Problem:
Collecting patient cost-sharing amounts is vitally important for supporting the revenue cycle, as failure to do so can have a drastic impact on revenue. You were recently hired as the new manager of the patient access team, which includes the front desk staff responsible for collecting these time-of-service payments. You quickly realize collection rates are poor and when speaking with the front desk staff they communicate they are not comfortable with asking the patients to pay their cost-sharing balance amounts during the registration and check-in processes.
Spend some time researching strategies for enhancing time-of-service payment collections and then share your thoughts on what you could do as a manager to improve collection rates. What strategies would you implement to improve collection rates? What would you do to help front desk staff become more comfortable with requesting and collecting these payments prior to the appointment?