Keys to a successful Point of Service collections program
According to Suzanne Menard, Revenue Cycle Director at Southern Maine Medical Center (SMMC), some of the most important keys to implementing a successful Point of Service (POS) collection program include clear objectives presented to all hospital committees and comprehensive training programs for involved staff members.
During a presentation Oct. 26 at the Healthcare Financial Management Association Maine chapter's Hospital Best Practices conference in Auburn, Maine, Menard shared the hospital's successful implementation of a Point of Service Cash Collections (POS) program.
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After scrapping its original POS program in the 1990s due to its lack of success, Menard said 150-bed SMMC, in Biddeford, Maine, brought in consultants in 2007 to help the hospital redesign their registration program. One recommendation from the consultants was to transition the hospital to a practice of speaking to patients prior to services in order to verify demographic and insurance information. This also included developing a proactive financial counseling process to identify patients in need of financial assistance before receiving services. Finally, it also was recommended that the hospital implement a POS cash collection process allowing SMMC to collect patient payments owed at the time of service.
After following the consultants' recommendations and rolling out a new POS program throughout 2007, Menard said SMMC slowly began to see the financial benefits of the collection program. In 2007, SMMC saw approximately $175,000 in POS collections, and in 2010 POS collections spiked to over $300,000. Menard said 2011 POS collections were around $300,000 with similar results expected by the end of 2012.
According to Menard, SMMC's successful POS program was not just about the program itself but the way in which it was presented to staff members.
"We spent time selling this to internal staff – why we needed to do this, why it was so important, and what the goals were for this program," noted Menard.
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Menard said SMMC held classes for involved staff members that included scripting and roll-playing, and sample posting of payments and reconciling cash, as well as homework assignments.
Menard added that the hospital made sure employees had accountability when it came to the POS program by adding POS collections to the patient access job descriptions and adding POS as a key responsibility area.
Just as employees were held accountable for following through with the POS program, they were given incentives and recognized for their efforts, said Menard.
"Incentives do work," she said. "Don't underestimate the power of praise."
Equally important, Menard said, is making sure goals set for any POS program are realistic and consistently measured and reported.
"Develop a baseline and measure improvement. Where are you today versus where you were before?" she said. "And celebrate those successes. The 2010 results dramatically improved with staff incentives in June, July and August."
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