Our January gross collections were good — $4,900,554. This is up from $4,500,313 in January 2012 or an 8.89 percent increase.

Collecting money is an important part of our work. Sometimes we say the revenue cycle starts with patient registration, but it actually starts when we sign a payer contract.  When we sign an agreement, we are accepting that a payer will reimburse us at a certain rate (usually a percentage of Medicare). But we also have monies that we must collect from the patient.

Patient financial responsibility has increased significantly in the past few years and is projected to grow even more. I am talking about unmet deductibles, coinsurance, deposits, balances and copayments. Copayment collections are a necessity. In fact, we are contractually obligated, in most cases, to collect copayments from patients. We need to collect the other items of patient responsibilities as well.

Here we are in February — starting another month; let’s aim high on collections and secure all the funds we can to carry out our important mission for the practice and School of Medicine.