3 Reasons to Automate your Insurance Verification Process
Posted: March 23, 2022 - By Health DevAlthough 70% of people have vision insurance, 50% don’t know who their vision insurance provider is. This uncertainty creates significant extra work for vision care offices and potential for lost business. The reason? Vision care providers must take on the time-consuming responsibility of searching multiple insurer datasets to determine if a patient has insurance coverage. The risk of error is high, and any mistakes or misinformation can deter a patient from making an appointment.
Make it easy to find a patient’s insurance and benefits with an insurance verification tool. When patients feel informed about their vision care coverage options, they make intelligent decisions about their benefits. They’ll be able to time visits to take advantage of benefits eligibility and will be far less likely to cancel or miss appointments. This is good for their vision — and good for your bottom line.
An insurance verification tool can fit into the workflow of most optometry practices. Here are 3 major reasons why this resource can be beneficial:
1. Increase Front Office Efficiency and Save Time
Insurance verification is a labor-intensive manual task for most vision care practices. If a patient does not have a vision insurance card or is not clear on who their insurer is, staff members must search several databases. Your front office staff will likely complete this task multiple times each day for multiple patients. For patients, waiting on hold or at the front desk before an appointment can be a frustrating experience that gives them a poor impression of your practice.
Using an insurance verification solution can save countless hours each week, so your team can regain precious time needed to devote to higher-value tasks.
2. Transform Your Operations
Every time your front office team focuses on insurance validation, they can’t devote attention to other critical tasks– such as helping patients check-in or out, medical coding and billing, or maintaining patient records.
An insurance verification tool not only transforms your front office operations, but also helps your staff make intelligent appointment scheduling decisions while patient benefits are displayed. If a patient has already used their annual exam benefit, you can know the next eligibility window and schedule their next appointment.
You can also determine if the patient has coverage through multiple insurance providers and view vision care coverage for dependents to maximize care opportunities. Using this insight, you can advise patients on scheduling exams for family members and earn more revenue for your practice.
3. Reduce No-Shows and Cancellations
Paying for vision care out-of-pocket is expensive. According to recent data, the average cost of a vision exam in the U.S. is $206. Add in frames and lenses for prescription glasses, and that cost jumps to $562. Having vision insurance can reduce those costs significantly.
If patients believe they don’t have vision coverage, they may forgo an eye exam to save money. If they’ve made an appointment and can’t validate their insurance, they may cancel a scheduled visit or simply skip it altogether. Missed appointments cost the healthcare industry billions each year, so reducing them should be a priority for your bottom line. Confirm insurance eligibility during the first call with patients instead of having people show up and leave if they don’t have the coverage they expect.
Introducing Insurance Check from Demandforce
Your front office team has many crucial responsibilities besides validating patients’ insurance coverage. The process has historically been slow and cumbersome, but you can revolutionize how your practice handles this process with Insurance Check from Demandforce. Receive insight into your patient’s vision carrier in less than one minute! You’ll learn the patients’ vision provider and benefits, along with whether their benefits are active or expired.
With that information, you can advise patients on the appropriate time to schedule an exam and let them know if they have coverage for glasses, contacts, or other vision care services. In addition, you can see dependent information and can discuss their family members’ vision needs.
The entire process takes minutes and empowers you to share accurate vision care insight to help patients make informed care decisions. Not only will you save time, but you’ll also deliver standout patient experiences that will boost loyalty and motivate patients to spread positive sentiment about your practice.
