5 Tips to Boost Efficiency for the Front Office
Medical Office Manager – March 2019
by Cheyenne Brinson
The front office is the face of the practice, the first impression for the patient, and the beginning of the revenue cycle. They are tasked with multiple assignments, competing priorities, and a sense of urgency from everyone, yet asked to do it all with a smile. Here are five tips to boost efficiency for the front office.
- Eligibility verification at the time of the appointment. Eligibility related rejections and denials are commonly number one in terms of volume and rework. These errors are often the center of infamous divide between the front office and the billing office in most practices. Taking a few extra moments at the time the appointment is made to verify eligibility will reduce eligibility related rejections and denials by 95%. Most practice management systems (PMS) have integrated eligibility verification inside the system that allows for instant verification once the insurance information is entered. This process allows for real time correction of any errors and avoids last minute scrambling when a patient checks-in only to discover they now have a different insurance. Verifying eligibility reduces rework and reduces the divide between the front desk and billing office.