Effective Financial Policies and Procedures

Effective Financial Policies and Procedures

As in any business office, an effective medical office financial policy is one that is clear and sound and involves each department, accounts receivable, accounts payable, petty cash and cash receipts. The policy must clearly state what the patient is responsible for paying as well as billing and collections procedures. The entire medical office staff needs to understand the financial policy in order to communicate the patient’s responsibilities to them. An effective medical office policy also addresses any possible situations regarding payment. A clear and sound financial policy communicates to the patient how the medical office will handle the collection of payments, copayments, deductibles, balances and past due balances, discounted care for low income patients. The policy also states what forms of payment are acceptable such as, cash, credit card, debit card, or check and addresses charges for car accident or people without insurance.

Medical office procedures support the financial policy by using a practice management program (PMP). Using keyed in information, the PMP updates a day sheet summarizes all transactions made in a twenty-four hour period. Medical office staff uses the day sheet to create a printed patient statement breaking down how much a patient owes on their account. The patient statement includes deductibles, coinsurance, and any fees. When a statement is entered into the PMP, the information must be correct in order to ensure the patient understands their bill and what payments they are responsible for. Certain consequences may arise if medical office procedures do not support financial policies such as fraud. A multitude of people working in separate collections departments lowers the chance of an employee embezzling money. Not having an office procedure in place such as the PMP, the medical office would require more than one person to close out the financial paperwork from the daily...