Urgent care centers have the potential to provide a tremendous amount of profit to those who run them. The average reimbursement per urgent care patient is about $123. But inefficient urgent cares are less productive than they could be, frequently losing money to resubmitted claims, incorrect data input, and other medical billing errors. In a perfectly efficient urgent care facility, profitability is directly determined by the number of patients that they can see on a daily basis. But most practices have additional areas of improvement that impact profitability like accounts receivable, and excessive expenses. Luckily, increasing urgent care profitability is possible with the help of the following strategies:
Improve Urgent Care Billing with Revenue Cycle Management
One of the best ways to increase urgent care profitability is by improving the revenue cycle management (RCM). The RCM is a process that covers everything from the utilization of billing software to tracking patient care and registration. By optimizing the RCM, a practice may reduce medical billing errors, ultimately avoiding claim denials, and invoicing mishaps. Improving the urgent care billing process is vital to a healthy practice because it determines the quality of the services rendered.
Reduce Staff Turnover
Inevitably, every urgent care facility is going to lose employees at some point. It’s a natural part of the growth process. But finding ways to retain the employees that you have may contribute to long-term growth and expertise. And as your staff becomes more educated, they may be able to assist you in improving the medical revenue cycle to optimize profitability.
Consider Using Automated Medical Billing Software
A lot of money gets hung up in accounts receivables or in claim denials every year. Oftentimes, these issues occur because of incorrect data input. Using an automated medical billing software program may help to flag potential issues, ultimately reducing medical billing errors. Leveraging technology like automated medical billing software or other types of medical software may also help practices to reduce work hours, and improve the time savings per patient. Together, these strategies work to optimize profitable outcomes for urgent care facilities across the nation.
Expand Urgent Care Services
Once an urgent care facility has already optimized cash flow, there are a few other things it can do to maximize profitability. One potential strategy would be to expand urgent care services. Instead of functioning as a trauma-only facility, an urgent care may add behavioral health services. Since many of these services fit the telehealth market, the urgent care facility won’t even necessarily have to increase business space in order to accommodate a new service line. Common services that urgent care practices expand to offer also include allergy testing and dermatology.
Explore Outsourced Medical Billing
Outsourced medical billing services provide expert support for even your most problematic cash flow issues. By utilizing the combined expertise of a team of medical billing experts, urgent care facilities are better able to turn a profit, better enabling them to provide high-quality service to their patients. This will better serve repeat-clients.
Reliant Billing Services provides consultations and support for medical facilities across the nation. If you’re interested in exploring ways to optimize cash flow and profitability within your urgent care practice, feel free to contact us today. We help improve the urgent care billing process, while supporting even the most ambitious profitability goals.
