Wake-up call! The ongoing pandemic and the recent healthcare reforms are a clear wake-up call for the medical care providers. Which requires making changes in the existing business models to survive and thrive. Just like other businesses, the healthcare industry is still struggling to get out of the economic crisis. The majority of medical care providers are looking for proven ways to navigate their healthcare practices from the economic recession. And make it profitable as well as convert it into a successful business. Furthermore, in this challenging era, laboratory expenditures witnessed a great surge. But unfortunately, the revenue collections are less than the expectation. Healthcare providers lose significant revenue in terms of the high rate of claim denials, declining reimbursements, and lower copays collections. Although one can’t deny the fact, your profit margin marks the difference between a thriving and a struggling practice. As a laboratory technician, do you find yourself in a critical financial situation? Then it’s the right time to upgrade your business model, more importantly, the lab billing system into an efficient one. Healthcare providers should always keep in mind that the success of their lab business is highly dependent on the two factors. One is a loyal customer base and the second one is the optimized lab revenue cycle management. So, achieving success and maintaining profitability requires laboratory practitioners to create a delicate balance between patient care and non-medical obligations. Moreover, they must implement smart strategies that could take their financial well-being and growth to the next level. Here are the following ways to increase profitability and improve the overall efficiency of your medical practice.

1. Build a Loyal Customer-Base

• Blank appointment slots.
• The empty lobby.
• An idle staff.

These factors can be dreadful for laboratory practitioners. Because low patient volume means you are losing the opportunities for revenue generation and it impacts your reputation negatively. For instance, the negative experience of even a single patient can result in a bad review. It has been estimated that approximately 91% of unhappy patients would neither go back to the same medical practice nor recommend it to others Besides, patients prefer to take the opinions of others before paying a visit to any medical practice. So, a negative review could significantly reduce patient retention and lead generation. Therefore, you should always keep in mind that patients are the main reasons that you stepped into the laboratory business. So, to fulfil this purpose, you must implement innovative solutions to take your healthcare services to the highest standards. When your patients are satisfied with your services. They will recommend you as the best practitioners in their social as well as friend circle. That ultimately results in a loyal customer base. Here’s a question that arises: how can laboratory practitioners improve their patient’s retention rate? You can take the following smart moves to keep your patients satisfied.

• Ask your registration and healthcare staff to deal with patients in a polite way.
• Hold your staff accountable for fulfilling patients’ needs.
• Gather feedback from customers and take initiatives accordingly.
• Stay transparent about your ricing models while providing laboratory services.
• Make sure that your patients are not waiting for long hours to get noticed.
• Facilitate patients with flexible scheduling and payment methods as well.
• Develop robust strategies to improve your digital appearance.

2. Upgrade Your Lab Billing System

Efficient management of laboratory billing services is the most important factor for the healthcare industry. Because getting reimbursements from the insurance companies (for the healthcare services rendered) mainly depends on it. Just think for a while. You get maximum patients in the door. But you are still struggling with the cash flow disruption. Is it overwhelming? Of course, it is. When lab technicians don’t collect what they’re owed. Then it simply means that there are loopholes in the laboratory billing services that are causing claim denials. In order to improve your revenue cycle management, you should adopt the following strategies. Invest in Technology Despite the latest advancements. The majority of healthcare providers are still wasting their time and money while handling routine administrative tasks manually. Which ultimately makes workflow inefficient and reduces productivity. For instance, administrative staff at your laboratory practices spend a considerable amount of time searching through documents, handling paper medical records and insurance claims. Orthodox and manual methods of billing management always leave a huge room for mistakes and lead to claims denials. Additionally, forcing staff members to do tasks that are more easily accomplished by automated systems can leave them frustrated. It not only increases the burden. But also make it very challenging to get enough time to focus on more patient-centric healthcare services. However, the days of pens and paper are gone. In order to keep pace with the fast-pacing medical industry. Lab technicians should invest in innovative technology that upgrades your lab billing system, from manual to a more efficient one. You should integrate smart practice management software to automate your administrative tasks. Such as patient scheduling, registration, claims preparation, scrubbing, and submission, follow-up with the insurance agencies, payment posting, etc. In this way, practitioners can save their practice from huge losses. That can be caused by the mismanagement of paper files and inefficient claims management processes. Manage Claims Efficiently The maximum reimbursements are highly dependent on the submission of error-free medical claims. So, make sure that your billing team works diligently to submit clean insurance claims. Moreover, time is the most important factor when it comes to lab revenue cycle management. Submission of claims mediately after the healthcare services are being provided, is the most solid billing practice. That helps healthcare providers to get maximum payments in minimum time.

3. Outsource Billing & Coding Services

Cost efficiency, maximum profitability and enhanced productivity are the driving factors behind the growing trend of outsourcing laboratory billing services. In this challenging era where laboratory practitioners are already struggling with revenue loss. How can they spend a significant amount of money on managing lab billing services in-house? Moreover, the adoption of value-based care models has increased the responsibilities of the medical providers. Leaving little to no time for managing non-core functions. Furthermore, the increasing operational costs have made it difficult for the practitioners to keep their billing services on lab premises. Due to all these challenges, hiring a professional lab billing company has become a popular trend, particularly in the U.S. Healthcare practitioners find it very beneficial to get maximum return on investment without compromising patient care. Lab medical billing companies help laboratory practitioners to keep their healthcare practice on the right track. Hence, don’t waste your time further. Outsource laboratory billing services, get access to the industry experts and witness the high rate of clean medical claims. Looking for cost-effective laboratory billing solutions to take your business off the ground? Then you are at the right place. Collaborate with ‘Laboratory Billings’ and get the solutions to all your financial issues. Our RCM experts are ready to make your billing system capable of generating higher revenue.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]