Every health care organization collects patient demographic details. But only few realize that every
little detail collected from the patient is very crucial for insurance claims.
As an health care provider you need to educate and train the staff in collecting this essential
data. Let us see more on how we can effectively collect
patient demography details.
Have an easy to fill Patient Registration Form
Even though, collecting this detail is important, too many questions or open ended questions and may
annoy the patients. So it is the need of the hour to keep your patient appointment/registration form
as simple and easy as possible.
The form should also have more of closed end questions like yes/no type to make the filling process
easier. In the same way the hospital staff need to stress on the key data that need to be filled
mandatory for their own benefit.
Ensure accurate data transfer from the patient registration form to the computer
The collected data has to be entered electronically through a computer. There is a chance of human
error when typing the patient demographic entry into the system.
Since most of the hospital staff will be in a hurry to attend patients, there is an higher chance of
typing or leaving out the key information.
As we all know, human error is inevitable, we can always have a back up option of filing all the
patient demographic entry forms in a physical file manually.
This will help us to cross verify the manual and the digital entry. Another important thing to be
noted, is checking the information that the patient has provided.
Since the patient writes it, sometimes they might miss out filling few key fields or their
handwriting may not be legible for reading.
So it is important for the hospital staff, to go through the filled form as soon as the patient
hands over it. If there are any doubts in spelling or missing information of important things then
you can get it clarified, at that time.
For example, If the name is “Lewies” but the entry made in the computer is “Lewise” then it will
become almost impossible to get the insurance claim unless the spelling is corrected.
In the same way, lot of other important things like age, ethnicity, etc., are also crucial to
process the claims. If there are issues in the information provided, then there is a greater
possibility of claims denial.
Problem in maintenance of Patient data
Another major problem that hospitals go through is the maintenance of patient information. This is
where outsourced billing companies come into play.
When the hospital’s billing process is outsourced, then the outsourced company takes care of the
claims, patient records and data accuracy. They are well trained in getting insurance claims,
procedures, processing period and so on.
They are also well versed in various medical billing software. This makes the job easier for
hospitals. Most importantly, outsourcing reduces the workload of hospital staff and practitioners.
On the other hand, it also increases the claim revenues by 20 – 30% easily.
Regular update of Patient information
Another scenario that one can come across is when there is a change of address or a contact number.
So it is important to stay in touch with your patients to stay up to date of their information.
While staying in touch with your patients is a good thing, but too much of communication can be bad
as well. May be once in a month or once in 2 months newsletter or an email will serve the purpose.
May be once in 6 months we can also send an online form asking them to update their latest
information in it.
A Typical Patient Demographics Entry for Medical Claims
Patient Demographic Entry will contain the following key elements plus some more additional
information
Contact Information fields like Name, Contact number, Address and Email id
Additional Emergency contact number
Date of Birth
Gender
Ethnicity
Blood group
Allergies, if any
Medical History
Major Diagnosis
Your current Insurance company
Your Family Doctor’s Name and contact details
Importance of Patient Demographics Entry for Medical Claims
The struggle of healthcare professionals while collecting timely payments on outstanding bills are
understandable.
Whether it’s an outsourced medical billing company or in-house billing, getting paid in timely
manner takes to one important detail, patient demographics.
For a patient who visits healthcare professionals office, it is important to update the patient
demographics also for the existing patients as it is for the new patients.
In case if the existing patients information is not collected and his phone number changed, then
claim won’t result in payments.
So, it’s always vital to update and enter patient demographics details for the existing as well as
new patients.
Generally, the patient won’t about their details being stored in the system. So, even if you
question them, they answer that nothing has changed for them accordingly.
Patient demographics details entry will go a long way by ensuring accurate information, which will
save the claims from denials and rejections.
How will medical billing companies protect patient demographics information?
Leading medical billing companies ensure that their clients get a seamless experience when getting
their services. One part of that process is protecting sensitive information like patient data. Here
are a few steps that they take:
Trustworthy medical billing companies always maintain compliance with federal laws to take care of
patient information. This means they stay in sync with the HIPAA law.
By HIPAA’s rules, the medical billing companies are bound to protect the patient’s data from any
unauthorized third parties.
So you can be sure that when you share your EHR with the billing teams on the other end, they are
safe.
In case the medical billing companies use software tools to store the information, they also make
sure they have secure servers.
This means they regularly go for ransomware or spyware checks so that the sensitive patient health
information is not compromised.
So you can be sure that
outsourcing medical billing companies not only take care
of your daily maintenance of patient demographics but also keep them safe. If you are wondering how
you can choose a suitable medical billing company, you can read the article here.
If you are struggling or finding it difficult to manage your medical billing, then you can outsource
it to a provider. Here is a list of the
best medical billing companies in the United
States. If you have more queries on medical billing, do visit this blog regularly.