Tuesday Tip: How to become an authority on patient billing
(BACK TO ALL VIDEOS)
Transcript:
Hey there, I’m in Tucson this week (very windy Tucson) right under the flight path of the air force base, so lots of action going on.
In this video I’m going to teach you how to become an authority on patient billing in thirty seconds or less.
My name is Nancy Johnson, I’m the founder of RevUp. We make certain that independent healthcare providers are collecting all the money they are due.
Here’s the scenario: a patient calls your practice and has a question about their bill. Very specific, and your biller explains the bill to the patient, kindly and patiently, and the patient either disagrees or still doesn’t get it, so your kind, considerate, professional biller explains it a different way (but it’s the same answer). The patient still either doesn’t like the answer or doesn’t get it. This is when the biller says to the patient, “You know what, let me put you on hold and I am going to have you speak with my supervisor.” So, the patient gets put on hold, the biller goes to their coworker who’s also a biller and says, “Hey here’s the situation, Miss Diana doesn’t understand her bill. This is what’s going on, this is what I told her, can you please be my supervisor?” And the coworker gets on the phone with the patient, explains exactly what the first biller explained, and the patient usually says, “oh, thank you so much, I really appreciate your help with this bill.”
So, it’s not about disrespecting the patient, sometimes it’s just getting different words, or somebody thinking that they’re speaking to somebody who has authority. When this does NOT apply is when someone genuinely asks to speak to a supervisor because they are unhappy with the customer service they’re receiving or there’s just an ask that the biller cannot give them. What this is about is actually really providing good customer service, it’s just offering the patient an opportunity to get a different perspective.
Take good care!
