8 Ways Real-Time Claim Tracking Can Improve Payment Turnaround in Medical Billing

Healthcare is not only about providing care for patients. But also includes various operations to ensure a smooth and successful business. One of the major operations is medical billing as it ensures the financial stability of healthcare practice.

However, the traditional medical billing process has many challenges which often suffer from delays, claim denials, and administrative inefficiencies.

This is where Real-time claim tracking comes in and offers a comprehensive solution to transform medical billing operations. It offers instant visibility into claim statuses to reduce errors and expedite payment turnaround.

In this blog post, we have shared the 8 ways in which a real-time claim tracking system improves payment turnaround in medical billing operations.

What is Payment Turnaround and Its Significance in Healthcare RCM

Payment turnaround is the duration between the provision of medical services and the receipt of payment by healthcare providers. In Healthcare RCM, efficient payment turnaround is important because it impacts the provider’s cash flow directly, financial stability, and ability to invest in quality patient care.

Timely payments ensure that healthcare organizations can:

• Meet operational expenses 
• Reduce the risk of bad debt 
• Maintain a sustainable practice.

Efficient RCM processes like prompt billing and effective follow-up on claims can minimize payment delays and optimize revenue collection.

According to the Medical Group Management Association, delayed payments and claim denials are among the top challenges faced by healthcare providers. 

According to the report, claim denials cost US healthcare institutions an estimated $262 billion each year. This represents around 9% of all claims submitted. This underscores the importance of optimizing payment turnaround to minimize revenue leakage.

Related: 9 Strategies You Should Follow to Improve Revenue Cycle Management

Challenges with Traditional Claim Tracking

Traditional claim tracking process involves many challenges because of manual work. Some of the challenges include:

• Manual tracking can result in late identification of errors in claims
• Without real-time updates, coordinating with payers becomes hard
• Manual processes increase the workload on staff
• Lack of proactive error detection contributes to higher claim denial rates.
• Traditional methods often lack comprehensive analytics.

These challenges create the urge for the need advanced solutions in claim tracking to improve financial performance.

8 Ways Real-time Claim Tracking Improves Payment Turnaround in Medical Billing

1. Immediate Identification of Claim Errors

Problem: Claim errors are the leading cause of denials. Common errors in medical claims include wrong patient information, coding mistakes, and missing documents, According to AMA, 20% of claims were denied due to errors in claims.

Solution: A real-time claim tracking system can flag errors as soon as possible when they occur. This will allow your practice’s billing staff members to correct them before submitting them to insurance companies. This reduces the likelihood of denials and speeds up the payment process.

A study reveals that real-time error detection can able to reduce claim denials by up to 50%.

2. Enhanced Communication with Payers

Problem: Poor communication with payers is also one of the reasons that can lead to payment delays and claim denials. Some providers reveal that they struggle to get timely updates on claim status from payers.

Solution: A real-time claim tracking system makes it easier to communicate with payers by providing instant claim status updates. This enables providers or billing staff members to address payer requests promptly.

According to the report, providers believe that effective communication with payers will reduce claim denials significantly.

3. Reduction in Claim Denials

Problem: Claim denials are the major cause of revenue drain for healthcare providers. Stats reveal that almost 10-15% of claims were denied and even higher rates for some specialties.

Solution: A real-time tracking system can identify potential issues before claim submission which reduces the likelihood of denials. These systems also provide analytics to identify the trends and root causes for denials. So, that the providers will take proactive measures to prevent denials. 

A case study reveals that real-time tracking reduced claim denials by 30% within the first 6 months of implementation.

Related: The Importance of a 95% Clean Claim Rate to Improve Healthcare Practice Revenue

4. Accelerated Cash Flow

Problem: Delayed payments disrupt cash flow which makes it harder for providers to cover operating costs. The Healthcare Financial Management Association reports that the average time to collect payment is 45 days.

Solution: Real-time tracking expedites the identification and resolution of issues. This will lead to faster claim approvals and payments thus improving practice cash flow.

A study shows that real-time tracking reduced the average payment turnaround time by 20%.

5. Improved Staff Productivity

Problem: Administrative staff members and billing staff used to spend most of their time managing claim status and corrections. So, it creates a diversion from other critical tasks.

Solution: The real-time claim tracking system has an automation tool that significantly automates the claim tracking process. This will improve staff productivity, resource allocation on other critical tasks, and reduce operational costs.

Some providers reported increased staff productivity after implementing real-time tracking systems.

6. Enhanced Patient Satisfaction

Problem: Billing errors and delays can lead to patient dissatisfaction with the practice. Because there might be unexpected charges or long billing processes.

Solution: Real-time tracking ensures accurate and timely billing. This will improve transparency, reduce frustration, and foster better patient trust and satisfaction.

Efficient claims processing contributes to a better patient experience and transparent billing practices encourage patients to return to the provider.

Related: Enhance Medical Billing: 5 Tips to Transform Patient Financial Experience

7. Compliance with Regulatory Standards

Problem: Noncompliance with billing regulations may result in penalties and delayed payments. This creates legal and financial dangers.

Solution: Real-time claim tracking systems are constantly updated to reflect the most recent regulatory standards. It guarantees that claims are compliant when submitted. This method eliminates legal risks and delays caused by non-compliance.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services require health plans to provide real-time online access to claim status information. This improves communication between providers and payers while also ensuring compliance with administrative simplification criteria.

8. Data-Driven Decision Making

Problem: The absence of meaningful insights from claim processing data makes it difficult to detect trends and areas for improvement.

Solution: Real-time tracking systems offer analytics on claim status and outcomes. This allows healthcare professionals to make informed decisions about billing processes. Analyzing this data allows providers to identify bottlenecks, alter workflow, and utilize strategies to improve efficiency.

Data-driven decision-making uses information that has been acquired, processed, and analyzed to obtain a better knowledge of specific business difficulties and to enable effective solutions. In healthcare, Data-driven decision-making can lead to increased operational efficiency and financial performance.

Vozo EHR Integrated with Medical Billing

Medical billing is a complex healthcare operation that requires efficiency and precision. Delayed payments, claim denials, and manual errors can slow your revenue cycle and affect cash flow.

With Vozo’s Cloud EHR solution, you get an integrated medical billing system that simplifies your billing process and enhances real-time claim tracking to improve payment turnaround.

How Vozo EHR Transforms Medical Billing:

• Streamline billing workflows and reduce administrative workload.
• Instantly identifies and corrects coding errors before claim submission.
• Speeds up claim verification with automated payer communication.
• Ensures compliance with built-in coding checks and regulatory updates.
• Offers real-time analytics and reporting for better decision-making.
• Minimizes delays by automating claims processing and payments.
• Reduces billing disputes with accurate, transparent invoicing.

Vozo EHR’s seamless integration with medical billing empowers healthcare providers to reduce errors, prevent delays, and optimize revenue cycles, all while focusing on delivering better patient care.