Cash Posting in Medical Billing: What It Is and Why It Matters

Accurate cash posting keeps HME/DME providers like you financially stable and, more importantly, ensures patients get accurate bills every time.

But did you know that 4 in 5 medical bills contain errors? This problem triggers various issues—poor financial health and patient trust, to name a few. Hence, it’s crucial to ensure cash posting in medical billing is done right to keep your cash flow seamless for the long term.

Let’s talk about everything there is to know about cash posting.

Understanding Cash Posting and Its Role in the Medical Billing Process

What is cash posting in medical billing? Cash posting is a back-end process. It involves recording payments from government and private insurers in your accounting system. It provides insights into your cash flow so you can maximize every financial opportunity.

Here’s how the medical billing cash posting process typically goes.

1. You receive the payment with an accompanying electronic remittance advice (ERA), also known as an 835 file.
2. Record the payment details, including the amount, date, and payer.
3. Reconcile the payment with the patient’s account and address any outstanding invoices.
4. Identify denied or underpaid claims and initiate the appeals process.
5. Balance the accounts receivable (A/R) ledger to ensure all payment data is accurate.
6. Bill the patient for any remaining balance once everything is reconciled.

Ensuring accurate and efficient cash posting lets you maintain sound financial records to aid cash flow management and financial reporting.

Manual vs. Automated Cash Posting

Cash posting can be done manually, electronically, or both. 

• Manual posting is the traditional approach. However, it’s prone to mistakes and inaccuracies due to human error.
• Electronic posting via revenue cycle management software is faster. The cash posting process is rules-based and repetitive, which makes it perfect for automation.

The latter approach leverages technologies like AI to automatically update accounting systems with payment details derived from the ERA. It can also reconcile payments with corresponding invoices to spot discrepancies, freeing your staff to handle more value-adding tasks.

Best Practices for Cash Posting

Following these tried-and-tested practices will streamline your cash posting process and minimize errors from the get-go.

• Negotiate electronic payments with payers. This practice eliminates paper checks and remittance advice, speeding up payment processing and reducing the risk of manual errors.
• Integrate payer contracts and fee schedules into your RCM software. This will boost the accuracy of cash posting and make finance tracking easier.
• Establish an automatic small balance write-off amount. Doing so will save time resolving small balances and can even save you money due to improved efficiency.
• Include zero, low, and partial payments in your denial management process. This will reveal if they’re from denials or incorrect payments, reducing costly guesswork.

Outsourcing Cash Posting

If you don’t have the resources to develop or buy software and train staff, don’t worry. A tried-and-tested strategy among HME providers is outsourcing.

Reputable RCM outsourcing partners employ specialized professionals with expertise in revenue-related functions, including cash posting services. They also have software and tools to help you achieve your goals while complying with industry and local regulations.

Why Choose ACU-Serve as Your Partner

ACU-Serve has spent 30+ years building a reputation as a trustworthy HME partner that makes businesses like yours operate more seamlessly. Here’s what we can do for you.

• Expert Software Optimization: We can enhance your existing RCM software so it can maintain price tables and fee schedules and set up payers to include ERA.
• Deep HME/DME Expertise: Our decades of industry knowledge enable us to guarantee accurate billing, streamline claims processing, and optimize RCM.
• Onshore Support: We’ll assign you a US-based manager—no timezone differences, no language barriers, just positive results.
• Advanced Analytics-Driven Decision-Making: Our software, ACU-Insight, provides data-driven insights to track trends, reduce denials, and maximize reimbursements.
• True End-to-End Solution: We cover everything from intake to collection, so there’s no need to work with multiple vendors or partners.

Benefits of Accurate Cash Posting

What’s the point of maintaining an accurate cash posting process?

• Seamless Patient Billing and Collection: Accurate cash posting ensures every patient account reflects the correct balances, avoiding over- and underbilling.
• Prompt Denial Management: Say goodbye to missed claims—proper cash posting helps you spot denied claims quickly.
• Improved Reporting and Decision-Making: Accurate payment data lets you generate reliable financial reports and track revenue trends to make well-informed decisions.

Streamline Cash Posting Operations with ACU-Serve

Cash posting is a critical element of sound RCM; without it, your HME company’s financial health is at risk. So, bolster this process to improve your cash flow. With more efficient operations, patient outcomes will improve, too.

Now that you’re familiar with cash posting in medical billing, let ACU-Serve handle it. Schedule a meeting with us to find out how outsourcing your RCM operations to our team strengthens your financial health.