If you’re operating a homecare agency, your business needs to have strong cash flow to make payroll, prevent turnover, invest in growth, and deliver the best care possible. But getting paid on time isn’t always straightforward. From caregiver time submission to payment posting, there are multiple steps between delivering care and receiving revenue—and every delay in that process can affect your bottom line.
If you’re looking to speed up payments and increase your agency’s revenue, the first step is understanding what the roadblocks are. Here we explore what can slow your payments and how to prevent it from happening.
Payments can’t start until care is documented. If caregivers don’t submit their shifts properly via Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) the clock on billing hasn’t even started. Encouraging prompt submission through mobile EVV tools and setting clear expectations can reduce delays right at the source.
Paper billing comes with a built-in lag. Manual processes often require multiple handoffs, increase the likelihood of human error, and delay delivery. Switching to electronic billing streamlines your workflow and reduces turnaround time, helping you get claims out the door faster and more accurately.
Related Read: How to Speed Up Homecare Billing and Get Paid Faster
Unconfirmed shifts, missing documentation, or unresolved system edits can cause claims to be held indefinitely. Every held bill is delayed revenue. Agencies that use billing dashboards and automated alerts can identify and resolve these issues before they pile up.
Payers don’t just want claims—they want clean claims. Submitting error-free, complete claims the first time significantly increases your chances of timely payment. Automating pre-bill checks and scrubbing tools within your homecare platform can help prevent denials before they happen.
Related Read: Understanding Revenue Cycle Management from A to Z
Even after a claim is approved, how you receive payment can impact your cash flow. Paper checks can take days (or weeks) to arrive and require manual processing. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) moves money directly into your account.
Once a payment is received, posting it into your system closes the loop—but if your team is still relying on paper remittance, it’s easy to fall behind. Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) can automate and accelerate posting, helping you maintain up-to-date revenue visibility.
Claim denials can seriously stall cash flow. Worse, they often go unresolved for weeks. Tracking denials by category and payer, understanding the root causes, and developing a process to fix and resubmit claims quickly can recover revenue that might otherwise be lost. And, importantly, review denials to look for trends that will allow you to make process adjustments to prevent recurrence.
Centralizing your billing process through an all-in-one homecare management solution eliminates redundancies, improves data accuracy, and helps your team move faster. Features like real-time alerts, ERA integration, and claim scrubbing reduce delays at every step.
If your agency is struggling with staffing shortages, high denial rates, or slow turnaround times, it might be worth considering outsourced billing services. These services can bring expertise, scalability, and consistent follow-through.
Related Read: Is Outsourced Billing Right for Your Homecare Agency?
Training and incentivizing your caregivers to submit time promptly with EVV can improve billing speed significantly. A simple reminder system or app notification can go a long way toward speeding up the first step in the revenue cycle.
You can’t fix what you can’t see. Use revenue cycle reports to track your billing turnaround time, denial rates, and average days to payment. Spot patterns and focus your process improvements where they’ll make the biggest impact.
Improving cash flow doesn’t require a massive overhaul. Sometimes, it’s as simple as tightening up time entry, switching to EFT, or resolving held billing more proactively. By identifying where delays occur—and using the right tools and workflows to address them—you can transform your billing process into a revenue engine.
Looking to accelerate your payments and strengthen your cash flow? HHAeXchange offers integrated tools and services that streamline every step of the homecare revenue cycle. Let’s talk about how we can help.
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