Patient Registration Form For Medicare Patients: Fill & Download for Free

Physicians may structure their appointments any way they wish. Certainly, they may not discriminate against patients based on their age. Medicare patients, however, being older and sicker, likely require more time. Physicians may be trying to accommodate them. I find no evidence to support that Medicare patients are being scheduled unfairly by their physicians because of how much Medicare pays for care. If that were the case, I would report the physician to Medicare and never return.I also find no evidence that Medicare compensates physicians “11 cents per hour.” I did find the Medscape 2018 Physician Compensation Report (links below; requires free registration), which analyzes the results of a survey of roughly 20,000 physicians. It provides more contextual information on how physicians are compensated and how they feel about it. While it does not report their hourly compensation by payment source, it’s important to remember that Medicare participation is voluntary for physicians. There must be more to the story, right?Physicians receive their income from multiple sources, not just from Medicare, Medicaid, and primary commercial insurance. In many, a single patient has more than one insurance payer.Many Medicarees have supplemental plans that provide additional payment after Medicare, many receive secondary payer benefits from their working spouse’s or partner’s insurance, many Medicarees agree to pay out of pocket for services that are not covered by Medicare, and let’s not forget that physicians collect copays and patients are obligated for deductibles and coinsurance, too.All payments received from all sources should be combined to get a true income per patient per hour.Additionally, most physicians treat patients under 65 who are not Medicarees. These patients generally require less care per hour. Commercial and private pay patients make up a substantial percentage of this patient population and commercial insurance pays substantially more for their care. A practice is a business, too.Some specialties are more heavily weighted by Medicare patients. Some less so. Many don’t accept Medicare. Payment rates do take into account physician type and patient demographics.Imagine the effect of “Medicare for All” or “single payer” on physicians revenue. Physicians would have to accept whatever they are paid from only one payer and, ostensibly, the patient (copays, etc.). How will they choose to schedule their patients then?https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2018-compensation-overview-6009667

Most doctors have no idea what insurance patients have until there’s a need to know in order to be compliant with pharmacy prescription orders, diagnostic testing where they must refer the patient outside their office or determine if the contract allows the convenience of in-office testing under their personal supervision.If you understand the workflow of a new patient visit, you’d understand this immediately:Patient discovers the doctor existsPatient checks the internet to do preliminary background check (70%+)Patient verifies that insurance is acceptedPatient calls to schedule an appointmentStaff asks about Medicare, insurance, and any supplemental policies simply to know how to enter them in the computer for the convenience of pre-registration.Patient is offered appointment times.Patient is requested to bring old records if available or sign a request for release from previous providers.Patient arrives at the office on the appointed date and time, checks in, signs forms, and is taken to an exam or consultation room to meet the docDoc stands with hand on door and feet pointing out, not in. Asks the questions, evaluates the responses, makes an exam, decides a course of action, writes any orders or prescriptions — All this taking place in 3–7 minutes, mind you.Patient escorted to check out desk to pay and make follow up appointment.The only time the doc even considers insurance is in step 9 or if things go sideways on payment.

RCM stands for Revenue Cycle Management in healthcare. It works at the functional system of all the small and large healthcare organization. Healthcare RCM is a process to manage the administrative and clinical functions associated with claims processing, payment, and revenue generation.Benefits of RCMSaving time by automating duties like appointment and payment reminders, and reaching out to insurers regarding claim denialsProviding insights on why a claim was deniedIssuing employee prompts to enter information to save on claim revisions and gain insights on why claims might be deniedEnsuring proper reimbursement for Medicare patientsDetermining a patient’s insurance status and copay requirementsPotentially include error detection to assist in correcting and tracking unpaid claimsOpportunities to review revenue shortfallsCapMinds RCM ProcessCharge capture: Rendering medical services into billable charges.Claim submission: Submitting claims of billable fees to insurance companies.Coding: Properly coding diagnoses and procedures.Patient collections: Determining patient balances and collecting payments.Preregistration: Collecting preregistration information, such as insurance coverage, before a patient arrives for inpatient or outpatient procedures.Registration: Collecting subsequent patient information during registration to establish a medical record number and meet various regulatory, financial and clinical requirements.Remittance processing: Applying or rejecting payments through remittance processing.Third-party follow up: Collecting payments from third-party insurers.Utilization review: Examining the necessity of medical services.#CapMinds #healthcare #RCM #RCMbenefits