All Posts Tagged: ASC Revenue Cycle Management

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why you should be using a medical billing company

Why You Should Be Using A Medical Billing Company

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A medical billing company is a valuable resource for physicians, medical practices, and other similar healthcare providers. There are many things medical billing professionals do other than post bills to patients. A good medical billing company will handle entering data about your patients into a patient management software such as patient information, physician information, medical codes, insurance information, as well as payment information. Additionally, medical billing professionals will help keep the payment process moving by re-submitting claims, interacting with all necessary parties to complete the billing process, as well as collecting payments from patients and insurers.

While some medical practices opt to do these services in house, there are many reasons why these services should be outsourced to a qualified medical billing company.

Finances

You will save money outsourcing medical billing to a third-party provider. The costs related to purchasing software and hiring and training staffers to do the work typically exceeds the amount you would pay to a medical billing service. In addition, medical billing companies will likely keep a closer eye on denied claims, forms, bills, and other issues that come up with medical billing while one or two staffers in your office may overlook these important issues causing severely delayed or lost payments.

Compliance

Medical billing companies are invested in staying up to date with the latest laws and regulations related to medical billing and patient management. Being compliant ensures that their clients are receiving the high quality service they can rely on. A medical billing company will award peace of mind that your practice’s medical billing practices comply with new laws, regulations, and industry standards.

Time

Another reason why you should hire a medical billing company is to better serve your patients by dedicating your time and resources to treating your patients instead of having to deal with billing. Running a practice brings a lot of responsibility, however outsourcing the revenue cycle to a third party provider frees up your time to focus on patient care.

Efficiency

Most medical billing companies will be able to provide comprehensive reporting on each aspect of the revenue cycle to show you where improvements can be made whether it’s during patient intake or after. This reporting provides an in depth look into the inner workings of your process and point out how to make it more efficient which could resolve cash flow issues, improve payment collection, and shorten the time between the patient’s visit and receiving the final payment. Without medical billing experts to help identify some of these opportunities, you could be leaving money on the table.

A medical billing company can provide a streamlined process starting with patient intake all the way through to final collections relating to the patient’s visit. Making sure this process is working at optimum levels is vital to the financial health of your practice. This process is called revenue cycle management and it’s all about processing information in a timely and strategic manner that will result in collecting payments as quickly and as efficiently as possible. In addition, a medical billing company will be able to communicate the status of your revenue cycle management and make recommendations for improvement. Overall, the business side of your practice must be working efficiently in order to keep it running. A medical billing company can help any practice do just that.  Contact MHS today to set up a demo and we can show you how we can help improve your bottom line.

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Clean Up Your Medical Billing Before the End of the Year

Clean Up Your Billing Before The End Of The Year

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As the New Year approaches, it’s time to take stock of the previous 12 months and make some adjustments in your billing approach. Take a look at what’s been working and, more importantly, what hasn’t. It goes beyond unpaid bills and into the realm of HOW you handle your accounts payable and receivable and how you can improve. The changes you make now will benefit you throughout 2018, increasing your bottom line, decreasing your stress level and boosting the smooth operation of your billing processes.

Are your administrative costs skyrocketing? Do you have outstanding A/Rs from the beginning of the year and even years past? Are the insurance denials piling up? How do you handle them?

Analyzing your billing process starts with taking a long hard look at performance. Many practices experience surprisingly low rates of reimbursement success, often times because billers focus their time and skills on the “easy” claims, leaving many challenging claims under-reimbursed, points out Healthcare Business Today. Is your current billing software effective? How quickly are you getting reimbursed? Is money being left on the table? It’s time to upgrade or change your billing procedures if you as a healthcare provider are not happy with the ways things have been going. Here are a few tips:

  • Engage in follow-up training if claims are continually being denied.
  • Analyze the reason codes to see why a specific payer constantly denies claims.
  • Analyze how the referral process works and find out what stop-gaps are preventing you from processing claims efficiently.
  • Go over your input processes. Are policy numbers being entered correctly? Is there a lapse in document processing?
  • Talk to your front- and back-office staff to introduce new policies and procedures if you are finding too many controllable errors.

Correcting Problem Areas

Many of these issues result from lack of time and too many other responsibilities taking center stage. Take a look at your staff: are they overworked? Are errors being made simply due to a stressful and chaotic work environment? Is there simply no time during the day for your existing staff to handle all the billing procedures correctly and comprehensively? This is a common challenge facing many hospitals, doctors’ offices and ERs — especially towards the end of the year when things get crazy.

One way to solve that and make a resolution for the new year: partner with an outsourced medical billing company that can handle all your billing needs in one place and on one platform. It’s a win-win for your staff, who can concentrate on the tasks they were actually hired to do, and you get paid more often and more smoothly because of a streamlined approach. An outsourced biller can ensure:

  • Insurance can be verified before visits.
  • Patients are billed on time and consistently.
  • Codes are authorized promptly and properly.
  • Clinical notes are used for negotiating denied claims.

It’s time to start the new year off right — with an improved process that ensures success for the upcoming months. Call Medical Healthcare Solutions in Andover today at 800-762-9800 for help.

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What is Physician Burnout

What is Physician Burnout?

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“Physician Burnout syndrome” is a real condition in which fatigue, cynicism, and professional inefficacy associated with work-related stress becomes overwhelming and debilitating, according to the Association for Psychological Science. While some level of stress is expected, particularly in the medical field, at some point these stressors can become overbearing, leading some physicians to contemplate leaving the profession or worse.

Manifestations

Physicians are the ones on the front lines of patient care. While other types of professional burnout can be devastating, this is particularly true of doctors because they tend to suffer it more severely. According to Definitive Healthcare, physician burnout manifests itself in many ways, such as:

  • Lack of enthusiasm for work
  • Growing cynicism about patients or career
  • Low sense of self-worth

As a result, these feelings can lead to poor job performance, abandonment of the profession, and in rare cases even suicide. Healthcare researchers are trying to pinpoint the root causes and manage this physician burnout at the organizational level. Some types of physicians experience more burnout than others. Those in critical care experience the highest, followed by emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine and general surgery.

The Patient Side

Burnout doesn’t just affect the doctor, but the patient as well. That’s because this condition can negatively impact a doctor’s mental state and career, leading to a decrease in patient care quality. Not only are higher rates of medical errors reported in those with burnout, patient access, and overall experience are negatively impacted. Physicians suffering from burnout say that they are quick to cut down on office hours and even respond in a negative or clipped manner when interacting with patients.

Causes of Physician Burnout

The causes of physician burnout are highly individualized, and many doctors feel multiple sources of burnout. Medscape says the following are the top causes for physician burnout, in order of importance:

  • Too many bureaucratic tasks
  • Too many hours at work
  • Not enough income
  • Increasing computerization of practice
  • Impact of Affordable Care Act
  • Difficult patients
  • Too many appointments daily
  • Lack of professional fulfillment
  • Difficult colleagues or staff
  • Inability to keep up with current research

Also included in the Medscape report is that women (51%) experience burnout more often than men (43%) and those between age 46 and 55 are most likely to experience burnout. Physicians that are burned out report not exercising as much as they should, with low motivational levels. Sometimes, volunteering, doing mission work, or working with church groups adds to the stress of their lives rather than relieves it. A third of burned out physicians say they have minimal savings compounded by unmanageable debt.

In many cases, physicians reported feeling overwhelmed with administrative tasks that detract from their ability to spend time with their patients. Research shows the average physician spends two hours on administrative tasks for every hour that they interact with patients.

One way to mitigate this is to make office tasks more streamlined. Instead of handling billing issues, which can suck up a large portion of a doctor’s day, outsourcing this to a medical billing provider would be a better use of time. By decreasing time spent on mundane tasks, the physician is freed up to spend more quality time with each patient. This can take away a bit of the stress that so often overwhelms physicians on a daily basis.

Contact Medical Healthcare Solutions

We can help. From mobile medical billing solutions to revenue cycle management, Medical Healthcare Solutions can help physicians reduce their chances of burnout by handling the time-consuming tasks of running a practice. Contact us at 800-762-9800 or fill out our convenient online form.

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ASC Revenue Cycle Management Helps You Overcome Practice Challenges

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As a medical practitioner, you realize there are many roadblocks and challenges that inhibit your strengths as a provider. ASC (ambulatory surgery center) revenue cycle management can help you overcome those challenges, identify gaps in the process, and focus on those areas that have a positive impact on your revenue cycle. An internal audit of sorts on a regular basis can assist you in identifying key performance indicators. Let’s take a look at some benefits of ASC revenue cycle management practices that can help you overcome those practice challenges.

Accuracy in scheduling: Getting accurate and complete information when scheduling your patients seems like it would be fairly easy but this is a task that often falls through the cracks. Gathering patient names, insurance, birth date and other pertinent information is standard practice, but oftentimes this information is not verified, leading to a lot of energy expended later tracking all of it down. This not only wastes time, it also can result in claims being denied or delays in payment collection. Both of these affect your bottom line, so it’s important to get it right the first time. It’s time to take advantage of online pre-admission technology that allows the patients themselves to update their medical histories on their own time, such as at home before their appointment.

Verify benefits in advance: Rather than waiting to the last minute (aka, when the patient shows up for the appointment), good ASC revenue cycle management practices dictate that you ensure patient coverage well before the procedure or appointment. This way, you can pinpoint any potential issues beforehand, get them rectified and have a seamless day-of experience. This includes verifying coverage for the actual appointment or procedure, making sure you have obtained the proper referrals, determined deductibles, etc. ASC revenue cycle management software can track insurance data, benefit information, and surgery coverage qualifications all in one place. As a result, you can cut down on collection costs, prevent last-minute cancellations, and decrease bad debt.

Outsourcing coding and billing: Handling coding and billing in house can be overwhelming and ineffective, taxing your already-stressed staff members who are expected to tack on more duties to their crowded days. When you outsource your coding and billing, you’re able to get your claims processed in a more timely manner and with increased accuracy, with one central database for information that cuts down on manual data entry. No more billing, insurance or collection delays!

Get in Touch with Medical Healthcare Solutions

Medical Healthcare Solutions offers ASC revenue cycle management services for ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) with software that allows us to benchmark key revenue cycle management performance indicators. As a result, we can better determine your strengths and weaknesses and implement the right improvements to your bottom line. Give us a call to learn more about our ASC revenue cycle management services at 800-762-9800 or fill out our convenient online form.

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