Ending the Revolving Door of Patients at Your Practice

A general practice with a revolving door of patients is one that always seems to be losing patients at the same rate that they are attracting them. New patients are showing up for appointments, but most of them vanish off to never be seen again. While it’s tempting to invest most of your marketing efforts towards attracting new patients, without making an attempt to keep the old ones, you’ll end up with a revolving door of patients.

Why Are Patients Leaving?

One survey of patients who chose to leave their medical practice of choice found that patients have 4 core reasons for putting their medical care in someone else’s hands:

  1. Feeling neglected
  2. Poor communication or misinformation
  3. Feeling rushed
  4. Lack of detail or description for procedures, tests and results

At the heart of all 4 of those things is that sometimes, doctors do not have enough time to satisfy patient needs fully. What does that mean? You should go above and beyond to provide patients with additional resources and also distribute the patient retention responsibility throughout your practice. It isn’t just the doctor who is responsible for keeping patients. Instead, it’s also the receptionists, nurses, technicians and more.

Educate

Invest in resources that can educate your patients. While you might not have time to explain a procedure to a patient in one visit thoroughly, you could show a video, offer them literature or direct them to a page on your website. When patients know where to find the information that they need, they will be much more likely to seek it out and sate their curiosity.

Ask and Reassess

Regular patient surveys are another great way to see how you’re doing and make changes to suit the needs of your patients better. In some cases, patients value the opportunity to express themselves more than actual changes taking place! Make it clear that you care about your patients, their health and their experience at your practice and you will be much closer to retaining them.

Follow Up

When a patient leaves that means that they’re gone forever, right? No! If a patient leaves your practice, despite your efforts to retain them, you should place a follow-up call to see why they chose to do so. Many patients are willing to give you valuable insight on why they left, which could help you pull more patients out of the revolving door of patients.

Additional Retention Tips

  • Ensure that patients are informed of when their next appointment is.
  • Reward patient loyalty.
  • Send appointment reminders.
  • Make scheduling as easy as possible.
  • Keep track of important patient information, like birthdays and contact information.

Practice Guidance for Your Practice from Vetters Enterprises

Vetters Enterprises specializes in practice management, private practice business support and revenue cycle optimization. We can perform in-depth assessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Let us keep your business as healthy as you keep your patients! Give us a call at (443) 352-0088.

The Importance of Verifying Patient Eligibility

When does your practice verify patient eligibility, co-pays and deductibles? If your answer is anything other than “in advance,” you are wasting valuable time and money. Why is verifying patient eligibility in advance such a necessity for today’s practice?

The Patient Verification Process

When a patient visits, your office needs to know what their insurance company requires for co-pays and deductibles in addition to the patient’s eligibility for services. This can be done by using the patient’s insurance card to verify information with the carrier. While primary care doctors typically only worry about whether or not the insurance is valid and what the patient’s financial responsibility is, specialists are often under different sets of rules. Waiting to verify a referral or specialist eligibility until a patient shows up for their appointment is never a good idea.

In addition to the above, your practice also needs to know whether you are considered in network or out of network. Are you seeing Medicare patients? Understanding the benefits that your patient has is critical, because many patients confuse Medicare Managed Care Plans with other Medicare offerings.

Checking in Advance is Critical

If you aren’t already convinced after reading the above, consider how much time it takes you to verify that information for each patient. Some insurance companies have excellent customer service, while others take at least 30 minutes to reach on the phone. If a patient comes in without a referral, your receptionist will spend valuable time trying to track down the referral instead of assisting other patients.

Verifying New Patients

Every time a new patient calls to schedule an appointment, take the time to discuss their insurance coverage with them and forward any necessary paperwork. Investing a small amount of time before the initial appointment can save money and time the day of. To determine a patient’s insurance eligibility, you should always collect the following:

  • Name and date of birth
  • Name of the primary insured
  • Social security number of the primary insured
  • Carrier
  • ID number and group number
  • Contact information for the insurance company (should be listed on the insurance card)

Next, take the time to call the insurance company and confirm:

  • That the patient is currently covered by the insurance
  • The coverage effective dates
  • Whether your practice is in network or out of network
  • If the services that the patient will be receiving are covered
  • If a referral or pre-authorization is needed

Verifying Current Patients

Every time you see a current patient, verify that nothing has changed with their insurance since their last visit. Again, a little bit of time invested before they come to your office will ensure prompt payment and correct eligibility.

Bring Your Verification Into the Modern World

For a faster way of verifying patient eligibility, use a web-based system like IntakeQ. Your practice can load intake forms directly to a secure website and get notified every time a patient completes them. This allows you to verify eligibility in advance and without the hassle.

Vetters Practice Management Consulting

Vetters Enterprises specializes in practice management, revenue cycle optimization, and private practice business support. We can perform detailed assessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Let us keep your business as healthy as you keep your patients! Give us a call at (443) 352-0088.