Unfortunately, this error might’ve happened at several points in the invoicing, payment or reconciliation process. Perhaps a paper invoice was raised for a self-pay patient and incorrectly recorded, an insurer’s bulk payment could have been wrongly allocated, or maybe a shortfall was missed.

These problems are more likely when practices are trying to manage and reconcile different systems and processes. Whenever you re-enter data manually onto another system, it increases the chance that inaccuracies will creep in, making it harder to balance the books. Such duplication also takes up valuable time and diverts members of your team from more productive tasks.

With an integrated invoicing and payment system, you’ll have a single, consistent source of truth about your finances at each stage in the invoicing cycle so you can see at a glance what you’ve invoiced, what’s been paid and what’s outstanding. This is essential for running your practice day-to-day but it also means you have the data required to plan ahead and make informed business decisions.

ePractice Lite and Pro give you the tools you need to manage your practice finances efficiently, starting with accurate invoicing with help from unique features like our Pricing Matrix and Membership Enquiry. You can then send electronic invoices securely to both insurers and self-pay patients from one place thanks to the seamless integration with the Clearing Service and Online Payments solution with insurer invoices automatically validated so they enter the payment cycle on receipt.

Once you’ve submitted your invoices, the payment allocation and debt reallocation features help you keep on top of bulk payments, shortfalls and other credit control tasks without swallowing up time and resource. You can even automate this process with our Electronic Remittances service with participating insurers and Online Payments.

Finally, you have complete oversight of your practice’s current financial position with access to real-time financial reporting options which can be easily exported to other software for accounting purposes.

If the scenario at the start of the blog sounds familiar, we recommend you audit the strengths and weaknesses of your back-office set-up. Ask yourself:

• How much manual intervention and duplication of effort is required?
• How much time do my team spend detecting and correcting errors?
• Can I get an accurate view of our current financial position?
• Will it support or hinder your practice as it grows?
• Is there scope for improved automation of some of the practice’s accounting tasks?
• Could I save money and increase productivity?

Discover more

Find out how to keep track of your finances by signing up for our free Electronic billing & collection | Module 3 online tutorial 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.

To find out more about upgrading to an integrated and secure system, contact our Business Development team or book a demo to discover how ePractice can transform the way you work.

The post Why you need a single source of truth 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.

Healthcode’s reply: If you are an ePractice Lite or Pro user, you can use Healthcode’s Membership Enquiry feature to match patients’ details against the information held by their insurer*. This confirms if a patient is currently insured and ensures your practice has the correct details on its own system from the outset, without the need for multiple telephone calls.

Quick guide

• Select a patient and click on the insurer tab.
• Choose the relevant insurer from the drop-down list, enter any details you already have and save.
• Click Request Membership Enquiry button when it turns blue.
• The system runs a patient insurance registration check against the insurer’s database and prompts you to check for the result.
• If a match is found, click Review & Update to display the details held by the insurer.
• Use this information to update or correct your own patient database, ready for invoicing.

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

Discover More

Learn more about Membership Enquiry and other time-saving ePractice features by signing up for our free ePractice online tutorial Electronic billing & collection | Module 2 with the Healthcode Academy. This covers everything to do with billing, and the Academy’s team of Service Delivery Associates will guide you through, using your own data to make the training as relevant as possible.

If you’re interested in finding out more about ePractice Lite or Pro why not book a demo with our Business Development team.

The post Have you tried…using ePractice to check the patient’s insurance status? appeared first on Healthcode.

It’s no secret that the NHS is struggling with ever-growing waiting lists. Since the start of the pandemic, the number of people waiting for NHS treatment in England has grown by a fifth, with 5.3 million people waiting for treatment in May 2021, up from 4.4 million in February 2020.

If patients are faced with a longer wait for planned treatment, it’s likely that more will choose to self-fund their treatment or obtain private medical cover for themselves and their families in case of future health emergencies. Also, the exchange rate of the pound against other leading currencies has fallen significantly since the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016 which makes private treatment an affordable option for overseas patients.

But these developments only represent an opening for private practices if they have the systems and resources to support growth. And this is where Healthcode’s online technology can provide a platform for success. Here are just a few examples:

1. Maximise revenue: our Clearing Service is the most efficient and cost-effective way to submit validated invoices to Private Medical Insurers (PMIs) which are then ready to be processed and settled quickly. You can also use the service to generate invoices for self-paying patients that meet industry standards. These can be sent electronically via patientzone, an online payments and collection company, allowing your patients to easily and securely pay invoices online.
2. Maintain healthy cash flow position: the payment tracking feature within ePractice Lite and Pro enables you to quickly allocate payments and monitor unpaid invoices and shortfalls so you can reduce the chances of a damaging bad debt. When you log onto the system, a snapshot graph on the home screen shows the current status of outstanding invoices.
3. Register new patients efficiently: Healthcode’s membership enquiry facility means you can check the details of insured patients against an insurer’s membership database and populate your patient list with the correct information. Once a patient is on the system, it’s easy to set up appointments, generate letters and create invoices.
4. Organise your diary: ePractice Lite and Pro allow you to easily see your daily schedule, book appointments and set up recurring clinic sessions across one or more locations, ensuring your time is effectively managed.
5. Plan ahead: ePractice gives you the tools to create reports which present up-to-date information such as outstanding debts and chargeable activity. It’s only possible to make smart investment decisions if you have an accurate picture of your practice finances

Want to know more?

To find out how our technology can help your private practice maximise your revenue and grow, contact our Business Development team.

The post Are You Ready To Grow Your Private Practice? appeared first on Healthcode.

However, it’s not uncommon for practitioners to be tied up for hours in frustrating telephone calls to patients, private hospitals and insurers to check that the information they’ve been given is correct or to complete missing details.

Our membership enquiry feature is a popular shortcut for practitioners with a subscription to ePractice Lite or Pro. It enables them to check the patient details they hold against the insurer’s membership database in a fraction of the time.

Membership Enquiry enhances cash flow because it helps ensure that submitted invoices include all the right information, reducing the risk of an invoice being held up in the system. As it’s encrypted, the service is a more secure way of checking confidential patient details than the time-consuming alternatives.

The service is currently available with the major insurers – Aviva, AXA Health, Bupa, Bupa Global (International) and VitalityHealth – and we’re working with the others to extend this service.

To use membership enquiry, just enter the patient’s details, select the insurer tab and then choose the relevant insurer from the drop-down list. Enter the patient’s registration number, scheme and renewal date if you have this information, but don’t worry if you don’t, and then click ‘save insurer’. At this point, the ‘Request Membership Enquiry’ button will turn blue and you start the process by clicking it.

When a match is found on the insurer database, the patient’s status appears on-screen. You can then use this data to populate your own patient database and/or update the insurer details, ready for invoicing.

Discover More

To find out more about this and other features of ePractice Lite and Pro contact our Business Development team or book a demo.

The post Verifying Patients’ Insurance Details – The Healthcode Shortcut appeared first on Healthcode.

With a record number of patients now on the waiting list for NHS hospital treatment, it is probable that people who might not have previously contemplated going private will think again. Laing Buisson’s recent report into the UK Self-Pay market found evidence of heightened interest in private treatment across the country.

At the same time, the private sector cannot simply expect patients to come to them. As Laing Buisson put it: “practitioners need a compelling and attractive reason for patients to choose them and – more importantly – speak positively about their experience to friends and family.

Technology has a key role to play here, offer a high-quality level of service that will impress new patients and attract word of mouth recommendations. Here are five ways that Healthcode’s technology can help you exceed patients’ expectations:

1. Efficient appointment booking

Using the appointment functionality within ePractice, you can provide a professional and responsive service when someone calls to make an appointment.

Receptionists can instantly see which practitioners are active on a specific day across all treatment sites, as well as available slots. This means they can reserve a suitable appointment there and then, rather than having to check and call the patient back. If nothing is available at the patient’s preferred time, they can be added to a waiting list and there will be an automatic alert if the slot becomes free. Once an appointment is made, the system can generate confirmation letters, emails or texts with all the information that patients need. And when a patient presents for their appointment, their status on the system can be updated to ‘arrived’ so the practitioner is aware.

2. Choice and convenience

Other people would rather use an online booking site to research private health services and book an appointment. But until recently, central appointment booking has not been possible because there was no way to synchronise the mass of data – providers, services, practitioners and appointment slots – and the many different booking systems.

Healthcode’s online appointment booking solution, ICE, is the hidden engine room which powers the appointment booking process by enabling diverse service providers to connect and exchange information in real time. Practitioners and other providers will be able to publish their services and synchronise availability with multiple booking websites.

ICE will make private healthcare more accessible, increasing its appeal. For the first time, it will be possible to use a single booking application to search multiple healthcare organisations, using different criteria and filters to find the service that meets patients’ needs and then make an appointment at a convenient time and location.

3. Reassurance about private medical insurance

While self-pay market is growing, the majority of patients will still have private medical cover although not all will have their membership details to hand when they contact your practice.

Healthcode’s insurer membership look-up feature enables you to put patients’ minds at rest that they have valid insurance cover by matching their details against participating insurers’ databases. This simple and secure online check eliminates the need for multiple telephone calls and also ensures your practice has the correct details on its own system from the outset.

4. Ensuring continuity of care

Whether you are ordering diagnostic services, arranging for a patient to be admitted for surgery or discussing their case in a multi-disciplinary team meeting, it is essential that you provide relevant information in a timely and secure way.

Regular email is inherently insecure and should never be used to send identifiable patient information. By contrast, Healthcode’s secure messaging and file sharing services (healthDrive) are encrypted, enabling you to share sensitive information with individuals or specifically created contact groups on our global directory of practitioners, private hospitals and PMIs, without compromising patient privacy. This enables you to co-ordinate patient treatment effectively and ensure continuity of care when patients transfer to other healthcare settings.

5. Efficient invoicing

The rise in self-funded healthcare means practices need to consider how best to collect payment from patients, while patients themselves expect to be invoiced promptly and have a stress-free way to pay.

In partnership with the patientzone online payment platform, Healthcode offer a secure online patient electronic invoicing and payment service for you to charge for self-funded care and PMI shortfalls. Once signed-up with the patientzone service, you can create patient invoices in ePractice and send them through to patientzone. Patientzone then notifies patients by email or text that they have received an invoice which they can access and pay securely online. Within thirty minutes, their payment is automatically reconciled (in ePractice plans with payment recording) and you also receive notification of payment by email or text.

This online patient invoicing solution meets your data protection obligations and is more efficient than sending a paper invoice in the post. It is a more cost-effective way to implement online payment as there’s no need to arrange merchant accounts or pay credit card processing fees. Most importantly from a patient perspective, the process is seamless, secure and convenient and they have the reassurance of payment confirmation so they can focus on their recovery.

Want to know more?

Find out how our ePractice technology can help improve patient experience by contacting our Business Development team.

If you’ve already got ePractice but don’t know it’s full potential sign up for our free ePractice training modules 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.

The post How technology can help you exceed patients’ expectations appeared first on Healthcode.