Your front desk team is the face of your practice, and if they make a big mistake, you may lose patients (and the accompanying income). Some practices can’t come back from errors that the front desk team makes, so it’s incredibly important to ensure they know how to avoid the most common issues.
Check out three common mistakes that front desk staff members make, along with tips to avoid the same issues.
1. Failing to Manage Patient Expectations
One of the most common reasons that patients get annoyed is because they are expecting something from your practice, and your office isn’t able to deliver. This may include a returned phone call, a short wait time to see the doctor, a form being completed quickly or myriad other issues. Your front desk team should be able to help manage patient expectations well, which can create a more harmonious patient base.
That’s why it’s imperative for your front desk staff to listen carefully to patients and then give them a realistic response that you know your team can follow through with. For instance, if a patient presents for an appointment and you tell them the doctor isn’t running behind and will see them right away, it’s very important to update them if the doctor suddenly starts running behind. Something like “Mrs. Smith, I know I told you Dr. Jones was running on time today, but it appears he had an emergency to deal with, so it’s now going to be 20 minutes before he can see you. Is that OK or would you like to reschedule?”
2. Accidentally Violating HIPAA
Even though you’ve probably trained your front desk staff on the HIPAA privacy requirements, it’s possible that they only think about the most egregious violations, like faxing patient records to the wrong phone number or looking up private patient information about someone they know and sharing it with others. In reality, HIPAA violations can be accidental and may occur just because the staff member makes one minor infraction. For instance, your front desk staffer may leave their computer screen facing the patient check-out area and then walk away to get something from the printer. The patient then may be able to see the list of other patients’ names and why they’re coming for appointments that day.
Instead, your front desk team should keep all computer monitors facing away from where patients can see them so no private information can be access or seen by others. They should be trained on even small infractions and reminded of all the ways protected health information can be accidentally exposed so they don’t make any errors in this area.
3. Forgetting to Check Insurance Cards Frequently
One of the easiest ways to ensure your claims are processed quickly and accurately is to always get the patient’s insurance card at every visit. You can then scan it or make a copy to verify their benefits and coverage amounts. But not every front desk staff member remembers to do this every time patients come in, which may result in submitting claims to outdated, expired or lapsed health insurers. By the time you realize you sent a claim to the wrong payer, the patient is gone and you can’t correct it without a lot of legwork.
Your best bet is to train everyone at the front desk to make a habit of verifying the patient’s insurance information at every visit by making a copy of their most recent ID card. This step only takes a few extra minutes for every patient visit, but can save a lot of time later if you have the wrong information and need to track down the right data.
If your front desk is running smoothly, it can make your practice run more efficiently, bring in more cash, and improve patient satisfaction. Learn the most effective strategies from expert Tracy Bird, FACMPE, CPC, CPMA, during her latest online training, Front Desk Fundamentals That Guarantee Success. Sign up today!
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