Three tips for optimising private practice billing

Deciding what to charge patients and how you are going to collect these payments is an important part of setting up and running your private practice. Here we share our top three tips to help you optimise your private practice billing.

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1. Take payment at the time of booking

Historically, payment for private GP services would be invoiced in arrears. This is a very administrative heavy task and can lead to thousands of pounds of ageing debt with a percentage maybe never being recovered.  

The number one way to optimise your private practice billing and to avoid ageing debt is to take payment at the time of booking. This means the patient has not secured their appointment until they have paid for it.  

You can take up front payment by:

Not only does this optimise the billing process, it also will result in less no-show appointments and better cash flow management for your business.

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2. Charge for additional services

In private general practice there are a number of additional charges which you will incur which you may want to charge back to the patient.  

Things you may want to charge additionally for:

In some of these instances you will know about these additional charges at the time of booking and the payment can be taken from the patient alongside their consultation fee when they book.  

In other cases, the additional charges won’t become apparent until during the consultation. These additional charges should be fully explained to the patient and payment should be taken before they leave the practice.  

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3. Insurance claims settled by the patient

You may find yourself in the position of having patients who wish to use insurance to cover the costs of their consultations and additional charges.

Most private medical insurance (PMI) policies don’t cover GP invoices but there are some exceptions, and you may find some overseas patients wanting to use travel insurance to pay your fees.  

The ideal billing process when dealing with private medical insurance is that the patient will pay for their consultation and any additional charges upfront and then claim back on their insurance.

This means the practice isn’t building up ageing debt and admin staff aren’t spending time chasing insurance companies for payment.  

If the patient is unable to pay for their appointment upfront and claim back with their insurance, you will want to make sure they send you a ‘guarantee of payment (GOP) from their insurer.

A GOP confirms that the patient’s insurer will pay the fees that the patient incurs so you won’t be left with unpaid invoices and dispute over who is paying.  

You should ensure you have the GOP before the patient attends their appointment and add it to the patient's record so you have it available should you need to chase payment with the insurance company.

The GOP will outline any restrictions in which the insurers aren’t willing to pay for, such as medical reports or contraception.

It is important to be aware of what the insurers will pay for to make sure the patient is charged for anything which falls outside of their insurance policy.