Collecting copay amounts from your patients is a necessity if you want to maximize your income. You may think of it as $20 here or $30 there, and that’s true. Add them all up, however, and you’ve got tens of thousands of dollars a year coming in through copayments.

Your best bet is to create a foolproof copay collection strategy. Check these tips to find out how.

Be Ready to Explain What a Copay Is

Between copays, deductibles, coinsurance and non-covered services, patients aren’t always accustomed to the different elements they’re responsible for paying. For that reason, if you ask for a copayment, they may think they already gave that to you.

Let them know what a copay is in simple terms. You might say, “Your copayment is a fixed fee that your insurer asks us to collect when you get a service. The insurance company won’t pay its share until they know the copay has been contributed by you, the patient.”

Confirm Copay Amounts

Copay amounts differ from one patient to the next. Even if two patients are with the same insurer, their copayments may not be the same because of the contract their employer has with the payer. Plus, the copay may be waived for certain preventive services, and you need to confirm those with each plan. For those reasons, you should always check how much a patient will owe for their copay before they visit your practice.

Keep in mind that the same patient may have two different copay amounts when they go for a doctor visit. For instance, they might pay you $20 for a primary care visit and $30 for a specialist visit.

Offer More Payment Options

Patients are more likely to pay their copay amounts if you give them a variety of payment methods. You should ideally accept at least a few of these options:

• All major credit cards
• Cash
• Checks
• Mobile payments
• Text payments
• Credit card on file
• Online payment portals

That way, if a patient says, “I don’t have my checkbook” or “I left my credit cards at home,” they’ll have other options for paying what they owe you.

Create Scripts for Your Front Desk Team

To ensure that your front desk is appropriately trained to collect copayments, provide them with scripts to use whenever possible. For instance, instead of saying “Would you like to take care of your copay today?” ask, “How would you like to pay your copay of $30? We accept cash, checks, credit cards and digital payments.”