Medical Billing & Credentialing News

  Tips for your front end workforce Whether it’s a medical practice or any other type of business,  there is nothing as critical as patient/customer relations.  What helps distinguish thriving  medical practices  from others is the interface of patients with your front desk staff. After all, it’s here where they handle the incoming phone calls, network with would-be patients and are the  first impression when it comes to your medical practice .  When patients have questions, require further info, and so forth, your front desk is the ambassador for your practice. That said, what can a medical practice do to assure that their front desk people are up to the task? As we proclaim in the title, never underestimate the importance of the front desk staff.  Every patient ought to feel appreciated  and all staff – not only clinical staff – needs to maintain a duty to take care of your patients. Generally, front desk staff are especially high turnover ...

  Have Your Patients Been Charged with Surprise Bills for COVID-19 Testing? No doubt, the  Delta-variant  is the driving force behind a new flood of nationwide testing that could translate into more surprise medical bills for those being tested. The CARES Act and  Families First Coronavirus Relief Act  are supposed to ensure free COVID-19 testing for everyone, including those without insurance.  But patients, both the uninsured and those with good coverage, are discovering holes in that coverage. For example, federal law doesn’t compel insurers to include “routine” testing that a growing number of workplaces and schools are currently requiring.  This will certainly increase with the President’s mandate for certain persons to be vaccinated or routinely tested. In fact, research shows there have been numerous instances where patients have experienced high out-of-pocket fees ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for receiving COVID-19 testi...

Outsourced Medical Billing Saves Healthcare Practices Money A rather bold statement. We’re so sure that we will save your healthcare practice money, we feel quite confident in asserting this claim in our headline. Where is it written that your healthcare practice has to conduct billing services in-house? Fact is, outsourcing  medical billing  can be extremely beneficial for healthcare practices, no matter the size or medical specialty. Medical Billing Background Due to insurance industry inconsistencies and constantly changing regulations, medical billing has become more and more complex. In order for healthcare providers to realize a truly functioning cash flow , these complexities must be navigated in a well-timed and efficient fashion . Inadequately trained staff, inept methods of billing and consistent updates to medical billing software can lead to mistakes and delays that will wreak havoc on a healthcare provider’s revenue stream.  Medical facilities simply cannot l...

  Common Revenue Cycle Management Mistakes Is Your Revenue Cycle Management in Top-Notch Condition? Let’s face it, we all make mistakes, even as veterans in  revenue cycle management . Sometimes, though, our biggest mistakes are the ones right under our noses – the ones we simply don’t identify as mistakes because we’ve been making them for so long. Plenty has changed in the revenue cycle. With the deployment of ICD-10, the arrival of accountable care, the growing volume of patient self-pay and the changing payment habits of those patients, we need to continuously upgrade our revenue cycle processes to accommodate these changes.  We’d like to share with you what has been recognized as progress-halting revenue cycle mistakes you may be making presently and how to fix them. You Rely on Current Staffing Levels to Handle the Increased Volume of A/R Activity We know how challenging it is to find the right people with the right skills to keep your revenue cycle humming. There a...

  Measuring Healthcare Outcomes Healthcare Practice Key Performance Indicators Matter So, your  healthcare practice  is running smoothly. You’ve hired fantastic people, followed a marketing plan, placed the right technology and your patient retention policy is in full swing with a low churn rate. Things are going great, right? Well, there’s no way of really knowing for sure unless you’re measuring your performance. Only by carefully tracking metrics (Key Performance Indicators or KPIs) in your medical practice can you actually improve efficiency, profitability and yield better results across your entire practice and revenue cycle management operations .  Choosing what to measure and what to report, however, is as important as deciding to start tracking measurements in the first place.  In this post, we will cover some of the key metrics that will measure the pulse of your medical practice. To begin, exactly how would you  describe these Key Performance Indi...

  Are You Committed to Outsourcing Your Substance Abuse Billing? So, you’re determined to outsource your  substance abuse billing . That’s a smart move, since you’ll save time and ultimately money. After all, no one gets into the substance abuse field because they want to wade through the insurance industry bureaucracy. No, you became substance abuse specialists because you want to help people. Nevertheless, maintaining an in-house billing structure is not only expensive, it also prompts administrative tasks and responsibilities that you simply don’t have time for.  It’s never been more critical to work smarter and not harder in the substance abuse provider industry. Your team of substance abuse professionals have a lot on their plates. By outsourcing your billing services, you can reduce your practice’s overhead costs, increase reimbursements, and decrease claim denials and rejections. This can enable a practice like yours to be more proactive, to focus more on your pati...