The Role of Intake in Behavioral Health Revenue Cycle Management

Behavioral health revenue cycle management best practices should include your intake process. This part of the cycle is sometimes overlooked by being seen as more of an administrative task than a part of the RCM. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are several ways that a better intake can positively affect your revenue cycle. Let’s look at a few.

Collecting the right information

Each behavioral health program or facility will have its own required forms, but there are some that tend to be included almost across the board. Here are a few forms of information that you will likely want to get as part of the intake process.

•       Patient Demographics- verified and validated.
•       Insurance information including information about the client’s co-pay, deductible, policy limits, out-of-network rates and policies.
•       Any co-insurance information.
•       Information on out-of-pocket payments.
•       Any guidelines that are specific to the client’s plan.

Ensuring information accuracy

This may sound like a given, but it is more overlooked than you may think. Getting complete information from the client and recording it accurately pays off over and over. It makes benefits verifications move more smoothly. Eliminating this common cause of rejections can cut down the frequency of rejected claims. It aids in making sure that the client gets their billing sent to them on time and accurately. Lastly, it is helpful in trying to collect payment and ensuring that it is properly credited to the client’s account.

Nextus has developed systems to aid in this. There are checkpoints built-in that help us spot errors or discrepancies in the information. Our ‘measure twice, cut once’ approach keeps our first-pass acceptance rates of claims at 99%. We make behavioral health revenue cycle management more efficient and productive.

Other forms

There are other forms that can be collected at intake that are useful to have in the event that a carrier has questions or needs permissions. Some of those forms can include:

•       Consent to treatment
•       HIPAA notification acknowledgment
•       Release of Information form
•       Financial assignment of benefits
•       Other forms that are necessary for your facility

How it helps

All of this may sound tedious, but it is necessary. Care and attention to the details in the front end of the process pay off in the back end. Claims can be reimbursed quickly, without slow payments or declines that require a resubmission. Payments are received in a timely manner and there is no expense of resubmissions when it is accurate the first time.

Being thorough up front even helps with the collection of co-pays and out-of-pocket expenses from the client. They are more likely to pay their invoices quickly when they already expect to see them. They won’t feel surprised or like you are trying to add to their bill because they knew it all along.

We can help

Nextus is here to help you manage your revenue cycle in the most efficient way. We maximize your revenue while cutting down the number of administrative tasks you need to perform. Nextus does what we are excellent at doing so you have more time to do what you love, helping your clients.

Schedule a consultation with us if you would like to discuss how Nextus Billing Solutions can help your behavioral health revenue cycle management. We would appreciate the opportunity to learn about your needs and how we can help your program thrive.