fraud or embezzlement. Finally, it includes a collection of “Quality Assurance” tools and reports used to detect potential data entry and posting problems.

3) Analyzing your Practice

To thoroughly analyze your practice, Brickell Medical Office includes a powerful Report Generator that includes over 500 reports! Reports are organized by category and each report includes a description to assist users in understanding its function and purpose. Due to the large number of reports available, there is a Commonly Used reports tab that allows you to create lists of your favorite reports, to make them easy to find. Reports can be exported to a variety of formats including: text, Word, Excel, and others.

4) Patient Statement Generation

Brickell Medical Office can generate patient statements and walkout statements. It can generate paper or electronic statements. Many offices are reporting that it's more cost-effective to send electronic statements to a clearinghouse (such as Gateway EDI), which in turn print and mail out your statements for you, than printing and mailing them out yourself.

Because each statement is aged individually, you are not restricted to sending statements at the end of each month; instead you can generate them every week or even every day, as long as you configure the statement generator to only generate statements after 30 days and routinely acknowledge the generated statements. In doing so, you may increase your cash flow!

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There was an overwhelming interest in last quarter's issue regarding Practice Management Systems and Electronic Medical Records. Click here to read it.

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If you have any questions or comments regarding this issue, use our feedback form.

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Last Update: 1/5/2010