How to set collection goals
Diane Ward, assistant director of Enterprise Patient Access Services at UK Healthcare in Lexington, recently set target goals for her departments.
"Our dollar goals were set based on our total patient A/R [accounts receivable]," she reports. The department used the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s (HFMA’s) benchmark standard, which is that 30% of patient cash collected should be collected upfront.
"We found that taking the focus off of the dollar and putting it on the attempt’ had better results," says Ward.
To keep the percentages at or above the target, staff would discuss options with patients that couldn’t make payment in full, she explains. If a patient owed $500 and said he or she couldn’t pay that amount, for example, the registrar would immediately ask if the patient could pay half. "We found it to be more effective to target the number of collections, rather than dollars," says Ward. "This leads to staff getting in the habit of asking first for the full amount." If the patient is unable to make the full payment, staff members then ask for partial payment.
"We currently target a 60% collection rate of potential for our scheduled appointments," says Ward. The potential is the amount identified prior to service as the patient’s out-of-pocket responsibility.
Weekly notifications are emailed listing the top three collectors and overall collections for each of the health system’s registration "teams." At Chandler Hospital, one report goes to surgery and the main registration areas for each of the hospital’s two pavilions, and a separate report goes to the emergency department (ED) registration area; at Good Samaritan Hospital, a single report goes to both ED registration and the main registration area. "The transparency with staff allows them to see how they compare to their peers," she says. "It lends to some competiveness within the teams," says Ward.
Registrars are consistently meeting or exceeding the 60% rate in admitting areas. "We are collecting closer to 70% or 75%. We have discussed that it may be time to raise the bar," says Ward.
Shelita Russ, CHAM, director of patient access services for Ochsner Medical Center — Kenner (LA) and Ochsner Baptist Medical Center in New Orleans, set 2013 collection goals by increasing the 2012 goals by 15%. Here are the results:
• In 2012, the Kenner facility collected $889,193, so the 2013 goal was adjusted to $1.02 million. The final 2013 collection amount was $1.07 million.
• In 2012, Baptist facility collected $1.4 million, so the 2013 goal was adjusted to $1.6 million. The final 2013 collection amount was $1.6 million.
"There is a friendly competition," says Russ. "For meeting goals and sustaining them for a three-month period, we give staff pizza or ice cream."
