Financial staffs-Drivers of Health Care Delivery

Financial staffs-Drivers of Health Care Delivery

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  Strategy Health Biz IndiaJanuary 201728 By: Dr. AK Khandelwal T he importance of patient financial services or billing staff in a healthcare organisation is often not given due importance by a healthcare administrator. In the present era of healthcare delivery system where around 70% of healthcare in our country is provided by private healthcare providers and patient seek their healthcare from out-of- pocket expenses, financial service staff often are the first and last healthcare organisation service providers to interact with patients. Needless to say, their performance can significantly influence the satisfaction of patient and their family members. This encounter will determine whether the patient will revisit your healthcare organisation for healthcare services or spread good name by words of mouth. Unfortunately, often the billing staff is viewed as clerical staff who only enter billing data. Hospital administrator should not overlook their importance and realise that a bad initial experience of the patient and their family members can adversely affect the hospital brand value and hurt the bottom line significantly. Problems Patient billing is a significant problem for patients and providers. Experience of healthcare recipients revealed that billing activities are full of confusion and chaos, time-consuming and frustrating. Consumers today expect billing to be simple, transparent, quick, and patient friendly. Present healthcare delivery system lags behind many industries in this activity. Early and transparent communication: Patients want that they should be Drivers of Healthcare DeliveryFinancial service staff can be the drivers for delivery of patient centric services Benefits of patient-friendly billing Increase of sale Increase in brand value Customer delight Excellent patient experience
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  Strategy Health Biz IndiaJanuary 201730 informed regarding the expected cost of expenditure before they incur the cost. Even NABH has prescribed in chapter – Patient Rights & Education in standard PRE.6. that patients and families have a right to information on expected costs. And its Objective element-c. mentions that the patient and/or family members are explained about the expected costs. It is also mentioned in Objective element-d. that patient and/or family are informed about the financial implications when there is a change in the patient condition or treatment setting. Providers should communicate earlier, so that patients understand their financial obligation before they undergo treatment. Patients who may have difficulty paying their medical bills can look for medical insurance, charity care, or other financial assistance programs. Delaying financial discussions with these patients will reduce their ability to access these programs and will adversely affect both parties. Needless to say, this is painful for both the patient and the provider alike. Billing should be simple: Complex billing systems not only create chaos and confusion at the time of discharge but can also result in the uncaptured billing and dissatisfaction of customer. Both badly hurt the bottom line of a healthcare organisation. Lack of clinical and financial staff’s collaboration: The lack of collaboration between clinical and financial staff is widely prevalent in hospitals. In today’s scenario of costly, competitive and consumer centric healthcare, effective collaboration between clinical and financial staff is the key to improve the healthcare organisation’s performance and bottom line. Lack of multiple payment options: Healthcare recipients are not provided in many healthcare organisations with multiple payment options as practiced by other industries. Solutions Identify: Hospital administrator should identify the problems of financial services. Direct observation and feedback from customers can be utilised to identify process require improvement. Literature mention that main processes are customer registration, communication technique. Develop solutions: Brain Storming Sessions, Delphi Technique, Nominal Group Technique, and Devil’s Advocacy. General guidelines for developing customer centric financial service: 1. Hiring for a financial service staff is critical and always more difficult than it seems. Health care organisations should Look IDEA IDENTIFY PROBLEM DEVELOP SOLUTIONS ALIGN EDUCATE Make your team member aware of your goals Monitor how they are performing Analyse the progress and take remedial measures Top management should ensure that all team members are aware about the organisation vision, mission and goals.They are also well informed about the organisational goal of patient friendly financial services It should be ensured that progress of strategy is analysed and deficiency is identified and correc- tive measures are taken. Hospital administrator should continuously re-evaluate and re-adjust strategic alignment in response to changes in their environment A well-structured monitoring programme helps to align the individual performance with organisa- tion goals. Identification of key process indicators and their monitoring not only identifies the progress of the process but also helps in decision making process to improve the process Three Step Method
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  MEDIA PARTNER
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  Strategy Health Biz IndiaJanuary 201732 for persons with great communication skills, strong customer service experience, empathetic attitude and IT skill. The job may require two or more employees. 2. Privacy should be maintained. 3. In emergency settings, no financial communication should be made before stabilising patient as per guidelines of Supreme court of India. 4. Communication is an important tool for successful alignment to improve organisation function. Both top down and bottom up communications are imperative to align all stake holders with the organisational goal of patient-friendly financial services. Literature mentions that early financial communication is recommended. It should be preferably before the care is provided. This ensures that care recipients are aware about their financial obligations. 5. Administrator should ensure that a collaboration between different category of staffs should exists. Collaboration removes bottle necks and makes the billing process hassle free and smooth. 6. Healthcare organisations should maintain convenient billing office hours that match the needs of consumers. 7. Appropriate use of IT should be used to facilitate the financial services delivery. Healthcare organisations should adopt best practices prevailed in other industries. In the era of demonetization, healthcare organisations need to upgrade their IT technology to ensure multiple payment options like e- wallets, debit cards, credit cards, electronic bank transfers, and such. 8. Ensure patient friendly collection. Practice the tool of three C’s (see fig.) 9. It is recommended that healthcare organisations should study the needs of the community to improve the patient billing process. Feedback should be taken from patients, caregivers, employees, physicians, and other members of the community. Educate Hospital financial service staffs should be provided regular training. Emphasis should be provided on patient friendly communication, available patient payment options, and standard language to be used in communication. Align Top management should involve all stakeholders, patients and family members, healthcare providers of all levels for ensuring implementation of developed standards. Each member of the organisation should understand the organisation’s goal of patient friendly billing and should be committed to achieve these. Top management should ensure that awareness, acceptance and application of patient friendly billing policies and procedures are integrated with the organisation culture. It is recommended that a Three Step Method (see fig.) can be used for efficient alignment. Barriers should be identified and management should develop methods for addressing them. Conclusion When majority of healthcare recipients are paying from their pocket in our country, the importance of financial communication cannot be denied. In the present era of competition, the financial communication is more important than ever. Hospital administrator should ensure that clear, early, complete and simple financial communication is provided both at the admission and at the discharge occasion to create patient-friendly financial services for customer delight. This effort shall enhance both the brand value and bottom line of the healthcare organisation. HBI Care Compassion Communicate We should be careful of our sentences, body language, and tone of voice We should commiunicate well in a simple language We should be compassionate and sensitive -Front office illing staff gives estimate of expenditure Clinical staff provide services Back office billing staff capture charges Cashier receives payment Biilling executives prepare final bill Collaboration amongst all stakeholders About the author Dr. Ashok Kumar Khandelwal is the Medical Director, Anandaloke Hospital & Neurosciences Centre, West Bengal. He is a trained Assessor from the National Accreditation Board for Hospital and Health Care Provider (NABH). He carries around two decades of experience in the hospital industry and 15 years of experience as a hospital administrator.