Provide 75-word count summary to the paragraph below
Can refer to the course text as well:
Zelman, W. N., McCue, M. J., & Glick, Thomas, N. D. M. S. (2014). Financial Management of Health Care Organizations (4th ed.).
Collecting Cash Payments
Because health care providers depend primarily on third-party health plans to pay for patient bills, they constantly try to upgrade and improve their revenue cycle management processes to ensure timely and accurate cash collections.
However, because more of the payment responsibility is now being shifted to patients through higher deductible health plans, health care providers also need to more proactively implement policies to obtain timely receipts for services from the patients.
Cash payment should occur at the first encounter with a patient, especially for elective procedures and in cases where insurance coverage cannot be validated. For nonelective procedures and services for non-charity care cases, health care providers should be encouraged to develop programs to receive cash payment at the time of discharge.
Accordingly, proper internal controls must be implemented to ensure accurate recording and depositing of cash payments.
Finally, providers should use banking services to accept online credit card payments over the Internet and debit or credit card accounts for high-deductible health plans. By electronically accepting cash payments, health care providers can avoid the costs of billing and carrying accounts receivable. Health care providers can also employ other techniques to assist in collecting their payments, such as
Decentralized collection centers and concentration banking
Lockboxes
Wire transfers