FEATURE sTOrY Build Stronger Relationships with Providers EIGHT STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS By Karin Anzalone and Laura Bridge G etting paid in today’s complex healthcare climate is no easy feat. Providers face a host of challenges, from declining reimbursement and sluggish cash flow to increasing patient financial responsibility and continuously changing compliance requirements. It’s no surprise that many providers feel stressed and overwhelmed when it comes to healthcare billing, particularly since finding qualified staff is extremely difficult in many markets and specialties. While updating archaic, paper-based billing processes can alleviate some of these challenges, it can be both costly and time consuming to re-engineer an established workflow, implement new systems, and monitor their success. For a growing number of physician practices and providers, outsourcing billing tasks to a third party is the quickest, most cost-effective way to overcome these hurdles and upgrade revenue cycle management processes. In addition to removing the burden of having to focus on every detail associated with billing, outsourcing enables provider organizations to focus their efforts and resources on other mission-critical tasks. For billing companies, this trend presents a unique opportunity to expand their client base and attract more providers. Before capitalizing on this new growth potential, though, they must first learn to communicate with prospective and current clients in a way that emphasizes their key strengths, builds stronger relationships, and promotes client retention. Creating a Client-Focused Culture With thousands of billing companies nationwide, competition for new and established clients can be fierce. One of the most effective ways to stand out from the crowd is to create a client-focused culture that emphasizes communication and collaboration. When an organization views its client relationships as the most valuable asset it has and acts accordingly, physician practices, hospitals, and health systems take notice. Here are eight essential steps billing companies can take to set When an organization views its client relationships as the most valuable asset it has and acts accordingly, physician practices, hospitals, and health systems take notice. THe jOurNal OF THe HealTHCare BIllINg aND maNagemeNT assOCIaTION 23 themselves apart and build a more client-focused culture. 1. BE A RESOURCE. It’s never too early to begin educating providers about the importance of billing and how to improve their overall financial health. start a dialogue with provider organizations early in the sales process and continue the conversation once they become clients across a variety of channels, including in-person meetings, newsletters, blogs, and other educational resources. Keeping providers abreast of current trends and possible threats to their revenue cycle, as well as how they can best address these challenges, benefits everyone: providers reap the rewards of a stronger bottom line, and billing companies position themselves as a trusted and valuable asset. 2. SET CLEAR ExPECTATIONS. every organization’s level of experience with billing companies varies, so it is critical to establish upfront what providers are looking to accomplish as well as what
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