To make sure your medical practice serves patients well, you need a strong revenue cycle. A good medical billing process keeps your practice financially healthy, letting you focus on improving patients’ health. Here are seven tips to help you with medical billing.
Use an Integrated EHR and EPM System
Integrated systems combine patient info, coding, and documentation from your EHR for claims. This helps automate billing, reducing errors and speeding up reimbursement.
Less manual data entry is needed, easing medical billing and lowering claim denials due to errors.
Keep patient info, like insurance, up to date. With one system, you can schedule appointments, update info, document visits, and bill payers.
Smart Team Building for Better Medical Billing
Building the right team is crucial for your practice’s financial success in medical billing. Your team should include skilled medical billing specialists, efficient front desk staff, and knowledgeable providers.
Medical Billing Specialists
Look for outsourced medical billing services for financial management of your practice. They can boost your practice’s reimbursement and streamline workflows to minimize claim denials and late payments.
Front Desk Team
A strong front desk team is essential for a smooth revenue cycle. Accurate collection of patient demographics and insurance information helps prevent denied claims. They also assist patients in updating their details, collecting co-payments, deductibles, and coinsurance upfront, and reducing post-visit billing.
Providers’ Role
Providers contribute significantly to revenue cycle management. Apart from generating revenue by seeing patients, they can enhance reimbursement through proper coding and documentation. Providers with EHR expertise can code and document encounters during visits, saving time and reducing charge lag. If your providers face challenges with EHR and EPM systems, targeted training can enhance satisfaction and prevent physician burnout.
Make Paying Easy for Patients
Patients often face challenges with deductibles, coinsurance, and copays, resulting in delayed payments. Streamlining the payment process can significantly expedite payments. Steering clear of paper bills, which are prone to getting lost, is crucial. Surveys consistently highlight that patients prefer the convenience of online payment methods and prepaid options.
Implementing electronic payment solutions not only enhances patient satisfaction but also accelerates the overall revenue cycle for your practice. Online portals and secure payment gateways offer patients a user-friendly experience, making it easier for them to understand and settle their financial responsibilities. Consider providing payment plans or flexible financing options to accommodate patients facing financial constraints.
Moreover, clear communication about billing expectations can prevent misunderstandings and reduce the likelihood of payment delays. Ensure that your billing statements are transparent, detailing the services provided, associated costs, and any outstanding balances. This transparency fosters trust and encourages patients to proactively manage their financial responsibilities.
Making the payment process straightforward and accessible for patients contributes to a positive billing experience, ultimately benefiting your practice by improving cash flow and reducing administrative burdens.
Send Electronic Claims Promptly
With over 85 percent of practices using EHRs, most records are electronic. Charges are automatically sent to a management system. Timely claim submission is crucial. Integrated EHR charges directly into systems reduce errors. Claims denial often results from late submissions. Automate billing processes to stay organized. Use integrated EHR and EPM to auto-generate claims. A well-configured claim edit library prevents inaccurate claims. This ensures your billing specialists manage their workload and submit claims on time. Automated processes also allow staff to focus on complex claims and resolve payment issues.
Keep an Eye on Your Revenue Cycle
Your electronic health record (EHR) and practice management system (EPM) don’t just store patient info; they also contain important financial data. With an integrated EHR and EPM, you can monitor accounts receivable, denied claims, and bad debt organized by payer. A single report lets you track payments, adjustments, denied claims, and accounts receivable based on days since billing. This helps your practice identify and fix problems quickly.
Resubmit Denied Claims
Even with effective billing processes, claims may get denied. Surprisingly, up to 50 percent of denied claims are never fixed. If you’re not resubmitting denied claims, you’re missing out on significant revenue. Your billing specialist should follow up on all denied claims, as many are rejected due to simple errors. Allocating time for claim resubmission in your billing process ensures your practice gets all the reimbursements it deserves.
Conclusion
Every practice can improve its processes. Implement feedback loops to identify and resolve bottlenecks in your daily operations. Dashboards and reports help you track clinical, administrative, and financial progress, spotting issues before they become major. Encourage staff to report problems and suggest solutions to establish a culture of continuous improvement.
Billing processes must adapt to changes in technology and payer expectations. A flexible and continuously improving culture will benefit your practice amid frequent changes in the healthcare system.
FAQs
What does medical billing mean?
Let’s look at the basics of medical billing and coding. Medical billing is how healthcare groups ask for payment from insurers and charge patients for their share of the costs. While coders are busy translating medical records, billing has already begun at the front end.
What does RCM stand for?
RCM stands for Revenue Cycle Management. It’s a financial process in healthcare. Hospitals use it to follow patient care from start to finish. RCM includes registration, scheduling appointments, and using medical billing software for the final payment.
