Invoicing

In this blog I want to look at the most important aspect of any business – letting people know how much they owe you. If you’ve been practising in the NHS for a long time, you won’t be used to invoicing for your work so talking about money might even feel a little awkward at first.

However, an efficient and accurate invoice process is essential for everyone and for the reputation of your practice. You wouldn’t be impressed with a business that sends an invoice that’s late, unexpected or which contains mistakes so why should patients or insurers be any different?

When should you invoice?

With invoicing, it’s a case of the sooner the better after a patient has received treatment. Prompt invoicing is obviously important for business cash flow as it means you’ll get paid more quickly and reduces the risk of non-payment by the patient or their insurer. In fact, most insurers won’t accept invoices submitted six months after the date of treatment and prompt invoicing also reduces the risk of queries from payors (or enables them to be sorted out quicker while memories are still fresh).

How frequently you invoice is up to you. Some practices prefer to do all their invoicing in batches eg once a week while others invoice on completion of treatment. Much depends on whether you have a member of the team solely responsible for managing invoicing and payments or if they have to fit this in alongside answering the phone, greeting patients, dealing with correspondence and credit control. If you’re concerned about the frequency of your invoicing, you might want to consider outsourcing it to a medical billing company.

What should your invoices include?

To get your invoices right first time, you’ll need to include some key details which I’ve summarised below:

• Invoice number and date
• About you – your name, provider number and payment details
• About the Patient – their name, date of birth, address and policy number (if insured)
• About the Treatment – date, service provided, including the procedure code (if applicable)
• Total charges

You can find best practice guidelines and templates in The Industry’s Guide to Private Medical Invoicing, which we first published in 2014 and revised in February 2024. Not all payors require all the information set out in the guide but following the industry standard means you’ll get in the habit of including it and they’ll have everything needed to process the invoice on receipt.

Efficient invoicing is 80% preparation – meaning you shouldn’t have to stop mid-task to look for relevant info. However, the hard work is done for you if you use a specialist practice management solution where everything you need should be in one place for invoicing and for record-keeping purposes (we’ll cover financial records and reports later in this series). For example, when invoicing from ePractice, you simply select the patient from your database and go on from there. There’s also time-saving features like invoice auto-population (ePractice Lite and Pro) which completes the patient and episode fields when the hospital has already submitted an invoice.

We’ve put together step-by-step guides to invoicing using ePractice’s Quick eBill (for electronic invoices) and Advanced Bill (for electronic or paper invoices) which explains what’s required for each field. You can also sign-up to our free online tutorial with Healthcode Academy (Module 2 or Bite-size modules 2A -2D).

Submitting your invoices

Once you’re happy with your invoices, you need to send them securely to the payor.

For insurer invoices:

These days, hospitals and nearly all practitioners submit electronic invoices to insurers through our Clearing Service which automatically checks that each one complies with the relevant insurer’s requirements. Best of all, as a subscriber, you can submit all your invoices to the major insurers in one transaction which saves loads of time. You can take advantage of the Service whether or not you have an ePractice plan, as it’s compatible with most practice management software.

Nearly all invoices fly through with no problem and are collected by the insurer – ePractice users can check the status of invoices on the screen – but occasionally the system will notify you of an error such as an incorrect membership number or procedure code. If this happens, it’ll highlight the issue so you can fix it and resubmit quickly. We’ve produced guides to correcting errors for ePractice users and those using third party software or you can contact our team.

For self-pay patients and other payors:

You could print and post paper invoices to self-pay patients or send them by encrypted email (unencrypted email doesn’t comply with data protection rules). However, it’s much less time-consuming to use a secure online portal that lets you send invoices and accept electronic payments. One option is to register to use our affordable Online Payments service which we offer in partnership with patientzone. This takes the hassle out of invoicing non-insured payors and is available to both ePractice subscribers and those using third-party systems. It enables you to send electronic invoices or shortfall notifications (and payment reminders) to patients or businesses with a link so they can pay securely. Not only is this more efficient, it also makes life easier for patients. After all, most of us like the convenience of paying online for services rather than having to pay in person or by telephone.

Invoicing is an aspect of private practice which hasn’t always been given the attention it deserves, perhaps because it feels time-consuming or secondary to patient care. However, the option of electronic invoicing to all payors has transformed this task, with tools that make it less labour-intensive, alongside a streamlined process for sending invoices promptly and securely. It’s also in your interest to make invoicing as easy as possible for your payors so they’re left with a positive impression of your practice. 

Discover More

If you want to learn more about how we can help you manage this and other aspects of the patient journey contact our Business Development team. If you’re already an ePractice user and want to explore the system, check out our guides or book a free 1-2-1 tutorial with one of our friendly experts at the Healthcode Academy. 

About Desné

Desné worked in the private healthcare sector at various sites in London for over 30 years. She has extensive experience and skills relating to all areas of practice administration, having been a practice manager from the early 90s to 2019 when she joined Healthcode.  

Next time – Credit control and collections  

The post The business of the patient journey | Invoicing appeared first on Healthcode.

Find out whether the invoice you’ve submitted through the Clearing Service has been validated, is awaiting collection or successfully submitted.

Put your mind at rest by following these simple steps:

• Click the Account tab in Patient Details
• Check the boxes in the Status column to see what’s happened to your invoice  

 1 green box means the invoice has been validated and is ready to go to the insurer

 2 green boxes mean it’s waiting to be collected by the insurer

 3 green boxes mean it’s been successfully submitted (the date and time the insurer collected it is also displayed)

1 red box means the invoice has failed validation and needs to be corrected

3 red boxes mean it’s been cancelled

Discover More

See more articles on ePractice in Help and Support or sign up for a free online tutorial with Healthcode Academy. If you need more help, get in touch with one of our friendly team.

The post Check the status of your electronic invoices to insurers in ePractice appeared first on Healthcode.

Managing the patient’s pathway

A smooth onboarding process means you can start your relationship with patients on the front foot and helps reassure patients they are in expert hands, as I explained in my last blog. Next, I want to look at the importance of effective admin to support patient care because managing the care pathway is a team effort, requiring clear processes and communication to avoid unnecessary stress and uncertainty.

Ensuring the treatment is covered

Once a patient tells your practice that they’re insured and you’ve verified they have a valid policy (is a speedy shortcut for ePractice Lite and Pro users), check if they have pre-authorisation from their insurer and explain they need to provide this at their first appointment or risk delays while this is sorted out.

Insurers expect policy-holders to contact them if they need to make a claim, such as when they’ve been referred by their GP. If the consultation or treatment is covered under the policy terms, many insurers will give the patient a pre-authorisation number to give to the provider (if they don’t issue pre-authorisation numbers, the patient still needs to confirm they have spoken to their insurer). This can be done over the phone, online or through an app but it makes sense for practice admin staff to be familiar with the authorisation processes for different insurers so they can advise patients and answer their questions.

Getting authorisation ahead of that initial consultation is essential, otherwise the insurer could later reject your invoice on the grounds that they hadn’t been informed. That would leave you in an awkward spot of asking the patient to contact the insurer to get this retro-authorised or invoicing them for the shortfall.

Getting consent for treatment

Of course, it’s then up to you as treating practitioner to assess the patient, make a diagnosis and discuss their options, in line with the standards set by your own professional body (eg the GMC’s Decision-making and consent). Documenting this discussion and recording patients’ informed consent is vital to ensure their wishes are respected and for medico-legal reasons (in the event of a claim, for example). However, every patient is different and it’s not always easy to capture all the relevant points. Once you’ve agreed the next steps, it’s also essential for insured patients to check with their insurer that their policy covers the diagnostic tests or treatment you recommend and any follow-up required. A new pre-authorisation number may be issued but the insurer could use the original one. Even if an insurer has already agreed to a consultation it’s important not to take this for granted. Insurers can turn down claims for various reasons and you don’t want your patient or your practice to get caught out eg because a particular condition, procedure or prescription isn’t covered under their plan.

Bear in mind too that there might be a time limit on pre-authorisation so if a patient wants to go away and consider their options, they may need to contact their insurer again when they return.

However, the big thing to remember about pre-authorisation is that it doesn’t guarantee that the insurer will pay for a consultation or treatment in full, in part or even at all. That’s why it’s so important that your T&Cs spell out that it’s the patient’s responsibility to ensure invoices are paid and that insured patients are responsible for any shortfalls.

At the moment, getting insurer pre-authorisation generally falls to the patient but this makes work for them and is far from ideal for practices if an authorisation number is misheard over the phone and isn’t valid. The good news is that things are changing, thanks to our automated Pre-authorisation service for hospitals. This currently enables them to request pre-authorisation directly from relevant insurers* via our secure online platform and we’re working hard to roll this out to all providers. If you treat patients in a hospital setting, you can get ahead by checking whether they already use the Pre-authorisation service and asking them to share the pre-authorisation number with you for consistency. 

Secure communication

Depending on the outcome of your consultation, it’s up to your practice to manage the patient’s care pathway and ensure they receive the best service every step of the way. That might include sharing test results with another practitioner in a multi-disciplinary team, making arrangements with a hospital for an upcoming procedure or perhaps checking a pre-authorisation number with the insurance company.

It’s important to have a system in place to manage referrals, acting on test results etc and ensure that communication is timely, clear and secure. While technology means it’s no longer necessary to spend hours on the phone to a hospital or insurer, sending confidential personal information by unencrypted email simply isn’t an option within data protection rules. It’s even riskier if you only have a generic departmental email address (such as info@ or secretary@), rather than a named contact as there’s no telling who has access.

Rather than compromise your reputation, you should only use secure encrypted email and/or secure online file-sharing, such as our Secure Messaging solution which is available to ePractice Lite and Pro users. This enables you to communicate and share confidential and personal information with professionals on our global directory of private hospitals, insurers and practitioners. Having access to relevant communications on ePractice rather than another platform saves you time. Plus, you can be confident that this sensitive data is stored on our UK-based computing platform and meets the ICO’s best practice guidance.

*Aviva and Vitality

Supporting patients through what can be an anxious time is just as important as your clinical expertise. From advising them about the need for pre-authorisation to effectively managing the care pathway, your practice admin team can help make the journey easier for patients and their families.    

Discover More

To get started, select Secure Messaging in ePractice and follow these step-by-step instructions or sign up for a free online tutorial with the Healthcode Academy. We offer a 20-minute module – Secure messaging – that takes you through everything, including message settings, the Global Directory, creating your own personal contact list, managing your mailbox and sending emails to multiple recipients.

If you want to learn more about how we can help you manage this and other aspects of the patient journey contact our Business Development team. If you’re already an ePractice user and want to explore the system, check out our guides or book a free 1-2-1 tutorial with one of our friendly experts at the Healthcode Academy. 

About Desné

Desné worked in the private healthcare sector at various sites in London for over 30 years. She has extensive experience and skills relating to all areas of practice administration, having been a practice manager from the early 90s to 2019 when she joined Healthcode.  

Next time – Invoicing  

The post The business of the patient journey | Managing the patient’s pathway appeared first on Healthcode.

Onboarding new patients

A steady flow of new patient bookings is a healthy sign for your practice but that initial contact is also an important moment in their journey.

If you want to make a positive first impression and avoid problems later on you need to focus on these three steps:

Communication

With many people accessing private healthcare for the first time, it’s more important than ever to ensure that your onboarding information for new patients is clear, comprehensive and consistent across all communication channels. This needs to happen before they attend.

When confirming an appointment, it’s important to set out how much the initial consultation is going to cost, as explained in our previous blog. It’s also a good idea to include practical information such as directions to your practice as this reduces the risk of delays and missed appointments. Explain what to do if they can’t make their appointment and set out your cancellation policy if you have one.

Finally, a welcome guide is a useful way to showcase your practice and highlight the milestones in the patient journey including registration, making an appointment, insurer authorisation and payment arrangements. Most people find it reassuring to know what to expect and it reduces the likelihood of misunderstandings.

Data-gathering

Patient registration is your earliest and best opportunity to gather information and ensure your record is complete and accurate. You definitely need their name, address, date of birth, contact details, GP details and how they are going to pay (insurance or self-funding). Missing or inaccurate information – even something as simple as a misspelled surname – could prove awkward and eventually make it impossible to submit your invoice to an insurer. Ask patients to complete and sign a registration form that includes your terms and conditions (T&Cs) when they arrive for their first appointment. I also recommend asking patients to check and confirm a registration form at each subsequent visit to minimise the chances of a dispute later. This then becomes your formal contract with the patient for each visit.

The T&Cs should clearly state that it’s their responsibility to ensure that invoices are paid (whether or not they have health insurance) and that they undertake to pay any shortfalls. A digital signature is generally fine if you have a patient portal that allows them to send this securely and you want to get the paperwork sorted out before they arrive.

As you’d expect from our practice and financial management solution, ePractice includes smart tools to help you keep track of your patients throughout their journey, starting with the onboarding process. Once you have the necessary data, it’s easy to add new patients, enabling you to securely store all their data and search your patient list from one place, as well as create flags, notes and alerts against individual patients. If you’re an existing ePractice user, you can sign up for this free short session with Healthcode Academy, which takes you through all the steps of adding a new patient and how to search your patient list.

Verification

Verifying patients’ identity against a driving licence or another form of ID is an opportunity to confirm their details are accurate and avoid mix-ups such as sending a letter to the wrong address.

It’s also important to verify their insurance details or there’s a risk you won’t get paid. Even if a patient says they have health insurance, it doesn’t guarantee that they have a valid policy. It might have expired, for example, or their company scheme might have transferred to a different insurer.

It’s in your interests to check their status at the outset so you aren’t left with an unpaid insurer invoice and the prospect of pursuing an unhappy patient for the outstanding balance. Bear in mind that someone’s insurance status may have changed since your practice last saw them for a consultation or diagnostic tests which is why you should check their details again at every visit.

ePractice makes this a breeze with the Membership Enquiry feature (available on Lite or Pro) which lets you match patients’ details against the information held by their insurer* so you can confirm if a patient is currently insured with who they say and their details are correct, without the need for multiple telephone calls. One of our knowledgeable Healthcode Academy team can help you explore this ePractice feature as part of the same free online tutorial mentioned earlier on adding patients.

* Currently Aviva, AXA Health, Bupa and VitalityHealth – we’re working with other insurers to extend this service.

Patient-friendly and effective onboarding enables you to obtain all the details you need from patients to provide an efficient service and explain what they need to know about your practice.

Discover More

If you want to learn more about how we can help you manage this and other aspects of the patient journey contact our Business Development team. If you’re already an ePractice user and want to explore the system, check out our guides or book a free 1-2-1 tutorial with one of our friendly experts at the Healthcode Academy. 

About Desné

Desné worked in the private healthcare sector at various sites in London for over 30 years. She has extensive experience and skills relating to all areas of practice administration, having been a practice manager from the early 90s to 2019 when she joined Healthcode.  

Next time – Managing the patient’s pathway

The post The business of the patient journey | Onboarding new patients appeared first on Healthcode.

Fees

We understand that practitioners want to focus on patient care but we should start by talking about patient fees. These need to be set at a realistic level to secure the long-term future of your practice but they also need to be consistent and clear for everyone.

Setting fees

It’s generally up to you to decide what to charge for your services but here are some factors you’ll need to take into account:

• Overheads – How much you need to run your business and meet your personal obligations eg pay staff, indemnity costs, your mortgage
• Qualifications, experience and reputation – Those who’ve built up their practice over many years and with a good success rate could justify charging a higher fee than someone new to private practice. High fees might also attract some patients because they view them as reassuringly expensive while others may shop around
• Time and resources – This’ll vary according to the procedure and the level of service you provide (what’s included)
• Location – Consider what’s realistic and affordable for your target market. Fees are likely to be higher in a wealthy region such as London and the South East
• The insurer’s fee schedule – If you’ve signed a contract to treat patients as fee assured, you’ll have a contractual obligation to stick to the relevant insurer’s fee schedule
• Inflation – Keep your fees under review to take account of the cost of living

Communicating your fees

First and foremost, you have an ethical and legal obligation to be clear about your fees.

The GMC says

You must be open and honest in any financial arrangements, and must not exploit patients’ vulnerability or lack of medical knowledge when charging fees for treatments and services. 

If you charge fees you must: 

• tell patients, if possible before starting any investigation or treatment, including how much they need to pay for each investigation or treatment and when 
• explain if you don’t know the total cost of each option (including any additional fees) and make sure the patient knows how to find out 
• comply with the legal requirement to provide information about your fees to the Private Healthcare Information Network 

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) imposed greater transparency on fees through its Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order which legally requires you to provide patients with comprehensive written quotes prior to consultations, diagnostic tests, or treatment and, for GMC-regulated practitioners, to submit your standard self-pay charges for consultations and procedures to PHIN. PHIN has published help and advice articles for patients on this subject and it’s worth reading these so you can reassure patients and answer their questions.     

It’s also in your interest to keep prices clear as misunderstandings can lead to disputes and complaints of unfairness, such as when an insured patient is hit with an unexpected shortfall invoice.

Here are a few pointers:

• Publish your guideline prices for consultations, diagnostic procedures and treatments on your website (this should be in line with the prices you have sent to PHIN, if applicable). Be clear what’s covered by the fee, what is charged for separately eg inpatient care, prescriptions. Explain that all patients will receive a personalised quote after their consultation
• Set out your terms and conditions (T&Cs) where you can, such as on your website and in your confirmation letters. Include insured patients’ responsibility for paying shortfalls if their policy doesn’t cover the full cost of their treatment (see our next blog on onboarding patients for more on T&Cs)
• State whether you’re fee-assured and what this means. Explain that insured patients will need to contact their insurer before their appointment to check they have the right cover and obtain the necessary authorisation number 
• If you offer finance terms to self-pay patients you must comply with the law which includes being authorised and regulated by the FCA. If you want to do this through a partner, ensure they are authorised and regulated with the FCA and take advice on what information you must include to meet your legal and ethical obligations. However, you don’t need FCA authorisation to allow a patient to pay an invoice in instalments
• Ensure your reception staff and invoicing team are fully aware of your pricing and can answer patient queries clearly and consistently
• Make the invoicing process straightforward by setting up a schedule of charges for each treatment and procedure you do (and where this differs by insurer, practitioner, location)

How we can help

Our Pricing Matrix enables you to record your fees for treatments and services, including differentiating for insurers and other payors and treatment locations which makes invoicing quicker, easier and accurate. Once you’ve entered the basic data on an invoice, click the calculator icon to automatically insert the correct fee for that procedure and payor type.

Discover More

To get started, select Guideline Pricing under the Accounting tab in ePractice and follow these step-by-step instructions or sign up for a free online tutorial with the Healthcode Academy We offer a 30-minute module – Electronic billing & collection | Module 1 – that takes you through everything, including the Pricing Matrix but if you just want to focus on creating your Pricing Matrix we offer a 15- minute bite-size option​ (select module 1C).

If you want to learn more about how we can help you manage this and other aspects of the patient journey contact our Business Development team. If you’re already an ePractice user and want to explore the system, check out our guides or book a free 1-2-1 tutorial with one of our friendly experts at the Healthcode Academy. 

About Desné

Desné worked in the private healthcare sector at various sites in London for over 30 years. She has extensive experience and skills relating to all areas of practice administration, having been a practice manager from the early 90s to 2019 when she joined Healthcode.  

Next time – Onboarding new patients  

The post The business of the patient journey | Pricing appeared first on Healthcode.

Healthcode’s reply: Use the Advanced Bill draft invoice feature in ePractice to create and update your service charges as you go. This’ll ensure the final version is accurate and complete when you’re ready to send it.

Quick guide to creating a draft invoice

• Select the patient from your patient list, click Create Bill and then click Advanced Bill.
• Complete the invoice with what you’ve carried out on the patient so far.  
• When you reach the final stage, click Save as Draft. The status of three blank boxes against the invoice on the patient’s Account tab means it hasn’t been sent yet.
• It’ll also be listed on the Tasks and Reminders section on your Status page, so you can easily return to it and update. Click Save as draft each time to save your changes.
• When you’re ready to send, click Save and send to submit to the insurer using  the Clearing Service or send to the patient via patientzone.

Discover More

Find out how to create invoices and use other ePractice features, sign up for our free online tutorials with the Healthcode Academy. The Academy’s team of Service Delivery Associates will guide you through our series of short personalised training sessions, using your own data to make the training as relevant as possible.

To learn more about invoicing using Advanced Bill see our guide in Help and Support. We also offer a 15-minute bite-size session with the Healthcode Academy  – click here to book.

To find out more about the invoicing features in ePractice contact the Business Development team.

The post Have you tried… creating a draft invoice? appeared first on Healthcode.

Schoen Clinic’s Orthopaedic & Spinal Hospital in central London has achieved deserved recognition as a centre of excellence for treating musculoskeletal conditions and sports injuries. In addition to winning Hospital of the Year in 2019 at the LaingBuisson Awards, it was a finalist in 2021 and is part of an award-winning international group which treats more than 300,000 patients each year.   

With world class facilities including a high dependency unit, three operating theatres and a state-of-the-art imaging department, Schoen Clinic London provides the entire treatment pathway, including diagnosis, non-surgical and surgical treatments and rehabilitation. As well as self-funded patients and GP referrals, the hospital is one of a select number in the Healthcare Purchasing Alliance (HPA) which buys complete packages of care on behalf of Aviva and Vitality Health.

To maintain Schoen Clinic’s high standards, it’s important that the back-office admin is managed as effectively as the delivery of specialist care. Finance and Revenue Assurance Manager, Henry Muscatt, oversees this aspect of the business but says it would be virtually impossible without Healthcode services including pre-authorisation, membership enquiry and online invoicing.

“We’ve been using Healthcode since we opened in August 2018,” he says. “Overall, they’re fantastic and there simply isn’t anyone else that can do what they do. Submitting all our invoices manually, for example, would be a full-time job whereas we can raise them in-house, and submit them as XML files online. The whole process flows really well and it works for everyone: the insurers get the bill sooner; we get paid sooner; and our patients have peace of mind that the invoice has gone through and been sorted.”

The simplicity of electronic invoicing means Henry can focus on ensuring invoices are accurate and validated first time. Again, we’ve been the ideal support.

Henry explains: “When patients are referred by HPA (Aviva & Vitality), we use the online pre-authorisation service to obtain the data for that episode of care such as consultant, authorisation number, policy number and the patient’s name and date of birth. It’s really useful as it minimises how much information we have to get directly from patients and provides another layer of security as we have the correct details from the beginning.”

If Henry and his team don’t have an insured patient’s membership number, they use our Membership Enquiry service which checks their demographic details against the relevant insurer database. “Sometimes the number has been taken down wrong or it’s slightly out of date,” he says. “When this happens, I ask the admin team to use Healthcode’s Membership Enquiry service. Although it doesn’t always find a match, the service is straightforward to use: you just type in the patient’s details, hit refresh and the results are virtually instant. When we don’t have a valid membership number for the patient, we reach out to them directly but this can be a time-consuming process.”

“When an invoice doesn’t go through, it’s mostly because of a problem with the patient’s membership details although sometimes it can be a coding issue such as where a prosthesis isn’t mapped to an insurer. When this happens, I contact Healthcode’s Coding team who are really good,” says Henry.

Thanks to the performance dashboard on its account, Henry can see that around 80% of Schoen’s electronic invoices are validated first time, slightly higher than the industry average. However, Henry has a more ambitious target of 95% in mind and is keen to work with us to make this a reality. “I’d recommend hospitals use Healthcode services,” he concludes. “In fact, if a new hospital started up and they decided not to use them, I think they’d be in trouble!”

The post “The whole process flows really well and it works for everyone” – Henry Muscatt, Schoen Clinic appeared first on Healthcode.

While few practitioners have experience of running a business, the most successful are those who draw on the time management skills they learned early in their professional career. By identifying ways to work smarter and making the most of the latest practice management technology, they’ve been able to ‘steal back’ time to focus on patients and develop their practice.

Every practice has time-consuming tasks that could be managed more effectively, often by making better use of technology. Here are five of the most common admin ‘bottlenecks’ to address:

• Correspondence – Medical secretaries can spend their time typing, printing and dispatching letters to keep patients and their GPs informed about appointments, investigations and treatments. Streamline the process by using letter templates for common subjects which can be completed with the relevant patient details. Our ePractice Lite and Pro software also allows you to select and batch print multiple documents at a time.
• Patient insurance cover – Practices regularly need to call hospitals or insurers to confirm a patient’s insurance details, but this can be a time-consuming – and sometimes a frustrating – exercise. Our online membership enquiry feature enables you to instantly check patients’ policy numbers and address details against the insurers’ database.
• Invoicing – Electronic invoicing and clearing can save you money by eliminating printing, postage and manpower costs. Creating and submitting invoices to insurers – via our encrypted, secure service – takes a fraction of the time, improves accuracy and ensures the invoice is validated against the relevant insurer criteria – so it’s ready for processing and payment. This secure platform eliminates the risk of data breaches possible when sending invoices by post or email, plus you have the additional reassurance of knowing the invoice has been received by the insurer.
• Payment tracking – When payments arrive, every practice needs a system to record exactly what invoices are being paid and identify shortfalls. This can be time-consuming with a manual system and in some cases, practices have been obliged to write-off outstanding debts because payments have not been reconciled against the correct invoice. Our payment tracking tools will help you save time and money.
• Financial reports – Without access to accurate information it’s impossible to steer your business effectively. However, manual bookkeeping and accounting systems require expertise and time to prepare even basic reports such as an aged debtor analysis. Your practice management system should provide a range of real-time financial reports, so you can measure your performance, analyse your strengths and weaknesses and make informed decisions.

Discover more

Find out how ePractice Lite and Pro can help streamline your processes and avoid a bottleneck of admin tasks with the Healthcode Academy’s team of Service Delivery Associates. They’ll guide you using your own data to make the training as relevant as possible.

Discover what else you can do in ePractice by checking out our comprehensive  Help and Support articles.

To find out more about this or any other feature of ePractice Lite or Pro contact our Business Development team.

The post Working smarter with technology appeared first on Healthcode.

By validating each invoice in line with the criteria set by each insurer, we ensure they’re ready for processing and payment on receipt. More efficient all round. But sometimes invoices fail the process and need submitting again. When this happens during your invoicing run, it’s important to know exactly what’s gone wrong, how to correct it and hopefully prevent it recurring.

Our Premium level Financial Management Solutions for hospitals include the clever Failed Bills Management Tools to help you identify and fix issues in failed invoices, from one-off inaccuracies to persistent coding errors. By increasing accuracy and efficiency, you’ll quickly see improvements in your invoicing success rate. In fact, when we reviewed monthly failed invoice volumes over a twelve-month period, we found those on the Premium package had 42% fewer recurring failed invoices compared with those using the Standard package.

Our Premium package includes:

• Failed Bills Management Workflow which shows, at a glance, how many invoices have failed, categorised by reason. You don’t have to spend time opening and reviewing each invoice.  
• The ability to apply bulk fixes when an issue has affected multiple invoices and reprocess these at the same time.
• Filters to aid quick analysis. For example, you can focus on invoices to a particular insurer or zero in on failed charge lines within an invoice.
• Colour coded invoice categories – create and assign a colour to different invoice categories for better visibility and manage work flow.
• Failure Analysis Reports are available to increase visibility and manageability of the error handling process. This will help you to correct any issue within your patient administration system and resubmit the invoice.

Want to know more?

To find out how our tools can help you submit fully validated invoices to the insurers efficiently and improve your cash flow, contact our Business Development team.

The post Our invoicing tools point the way to success appeared first on Healthcode.