Thursday, June 13, 2013

See Which Audit Process You Need to Follow for Your Practice

Remember that the same audit process and timeline will not work for every practice to identify the needs of your practice.

Internal audits are a way to ensure you're on track and nothing has gone wrong. See to it that your pediatric practice conducts regular internal audits if you don't want to lose money and overlook billing mistakes that could result in missed billing opportunities.

But before starting your audits, you should explain to everyone in your practice why you should go for an internal audit and how an internal audit will benefit your practice.

Internal audit charts: Internal chart audits make it possible to find and fix coding mistakes and self report rather than letting the payer find them. If your staff members are not willing to participate, let them know that the point of the audit is to improve coding down the line.

Types of internal audits:

Prospective audit: Your practice assesses new claims before you file them. Such an audit helps you identify and rectify problems prior to sending the claim, which could mean you will discover improper coding or charges that would have been missed otherwise. However, remember that this kind of chart audit can delay billing.

Retrospective audit: Your practice takes a look at paid claims. On the other hand, this type of audit do not delay billing but causes your office to be proactive in finding problems before you submit the claim.

But remember that the same audit process and timeline won't work for every practice to identify your practice's needs.

What should be done: Your practice must determine for itself what types of audits your staff can reasonably compete and what effects on claim submission timing and cash flow your practice can handle.

You should remember that an audit is much more than coding; it involves documentation, coding, billing and data input, denials management and office process following policies and procedures.

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