ER Treatment Factors
ER physicians are under unique pressure. With high-patient volumes, they are forced to work very quickly, while simultaneously being exhaustive in their diagnoses, as many patients will not seek further treatment. The problem with such a system is that it’s rarely cost effective. Expansive diagnostics and testing rarely go unscrutinized by insurance payers, especially in emergency rooms where documentation requirements can be more demanding than other areas of medicine.
To add to the difficulty, emergency room treatment can include elements of several specialties, such as primary care, surgical care, diagnostics/labs, pain management, and more. The simple fact is ER physicians and staff are often overloaded. As a result, charges and claims can easily go unaccounted for. Expecting ER doctors and staff to be administratively perfect is unrealistic. They need help.
At The Valletta Group, we proficiently assist hospital staff reconcile billing errors on the back-end, and in turn, help prevent front-end errors from occurring in the future. Our team has the versatile skills needed to efficiently serve emergency room doctors and their staff, so they can truly focus on their patients.
ER Patient Factors
Obviously, ER visits are unscheduled. As a result, most patients are first-time or one-time visitors. This means hospital staff must be vigilant about collecting patient insurance and demographic information upon arrival.
Since most patients are one-time visitors, billing can be difficult and time consuming. Many patients are unfamiliar with the process. Therefore, patient follow-up and support are critical to timely collections. This is true now more than ever, as the Affordable Care Act has resulted in more costs being pushed onto patients.
At Valletta, we handle all patient bills. We send out statements, accept payments, and periodically remind overdue patients to pay. We also instruct patients to call us with any billing inquiries. We even offer online payment solutions with the option of automatically recurring installments, which have proven effective at increasing the percentage of timely payments.
