Every business office manager knows the challenge of trying to hold down the number of days in accounts receivable (A/R) and I’m no exception. As business office manager at Orthopaedic Specialists of the Carolinas, I’m charged with managing a claim volume of roughly 500-600 patients per day for 22 physicians, 10 physician assistants and 13 therapists.

I take pride in the fact that even with such a large claim volume—and four different locations—we average about 30 days in A/R. We’ve managed to accomplish this through a few distinct efforts.

First, we have become more proactive about collecting patient-pay balances prior to surgeries and other high-dollar services. With the difficult economic times, many patients have either lost their insurance or opted to increase their deductibles—which obviously has a direct impact on A/R. Read More ›