Get your money back! Automating your billing

Look, are missing charges that big of a deal? 

You may find yourself asking that. But let’s have a look at an everyday example of what can happen in a clinic. 

In a bustling veterinary hospital, it's easy for treatments and procedures to slip through the cracks when it comes to billing. A quick medication administration here, an extra bandage change there - these small but crucial services can often go unrecorded, leading to revenue loss and inaccurate patient records. All it can take is a brief interruption to pull a team member’s focus away from the invoice-creating process, leading to missed charges.

Missed charges are one of the most common issues faced by vet practices and can significantly impact your clinic's revenue and efficiency.

Some of the most common missed charges during outpatient appointments include those for fecal exams, medical progress exams, ultrasound-guided cystocentesis and blood draws. For in-patients, missed charges often involve daily hospitalisation fees, injection fees and IV fluid pump charges.

These overlooked charges can quickly add up, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in lost annual revenue. In veterinary practices:

• Missed charges are estimated at reducing 5% to 10% of actual revenue. This means that a veterinary practice with an annual revenue of $1 million could be losing up to $100,000 every year!
• According to the American Animal Hospital Association, 17% of lab tests go unbilled. 

To put this into perspective for individual patients, consider the average cost of an overnight hospital stay due to vomiting: $748 (tax included).

Itemised Invoice:

When you factor in all the diagnostic tests, supportive care, and symptom management protocols involved, even a small oversight in billing can have significant consequences. A 5-10% missed charge rate for medication and items billed while in hospital means a potential loss of up to $45 per patient. Over time, these losses can accumulate, causing substantial financial strain on veterinary clinics.

An automated billing program might be the correct solution for you. 

Automated billing is a software solution that centralises and automates many important tasks of a clinic including product and pricing records, invoice generation, and claim management. Elevated efficiency and precision of these routine tasks reduces the workload on administrative staff, increasing the clinic’s revenue by reducing the labour necessary for care and claim management of each patient, and reducing missed charges.

What are the Advantages of Automated Billing?

Real-time treatment recording

Automated billing systems integrate seamlessly with your practice management software, allowing for real-time recording of treatments. As soon as a procedure is performed or medication is administered, it can be logged directly into the system, ensuring that no service goes unbilled.

Streamlined workflow

With automated billing, every service is automatically recorded in the patient's account, preventing omissions and manual errors. This streamlined process allows your staff to focus more on patient care and less on paperwork, reducing the likelihood of missed charges. It also removes the need to print and mail paper invoices or follow-up notices, easing the administrative workload. 

Automated billing can also make a more efficient workflow due to its digital and predictive data management capabilities. These systems keep records accurate and up to date, eliminate redundant data, and simplify communication. This reduces manual effort, saves time, and improves overall efficiency.

Improved Accuracy

By eliminating manual data entry, automated billing systems significantly reduce the risk of human error. This means fewer typos, miscalculations, or forgotten entries, resulting in more accurate and comprehensive invoices. 

By minimising paperwork and errors, subscription invoicing software helps reduce mistakes made by people and ensures precision in tasks performed automatically. It helps minimise the chance of data input and maintains accurate records consistently throughout operations so that businesses can enjoy the dependable results of automated computations that result in fewer inconsistencies.

Customisable templates

Many automated billing programs offer customisable templates for estimates and invoices. This feature allows you to create standardised billing procedures for common treatments, ensuring that all associated charges are consistently included. 

Some systems can send automated reminders to staff about pending treatments or services that need to be recorded. This helps ensure that all procedures are properly documented and billed.

Real World Outcomes

Increased revenue

Streamlined billing processes and recording of service provision reduces billing errors, translating to an increase in revenue by minimising the number of denied claims and missed charges. An initial investment in an automated billing system will appear high, however they tend to amount to long term savings in reduced labour expenses and improved efficiency that offset this entry price. Shorter revenue cycles as a result of improved efficiency also leads to faster payments and greater cash-flow management.

Time savings

Automated billing systems are known for their effectiveness in streamlining processes and completing tasks quickly and accurately. By enabling the scheduling of payments in advance, companies can reclaim hours that were once consumed by data entry. This available time can now be allocated towards important business operations and tasks.

These can be done by automated billing triggers that help you eliminate many of the repetitive manual tasks associated with the invoicing process, freeing up your staff to focus on more important tasks, saving you time and money. 

Clinic scalability

As companies expand their operations and reach audiences the ability to scale becomes essential. Automated systems can effortlessly adjust to transaction levels, supporting the growth of businesses. The adaptability of these tools enables organisations to modify billing cycles and payment options with ease.

Reduced staff stress

Reducing the administrative workload can ease staff worries and stressors so they can focus on patient care and less on paperwork. These automated systems can help optimise workflow, automating repetitive tasks and allow staff to focus on the more rewarding aspects of veterinary work.

Enhanced client trust and experience

Automated billing can also strengthen your client relationships because of transparent billing and charging in a timely manner. 

Automated billing programs are more than just a convenience – they're a powerful tool in the fight against missed charges in veterinary clinics. By streamlining the billing process, improving accuracy, and ensuring comprehensive charge capture, these systems can significantly boost your clinic's financial health while allowing your team to focus on what matters most: providing excellent care to your patients.

As the veterinary industry continues to evolve, embracing technological solutions like automated billing is not just beneficial – it's essential for staying competitive and efficient. If you haven't already, consider exploring how an automated billing system could transform your practice's financial management and help you capture every charge, no matter how small.