If you are not following up on details, you are leaving money on the table.
The economic downturn in addition to impending healthcare changes means that your practice and all other dollars are under more pressure than ever to gather every penny you deserve.
Accounts receivable defined: A/R is the money that is owed to the practice. Here are four best practices to set your practice on an improved A/R track and stay away from thousands in lost reimbursement.
Keep a tab on each claim you send out
The first thing in perfecting you're A/R process is to ensure someone in your practice is paying heed to what happens to every claim you submit. Ask questions like "Did the patient pay her copay portion of the bill?", "Did the insurance company even get the claim?"
There are companies out there which many refer to as 'code it, bill it, and forget it companies'. They code the claim, bill the claim and then forget about it. They leave it out there and do not do anything to bring in the money.
Following up on your submitted claims early in the game can save you time. Therefore you should first ensure that once your practice submits a claim that is accepted. If the claim is rejected, the first thing you need to do is find out why. Catching it in the initial submission phases saves you time in the long run and in the end gets your money in the door faster.
Set a reminder: Place an event reminder on your Outlook or Web calendar every week that reminds you to check all accounts receivable for the past 30 days. Print a report, and go online or call to check claim statuses.
Follow up on unpaid and denied claim
The number one way to ensure your practice is hemorrhaging money is to follow up on denials and appeal as called for. Almost every practice has hidden money waiting to be discovered. According to him, money is in the form of the following issues:
The economic downturn in addition to impending healthcare changes means that your practice and all other dollars are under more pressure than ever to gather every penny you deserve.
Accounts receivable defined: A/R is the money that is owed to the practice. Here are four best practices to set your practice on an improved A/R track and stay away from thousands in lost reimbursement.
Keep a tab on each claim you send out
The first thing in perfecting you're A/R process is to ensure someone in your practice is paying heed to what happens to every claim you submit. Ask questions like "Did the patient pay her copay portion of the bill?", "Did the insurance company even get the claim?"
There are companies out there which many refer to as 'code it, bill it, and forget it companies'. They code the claim, bill the claim and then forget about it. They leave it out there and do not do anything to bring in the money.
Following up on your submitted claims early in the game can save you time. Therefore you should first ensure that once your practice submits a claim that is accepted. If the claim is rejected, the first thing you need to do is find out why. Catching it in the initial submission phases saves you time in the long run and in the end gets your money in the door faster.
Set a reminder: Place an event reminder on your Outlook or Web calendar every week that reminds you to check all accounts receivable for the past 30 days. Print a report, and go online or call to check claim statuses.
Follow up on unpaid and denied claim
The number one way to ensure your practice is hemorrhaging money is to follow up on denials and appeal as called for. Almost every practice has hidden money waiting to be discovered. According to him, money is in the form of the following issues:
Denials appealed with no follow-up.
You should therefore continually review and monitor your EOBs, paying special attention to your denials. You can glean a lot of information from your EOBs; say for instance how quickly insurers are paying you, whether your fee schedule is adequate, if your coders are coding right, etc.
Bottom line: Appealing denials can be time consuming; however it's vital to ensure correct reimbursement.
Source URL :- http://www.supercoder.com/coding-newsletters/my-medicare-compliance-reimbursement-alert/part-b-coding-coach-boost-collections-with-these-4-quick-tips-122606-article
Run reports and update you're A/R procedures
You cannot manage your A/R is you cannot measure it. As such you need to produce a variety of reports to help you assess you're A/R.
Tip: Invest in a good practice management system and get to know all of its capabilities. Pay special attention to the reporting abilities of the system you use to ensure you get the data you need to manage your practice's A/R such as the practice's gross collection rate, net collection rate, and average days in A/R for claims. Then you can use this information to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of your practice's A/R management.
You should therefore continually review and monitor your EOBs, paying special attention to your denials. You can glean a lot of information from your EOBs; say for instance how quickly insurers are paying you, whether your fee schedule is adequate, if your coders are coding right, etc.
Bottom line: Appealing denials can be time consuming; however it's vital to ensure correct reimbursement.
Source URL :- http://www.supercoder.com/coding-newsletters/my-medicare-compliance-reimbursement-alert/part-b-coding-coach-boost-collections-with-these-4-quick-tips-122606-article
Run reports and update you're A/R procedures
You cannot manage your A/R is you cannot measure it. As such you need to produce a variety of reports to help you assess you're A/R.
Tip: Invest in a good practice management system and get to know all of its capabilities. Pay special attention to the reporting abilities of the system you use to ensure you get the data you need to manage your practice's A/R such as the practice's gross collection rate, net collection rate, and average days in A/R for claims. Then you can use this information to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of your practice's A/R management.
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