5 Tips for Effectively Communicating with Insurance Companies

Welcome to January: arguably the busiest and most important month of the year for therapy clinics for several reasons. It is a transitional time for everyone, but especially in the therapy industry. As you know, some of the biggest shifts that can happen this month involve insurance in some capacity.

Many plans and benefits are shifting in January, with commercial carriers and state-based coverage. Our friends at TheraPlan explain how plan changes can affect your patients and revenue. Changes can also take place in terms of credentialing requirements at the start of a new year. The Clinic Connection team understands firsthand how complicated it can feel to manage changes for all your current staff members. On top of it all, you may have new hires starting and be anxious to have them start treating patients and being able to bill for their services.

What does all this mean for your clinic? Chances are, you’re spending a lot of time (and therefore money) communicating with insurance companies. We know you want to do this the right way. Whether you’re verifying credentials, providing updated documents, or dealing with patient claims. Here are 5 tips for effectively communicating with insurance companies:

• Set up a schedule and specific questions you’ll be asking during each call. While it may seem obvious that having notes helps, we cannot emphasize this step enough. Find a window of time a few times per week when you or the person responsible for following up with insurance companies can make calls. Ideally, this would be at a time of day when there tends to be a lower call volume (perhaps midday), but most importantly,  time away from other office duties. Focus is essential to make these calls effective.  As daunting as it is to plan ahead, the thought of having to call back later is generally worse!

 

• Always copy the individual therapists whose claims or credentials you are managing, on all emails to the insurance company. When your communication is written, it’s a bit easier to remember everything you need to include. However, one essential element is to inform your therapists of the latest updates to any claim or credentialing inquiries. Instead of doubling your efforts by sending separate messages, simply copy the relevant parties on every email with insurance companies. This will eliminate the stress of being confronted with requests for updates in the midst of a busy day in the office!

 

• Keep solid records of each touchpoint. Both phone calls and emails should be carefully tracked. Phone calls are most subject to dispute, so ensuring that you’re ready to take notes is critical. It’s not a good idea to be making these important calls from a car or in a place where you can’t record information. Ideally, you’ll create a shared spreadsheet for these types of calls. Jot down the agent’s name and ID number, the date and time of the call, any claim updates, and anything they tell you pertaining to a therapist’s eligibility to treat. Imagine that the content of every communication will come into question at some point down the road, meaning you need to be detail-oriented to an extreme.

 

• Take care to maintain a positive relationship, despite the tedious nature of it. Just as you would train your staff to treat patients with care and respect, you should train them to deal with potentially contentious or stressful contact with insurance companies in the same way. Being calm and patient on the phone, and using polite and professional language in written communication, is always the best approach. Despite any inefficiencies you may encounter on the other end, ensuring that your team has done their part to keep things pleasant will benefit everyone. Simply put, the more willing you are to work with people, the more willing they’ll be to help you out when you need it.

 

• Evaluate internal policies to support solid internal communication. It’s difficult to maintain a positive relationship with insurance companies if your team doesn’t communicate well internally. We recommend requiring solid communication by setting up policies that support credentialing requirements. This way, you’ll be able to quickly troubleshoot any issues and pinpoint how any errors occur in the credentialing process.

No matter how much help you have, working with insurance companies is not easy. These tips for effectively communicating with insurance companies should enable you to hurdle common obstacles but if you feel you need more personalized guidance our experts are here for you. Find out how we can take this frustration off your hands altogether when it comes to credentialing and make 2020 a profitable and less stressful year.