What is Patient Access Management?

Patient Access Management In Healthcare

The patient's first-ever encounter with the healthcare organization is generally referred to as Patient Access, which makes it essential to enhance the patient experience. Besides this aspect of healthcare, patient access is also predominant for the success of yet another vital area: revenue cycle management. Let's see What is Patient Access Management and the steps involved in it.

It is the first point of contact with the patient by the revenue cycle team to collect vital and accurate information for their revenue cycle management. By doing so, they can procure medical billing and reimbursement precisely the first time itself. For instance, registration is a good time for collecting important information and checking for the patients insurance eligibility verification and benefits according to their insurance plan.

Streamlining the Patient Access management makes it is easier for the team handling revenue cycle management to clear them financially to benefit the patients' scheduled services through verification of the collected data, talking them through the various procedures and mainly collecting the co-payments. Stitched together, each of these steps becomes the foundation for enhancing revenue cycle management.

Steps Involved in Patient Access Management

Patient Scheduling Services & Appointment Management – Engaging with the patients to provide timely appointments and reduce the number of no shows and appointment cancellations. By using automated digital communications, the patient information is captured, appointment scheduled, and pre-registration of patients are carried out at ease.

Verification of Patients' Benefits & Eligibility – It is vital to verify the insurance, various benefits, and eligibility of the patient for a healthy revenue cycle. In this process, the insurance coverage is checked before a patient visits the healthcare for specific procedures and medical care. By doing so, the patient has a satisfying experience and drives more revenue to the healthcare organization.

Management of Referrals & Authorizations – To ensure that before the patient pays a visit to the healthcare for receiving medical service, the referrals and authorizations are obtained to avoid risks during reimbursement.

Financial Clearance – Communicating to the patient about their financial responsibility and discussing the various payment plans and available care options, improving patient satisfaction, and enhancing the revenue drive.

Efficient & Automated Registration – The digital platform seamlessly registers the patients and boosts the financial clearance while providing efficient and enhanced medical care without delay.

Challenges in Patient Access Management & Revenue Cycle

An excessive increase in the rate of claim denials indicates the defects in the workflows of a healthcare organization's patient access. Mainly these claim denials arise during the registration or insurance eligibility verification.

It is vital for the staff designated to handle patient access to carefully check the information collected from the patient and verify their benefits and eligibility. Doing so could avoid some of the common claim denials. However, it is a more significant challenge when the patient access workflows are carried out manually.

Patient Access Management is getting altered with the increase in patients' expectations and has given birth to several features such as automated communications, improved software, and advanced technology. These have become crucial for healthy revenue cycle management by amplifying access to information while simultaneously streamlining the procedures.

Especially during the recent pandemic of COVID-19, meeting the quarantine requirements and maintaining social distance became a significant challenge during the patient registration process. There was a sincere effort to use the technology to engage digitally with the patients. Besides the long patient wait times and constant changes in the payer requirements, this added to the challenges faced by the patient access teams daily.

Patient Access Management To Enhance Revenue Cycle

Patient access could easily be converted as a foundation to enhance the revenue cycle by engaging the patients digitally through an exclusive and automated platform. It has enabled the healthcare organization to provide safe and contactless registrations during patient intake. At the patient's convenience, their demographics are verified, photos are quickly taken for the sake of insurance cards, and ample time is offered to read and give their digital consent.

The patients have taken up the digital front door wherein they are sent automated reminders for their appointment, easily screened for COVID-19, and get notified about other available check-in options.

These digitalized patient access and engagement tools played vital role on improving patient experience and have hiked up the point-of-service (POS) cash collections.

Adhering to the scheduled patient appointment is achieved, yet another cost reduction factor. It helps in moderately reducing the number of no-shows and protects the healthcare organization's revenue.

Digital evolution has reduced many complications in patient access, such as recording incorrect data, cutting down the painfully long wait times, and avoiding the no shows, which are linked to shielding the revenue.

A significant improvement in various processes and continuous and streamlined communication is maintained with the patient by executing the integrated patient access. It has also shed light and created awareness in the inefficacious processes.

Why BIS? In a Nutshell:

Business Integrity Services helps you with streamlined Patient Access to help you with seamless registrations. With our effective and advanced digital technology, we assist you in reducing the long wait times and avoiding cancellations and no shows. We are glad to convert your patient access as a strong base for successful revenue cycle management.