[  ] Missing Charge Slips: Complete all your missing slips for this year to have a fresh start. Also, review any claims on hold or pending. [  ] Account Receivables: It is unlikely that you can collect all the monies due to you, but you can still make a big impact. There are several ways to do this. The following are just a few suggestions:

[  ] Insurance: Offer a discount for insurance payers who are willing to close out the outstanding amounts

[  ] Patients: Review your self-pay balances, write off applicable balances to bad debt or send the balances to your Collection Agency. Before writing off the balances you can have your staff offer discounts to patients to close out their balances. You can also have your staff come in on a Saturday and pay them a bonus if they meet a threshold

[  ] Collection Agency: Send any uncollected patient balances over a certain balance, e.g. $50 to a collection agency. Clean up your collections worklist and if you are not currently working with a collection agency, do you have an office policy/procedure for working delinquent patient accounts?

[  ] Allowable: Do you have any contracted amounts that you would like to load in your practice management system. [  ] Fee Schedules: Do you need any of your fees to be updated for the new year? [  ] Appointment Templates: Update your appointment templates in your scheduling software for the new year to reflect your working hours, holidays, etc. [  ] Deductibles: Remind your staff that January – March are your “deductible” months. Be sure that you will be collecting as much money as possible at Time of Service. The industry trend is having patients responsible for higher deductibles, co-insurance and co-pays. [  ] Eligibility & Insurance Benefits: Make sure your front desk checks insurance eligibility and benefits at the time of service. Make sure your office is ready to scan newly assigned insurance cards. [  ] Office Policy & Procedure: Now is also a good time to think about updating office policies.  For instance, if you do not have a “No-Show” policy in your practice, now is a great time to implement one.  You can relay to your patient that “Effective January 1, you will be assessed a $___ fee if you fail to provide a minimum 48 hour notice of cancellation.”  Of course, each practice is different, but you want to create a policy that best fits the dynamics of your practice. [  ] Meaningful Use:  Have you satisfied all meaningful use measures and have you successfully attested? Now is a good time to check on your status. [  ] ICD-10: Are you getting ready for ICD-10? This is going to be one of the biggest change healthcare has seen for over a few decades. [  ] Staff Meeting & Training: Are you holding regular staff meetings? Are all your staff members’ assigned roles of responsibilities? Do you have training in place for new staff members? [  ] Strategic Planning: Meet with your accountant and your practice consultant to go over your performance from last year and make strategic plans for the new year. Finally, make time for yourself and enjoy your holidays. Happy Holidays!