
From handling high volumes of invoices to staying compliant with regulations, AP teams face unique challenges every day. Accounts-payable automation solutions can be seamlessly integrated with existing healthcare IT systems through APIs and custom development. This integration ensures the smooth and secure flow of data between systems and minimizes disruptions to your healthcare practice workflows.
Security and Data Protection
Your system of accounts payable dictates the way you pay your vendors, suppliers, and other bills – from your mortgage or lease to goods and utilities. That invoice should get matched up against a purchase order, if applicable. Depending on your organization, an accounting department head, doctor, nurse, or community manager approves the invoice.
Faster payments and healthier cash flow

Once an organization commits to an automated approach for procurement and How to Start a Bookkeeping Business payables, it must then decide which of the myriad options to pursue. Having a mix of options can yield the greatest efficiencies and strongest cash flow. Depending on the automated solution, organizations also can take advantage of rebates, early payment discounts, and extended payment options that drive revenue into the department. Accounts payable traditionally has been a cost center for organizations, however, through automation, the department can become one that generates revenue instead. Not only must an organization spend money on paper for printing, but staff must issue and mail the checks using postage.
Multi-Entity Management
Automating AP also elevates the strategic relevance of the function and aligns it to the top priorities of healthcare organizations. Managing healthcare accounts receivable is essential for every medical practice or hospital. It is the process of making sure payments for services are collected on time. This can limit the ability to pay staff, buy supplies, or invest in new equipment. Unlike in other industries, healthcare organizations tend to receive payment for services months after that service has been provided, as you wait on insurance processes and approvals.
- When healthcare accounts receivable is collected efficiently, it provides the necessary funds to cover payables on time.
- To prevent these issues, healthcare organizations should consider transitioning to automated systems, which streamline processes and reduce human error.
- When you collect payments at the time of the care service, you eliminate the need for post-appointment invoicing, accelerating the reimbursement process.
- A manual process also includes paper tracking documents and storage files — all of which make it difficult and time-consuming to follow an audit trail or determine real-time status of a payment.
- Watch the video to learn how you can maximize the value of your payment options.
- The volume of paper-based invoices and limited automation capabilities inherent in traditional ERP systems impede your ability to advance to the levels of organizations like McKesson, CVS Health Corp, and UnitedHealth Group.
- This is also creating a challenge to market equity, which only hurts the patients.
Challenges in Healthcare Accounts Payable
When invoices go unmatched or approvals stall, vendors may delay shipments of critical supplies or impose late-payment fees, straining valuable relationships. Healthcare organizations juggle revenue from insurance companies, Medicaid, self-pay patients, and government programs. This diversity complicates AP processes because each revenue source has unique billing rules and payment schedules. The automation and consolidation of invoice processing and payment with Remitra® solutions can take some of the burden off the hiring process.
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- Automated solutions handle large volumes of invoices and payments with ease, reducing the workload on staff and improving accuracy.
- If you fail to track this number, you may encounter revenue leakage and miss opportunities to increase your collections.
- Features of AP systems can include account tracking, invoicing, payment reminders, payment processing, and reporting.
- By leveraging Tipalti’s Mass Payments and AP solutions, Prodege achieved significant improvements in scalability and operational efficiency.
- This can strain cash flow and make it difficult to cover expenses such as payroll, supplies, or new equipment.
- Centralizing invoice processing with Remitra® AP automation solutions can alleviate this burden.
Training must be comprehensive and ongoing, and it may require specialized training for certain personnel who will be using more complicated features of the system. Let’s explore how AP automation turns those relay hurdles into a smooth, straight path, so you can focus on what really matters. Use instant insights to get the best price on software, stop redundant spend before it happens, and make every dollar go further. Consider using our spend analysis software, Medius Analytics, to wield your AP data in the most efficient way possible.

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Yet, 64% of physicians surveyed believe that healthcare technology and the IoT will lower the costs of operations and clinical inefficiencies by up to $100 billion annually. Implementing e-payables systems does not have to be costly or time consuming. Best-in-class programs offer hosted plug-and-play solutions, cloud-based technology, and a relatively nondisruptive implementation process. They don’t require extensive training and the vendor handles supplier CARES Act recruitment.
Find out more about MHC’s solutions for the Healthcare industry!
Delays are caused healthcare accounts payable when your team must stop their workday to research the exception, determine next steps, and identify the process for a single invoice. Automating your invoice and payment process instantly gives you more visibility into the overall status of everything flowing through the system. Accuracy is enhanced when you no longer must rely on staff to manually intervene throughout an already flawed process. Free your costly employee hours up for more value-added duties that contribute more meaningfully to your company’s core mission. Be sure that all department heads and key personnel understand the difference between an invoice and a statement. You should enter and pay from an invoice, not from a statement, delivery ticket, purchase order, quote, or estimate unless discussed.
