Medical Billing Consultants Job Description – A Deep Insight – Part - II

In part – I of the article, under the same title and introduction, we discussed the various responsibilities and other duties of a Medicare biller’s profile, along with a detailed introduction. In this article, we are continuing with the same and various other aspects, so as to make it easy for you to have a good understanding of a medical billing consultant’s job before thinking of making it as a career option for you and appearing in interviews. So here we go:
Do you have a certification or degree in health care industry? Do you have excellent communication skills? Are you good in maintaining records? If a ‘yes’ is your answers to all these questions, then you are the ideal contender for a medical billing consultant job. Keep reading further to know more about the various responsibilities of a Medicare biller’s profile.
Responsibilities
The primary job responsibilities of medical billing consultants are to keep and maintain an updated record of patients' medical diagnosis and history, procedure codes, and other information required for patient’s billing. Additionally, they are also responsible for tracking outstanding balances, billing health care providers or patients for the medical services provided. They make payment arrangements with the patients, collect previous dues and issue no dues certificates at the time of discharge.
Not only this, they also work with physicians or health care professionals if the patients’ information is not accurate or unclear to enter and code the information in the database. Such information is vital for the hospital and the patients as the information is helpful in financial reimbursements.
Along with Medicare billing and coding, a Medicare biller contacts patients for various information, filing paper-work, medical-records; helps in scheduling appointments, and handles phone communication in the hospitals or physicians clinic.
Remuneration
Medicare billers enjoy good salary packages. However, the packages vary depending on the location where you are working and the employer with whom you are working. It also depends on the responsibilities, which you are expected to carry out on your job. Indeed.com listed a national average salary of $35,000 per year for the medical assistants in the health industry in March 2010.
Industry updates
As per the statistics of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), “20 percent growth in health assistant jobs is expected between 2008 and 2018.” And the reasons stated behind this hike are: a need for maintaining electronic medical records, increase in the need of medical tests and procedures due to high rise in the population worldwide.

Log on to www.activemds.com, an innovative Medical Billing, Practice Management and Consulting Company, if you are looking for impeccable services from a medical billing services provider.

Frequently Asked Questions about Outsourcing Medicare Billing

If you run a hospital or clinic, then it is evident that you must be aware with all the duties or responsibilities need to carry to make it a successful and friendly venture. A lot of concern is required for its adequate management in terms of recruitment of sufficient staff members, maintenance of patient records with all the major and major details, track of all the basic medical services provided to patients with good care and assistance and so on.

Sometimes it becomes difficult for medical practitioner or doctor to carry out the assigned duties perfectly. As a result he seeks help from someone to do so. He plans to hire services of outsource company to undertake various administrative and clinical works of health care industry. Hire a company to outsource work may not be a difficult task till you get the answers to following questions such as:

Why to get Medicare billing work outsourced?
Since, we all know that outsource of the work is only done when it’s become difficult to handle, a reliable medical billing outsource company is responsible to offer the physician with accurate and efficient perspective to handle all the records or regular basis. It eliminates the time and money wastage.

What are the basic outsourcing services?
As all providers have different rules and regulations for its working so, it is best to look for the outsource company, which is flexible enough to offer state of the art services at affordable rates. It offers the record keeping, staffing and in office billing services by charging a certain amount of fees for it.

What are the outsourcing rates?
Usually a company should charge on percentage base of receipts. It waits till you get paid fully. There are several factors to keep in mind when you charge such as service type, adjustment charges, and amount of services undertaken and up to what time.

What privacy norms are undertaken by the outsource company?
To maintain the confidential information and data, a company takes the back up of all the receivable accounts records daily to avoid any displacement or destruction of important files.

Which mode of payment is used?
The outsource company bears the flexible mode of payment that is cheques transfers, online bank transfers, or courier facility. It ensures the cheques or payment is made specifically on your name or company name, whichever is suitable. Once a payment is dispatched you are intimated via e-mail or phone call.

How to get started?
It is quite simple contact us via email or call and our representative will assist you with the required information. Just provide the requisite detail about the type of services required in admin or clinical sector with all the special concerns.

Thus, it is never too late to get the Medicare billing outsource from the reputed company to enjoy the hassle free working of the clinical or health institution. For more information, Click here

Discover the Vetting Criteria to Find the Right Medical Billing Service for Your Practice – II

This article is in continuation to the article written earlier under the same title and the introduction.

When Juan Pablo, MD, first opened his medical practice in the US, 7-years ago, his billing system was completely a mess. His practice did not at all follow up aggressively enough with his patients, who failed to pay the fees, as well as insurance company payments were continuously delayed by claims fraught with coding errors and misplaced numbers.

Fortunately, all of this took a U-turn when he decided to outsource his medical billing requirements to a well-established service provider. And since then, for Mr. Juan, there has been no looking back, as he is earning more money and the collections have increased by 30% and he is being paid faster. In this part of article, we would be continue to discuss the key vetting criteria that can greatly help to find the best billing service for any kind of health care facility or a medical practice.

• Ask for References -



Though a few big national companies exist, most billing firms are local operations in the US. Do your homework – avail references not only from your fellow doctors, but from your type of practice, specific specialty and type of payer.



Moreover, ensure that your contract includes a “cancellation/termination clause”, in case; the service provider does not deliver satisfied results. Additionally, you can negotiate a clause that alleviates rates after a particular period -say, 6-months if certain accounts receivables or collection ratios targets are not met.



• Decide How Much Service You Entail -



Billing firms offer multiple levels of service: filling claims and availing bills out of patients; accounts receivable management and follow-up and collections. Account receivable management services include ensuring that claims are clear, charges are coded accurately and fee schedules are updated regularly.



Furthermore, within each of service offered, you also have an array of options. Some companies will provide you with a computer so that one of your employees can do the data entry task; others will take your super-bills or charge slips in batches by courier and manually store them into their computers. Some billing firms offer both options.



Be sure you are availing true value of every penny spend. In case, a billing service is charging 15% of total collections, for instance, you must expect to avail comprehensive accounts receivable management.



In the last part of the article, we will be continuing the same discussion. However, for more details on medical billing, you can visit www.activemds.com.

Discover the Vetting Criteria to Find the Right Medical Billing Service for Your Practice - I

When Juan Pablo, MD, first opened his medical practice in the US, 7-years ago, his billing system was completely a mess. His practice did not at all follow up aggressively enough with his patients, who failed to pay the fees, as well as insurance company payments were continuously delayed by claims fraught with coding errors and misplaced numbers.

Fortunately, all of this took a U-turn when he decided to outsource his medical billing requirements to a well-established service provider. And since then, for Mr. Juan, there has been no looking back, as he is earning more money and the collections have increased by 30% and he is being paid faster. In this article, we would be discussing the key vetting criteria that can greatly help to find the best billing service for any kind of health care facility or a medical practice.

• A good billing service will partner with your practice to deliver outstanding results
  These are the advantages of outsourcing billing needs that often, 3rd-party billing firms like to tout: fewer staff headaches and higher collection rates. You can save thousands of dollars by outsourcing your practice's billing operations. For many physicians, though, the idea to outsource is not always so clear. Remember, do not count on outsourcing costing you less - it does not always.
  
  The bigger question is who is going to do the job better?
  That is a tough question to answer. Even many experts in the billing sector acknowledge that quality among billing firms – many of them mom-and-pop firms varies considerably.

• It needs a leap of faith to outsource the billing function!
  So, how can you decide whether outsourcing your needs to a medical biller is right for you and how to find a reputable one? Billing services boasts of splendid results – but can they deliver? Yes, many can. In order to identify real expertise from marketing hype, physicians and interns need to dig a little deeper than performance track record metrics.

• Assess Cost and Advantages -
  Billing service providers typically charge a percentage of fees that the total amount they collect. The percentage they demand differs both by service provider and by practice type. Most companies charge general internal medical practices higher than subspecialty practices, as primary care doctors generate more medical bills for smaller amounts, which in turn, mean more work for billing company. In general, physicians can expect to pay 9-11% of their total collectibles to outside billing firms.
  
  Experts strongly recommend that medical practitioners should invite potential outsourcing organizations to provide them with a cost estimate based on the practice's billing data, payer mix and charge volume. The doctors must then, assess all these factors and find the best suitable outsourcing company. Ideally, you will benefit from the billing service if you would be able to cut the size of your billing staff.

In the next part of the article, we will be continuing the same discussion. However, for more details on medical billing, you can visit www.activemds.com.

A Guide to Electronic Medical Records – Part II

This article is in continuation to the article that was written earlier under the same title and introduction.

The medical industry is full of complex tasks and responsibilities that need to be fulfilled by different members of the fraternity. They each have assigned tasks that have to be performed according to the need of the hour and the requirement of the moment. Medical billing is one of these things that need to be taken care of in the medical system. This is because when money matters complicate, everything suffers. This calls for the need for effective money management to be done. Be it in terms of providing the right sort of bills, or electronic record keeping, managing the organization or looking after the welfare of the patients, it all needs to be done carefully, so as to help the organization grow over the years.

The important task is to find an ideal mode of keeping medical records so that they can be used as per requirements. Electronic Medical records kept by special companies who offer these services are considered to be one of the best ways of maintaining records for the purpose of retrieving them as per needs and requirements.

It is essential to trust on the best in the business as they can guarantee quick and efficient services and that too at the most affordable rate.

You need to make sure that the firm you are going to trust for this task of medical billing is well reputed and experienced; giving your work into the hands of new and inexperienced might not be the best idea. It’s good to do a little homework about the company so that one can find out whether or not it’s one worth working with.

Asking for quotes is the next step. So when one has located a few companies offering medical billing services in the vicinity, there is need for asking them for quotes for the sort of work you are going to offer to them. Most firms these days have the facility of giving free quotes, thus making things easier for you. All you need to do is to choose to accord to your needs, and cost-affectivity, the one that best suits your requirements.

It is also important of determine that the company delivers, quick, and reliable solutions. There is no room for error in the medical field and this applies to record keeping as well. The record-keeping will have a direct impact on the quality of healthcare services being rendered to the patients and one needs to be sure that the best services are trusted for maintaining long term medical records.

Find out more about Electronic medical records facility at http://www.activemds.com/

At Times of Medical Emergencies, Seek Vital Help from Electronic Medical Records

Did you know that people meet with accidents as much as every few seconds in the world? The roads are becoming more and more populated and rash drivers have unleashed such a plethora for the commoner that having a road accident isn't something out of the ordinary anymore. There are people dying each day due to these accidents.

As for the ones who are critical and are taken to the hospital for treatment, do you think it would be able to treat them ideally if there wasn't a proper medical record keeping system available in the industry? Miracles are happening every day in hospitals and it is partly because of the investment in the sensible technology of electronic record keeping. When a person meets with an accident and is taken to the hospital, he/she can be traced down with the use of these electronic medical records, and the person's entire medical history can be found online.

The family is the one truly devastated when a person has an accident. Imagine having to check at all local hospitals to find where your loved one is being treated, it would be excruciating. This is why electronic record keeping is proving to be a great help. The hospital authorities can not only find the medical history of the person and start treatment, but also contact his/ her family and friends and inform them about the accident.

In the cases where people die in road accidents, the insurance companies will have their part to play. Medical records need to be really strong for the person if the family has to receive the claims and this can be easily achieved with the help of these electronic records. No-one can replace a deceased loved one, however, the family gets financial support with the help of these companies providing excellent record keeping solutions for the benefit of common people as well as the hospitals. This is a two-way process that can be handled well by the service providing companies so that nobody has to suffer the lack of records in critical situations.

The good part is that there are companies available in plenty that do this sort of record keeping and medical billing for the hospitals. It won’t even cost them too much money and it’s definitely worth investing to be able to guarantee saving a number of lives in the future. This means that the hospitals can concentrate on their sole aim better now and people's lives can definitely be saved when accidents occur.

Find out more about electronic medical records at http://www.activemds.com/

Medical billing can be made much easier with the right steps

The medical industry is full of complex processes but the main aim of the staff of the hospital needs to be focused towards caring for the patients in the best possible way. They should have outsourcing done for whatever other management needs there might be, so that the interests of the patients aren't hindered.

There are services available these days for the best state of art electronic billing which is very essential for the hospitals. This is because the records thus maintained are clear and precise and can be retrieved even after many years as per the requirements. The computerized medical billing for the patients is also very accurate and now they don't need to worry about any extra bills included in their payable amount towards the hospital.

Whether it is discovering how much bills a particular patient needs to pay, or it is keeping records for legal needs, this type of service is suits best in diverse range of needs. You won’t need to worry about the financial position of the facility anymore and then more and more efforts can be put towards making the services better for patients in the near future.

It shall definitely prove to be a value added service for the organization and you won’t regret having taken this step in the time to come. It shall improve the basic functionality of the organization and make it worth more in the future prospects of achieving a great place for all the health care needs.

You can avail the best in the line services when it comes to record keeping and managing data so well that you won’t even need to cross check them every now and then. Another important feature that the company specializing in this form of electronic record keeping provides is financial reporting, which is another requisite for hospitals. They need to know about their true financial position so that they can decide their plan of action in the time to come. The medical facilities can have an insight into the financial books of the hospital easily and this would be able to benefit them greatly.

The best part is that these services are going to be offered at fairly affordable rates and you won’t need to worry about any huge money spending that this type of services shall get for you. You need to simply give them a call and soon the professionals of the company would be able to suggest what sort of services best suits to your health care services and other important operations in the facility.

Find out more about medical billing at http://www.activemds.com

Find the Best Medical Billing Solutions to be the Best in the Services

The medical industry is in need for appropriate and clear answers to the needs such as billing and record-keeping, so that the functioning of this complex life-saving industry goes on as per the plans and schedules of the individual facility and organizations.

There is a prime need to take care of the financial problems of the patients as well as the management of the medical fraternity. There is need to ensure that the patients don't have to pay too much for the services they avail at hospitals. On the other hand, there is also a need for the woes of the doctors to be heard.

For all such needs, there are companies specializing in a host of services such as consulting and managing the financial needs and options for the medical facilities, bringing in computerized healthcare billing in order to aid the facility, as well as financial reporting, which means disclosing to the company its true financial position.

Medical billing is a tough and lengthy process. Being able to put this through over a computerized format is really beneficial and there is a vital need for taking care of these computerized records as well. These companies would surely be able to help in the same and ensure order and proper record maintenance for the health care organizations in the long run.

All these functions are of vital importance to the hospitals as well as the patients, and this is why there is need for trusting only the best in the business for all such needs.

The solutions offered by these companies are not only most authentic and up-to date, but they are also most relevant in different areas of use. They offer methods that are versatile and adapt according to the dynamic nature of work in the medical industry. This shall build such strong relations between the clients and the medical fraternity that will last for a lifetime.

Knowing the true financial standing of any firm is really essential for the business growth as well as stability. This is because it helps in determining the future plan of action for the management of the firm. These crisp and precise services offered by the companies helps in the proper laying out of the further plans for the growth and development of the firm. This will be able to embark on a new era of simplified medical solutions for the hospitals, health care centers and clinics, which shall surely prove beneficial.

To find more on medical billing and other kinds of services rendered by the specialist companies, Click here

Avoid Denials of Health Insurance Claims with the Help of Medical Billing Services

In today's world of uncertainties, everyone requires insurance to be safe and secure, especially for their health concerns and needs. Visiting the doctor's place or a hospital itself is a heart-sinking matter until and unless it doesn't cost you hefty in billing process. To pay off the bills of medications and surgeries, people seek good health insurance policies to overcome such uncertainties.

These days, medical facilities and hospitals are providing healthcare services to the patients with insurance benefits. However, the process of realizing the claims is not an easy nut to crack. Above all other administrative and clerical responsibilities in a healthcare center, processing the required formalities of insurance claims from the insurance provider needs dedicated proficiency and regular follow ups. At times, these claims are denied due to any of the several different reasons that attributes in loss of time, money and labor. Therefore, with the help of medical billing services providers, this critical matter can be easily handled and the issues related to insurance claims can be solved in the best possible way.

These service providers form an integral part of the health care industry, performing their duties deliberately towards the patients and organization to get their work done on the positive note. Denials related to health claims may be anything, some of these usually occur due to missing information or due to incomplete paper work. This simple task could be avoided by filling the pre-authorization request including precise information of the patient in relevance to personal details and procedure under (ICD9) codes.

Any business, either flourishing on the large or small scale, may be unsuccessful if fails to receive its payments on time, thus, resulting to big losses in revenue. So, to overcome such issues it is important for every medical facility and health care centers to hire good denial management team that would help in realizing the medical bills as well as insurance claim denials. This team helps in recovering all the payments that have been ignored by the insurance company for various reasons on different grounds.

What can be done to realize the denied claim?

There are several reasons for the denial on the unnecessary medical intervention or the treatment undertaken really requires an insurance claim. To overcome the same you need to take the help of the good plan decision maker or medical director.

Why it is Important to file an appeal?

It is important that every insurance plan should have a clear appeal towards the realization of the claims. The appeal generally lasts up-to 60 days based on the procedure of the plan. The first step towards avoiding the denial claim is through phone complaint, if it does not get fulfill then move on to written appeal, which is done in two types internal or external. Internal is meant for the insurer whereas the external is meant for the state department or governing body.
This may be possible via hiring the good medical billing services of a company offering the desired services with sheer dedication and perfection. For more details visit http://www.activemds.com

Electronic Medical Records Software – It’s Importance in Healthcare Industry

In the healthcare industry, Electronic Medical Records Software plays a key role, as it helps in enhancing the productivity of the healthcare facility, in general. With the help of efficient methods, any healthcare facility can touch new heights and can boost up the frequency of the cash flow. These records play an important role in reducing the workload of a clinic/hospital and simultaneously providing precise and prompt diagnosis to the patients.

The software used for electronic medical records can be easily customized as per the requisites for recording the history of the patients and gathering information about their past treatments. Latest records of the treatment/tests can be easily added with the help of this software. The software has become an ideal choice for some of the best hospitals and clinics, as it is safe and easy to use. It helps in better understanding of the patients’ requisites and composing the systems as per their needs.

In the last few years, Electronic Medical Records Software has evolved as one of the innovative methods, which has minimized the paperwork in various health organizations around the world. In addition to this, it has also helped in gathering whole information at one centralized place, which has made the accessibility of the data convenient. This medical software is packed with some of the advanced features which makes it a must have for every hospital/health clinics. This software helps the physicians to carry out their duties and provide diagnosis at a faster pace. One of the best benefits of this software is that it is capable of providing the patients with electronic prescription.

Using e-prescription method, the physicians are able to provide more accurate and precise treatment to the patients, eventually boosting up the revenues. As these prescriptions are made electronically, the patients have direct access to it and they can keep it a printed form of it as well for future references. With the help of a secured network, the healthcare organizations keep the patients’ treatment confidential.

The fact cannot be denied that it has helped the physicians to improve the level of patient care and at the same time increasing the profits. It plays an important role in increasing the efficiency of a health care organization, be it a hospital or a clinic. Before actually start using this digitized system, two things should be kept in mind i.e. willingness to use the system and having comprehensive knowledge of the system. Therefore, with the help of above discussed facts, it can be concluded that Electronic Medical Records Software does play an important role in the healthcare industry. For more details please logon to http://www.activemds.com

How Important are the Electronic Medical Records in Healthcare Sector

Do you really wish to know the future of the health care industry globally? Well it is very vast, since the Obama administration dedicated approx $18 billion for the welfare of the hospital or clinical facilities to digitalize the patient credentials using the electronic medical records facility online. Following the latest trends of the information technology the health care industry is becoming very particular for keeping the patient%u2019s information online.

The electronic medical records facility was embraced whole heatedly by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) including the wide network of nearly 15 hospitals, 350 clinics of the doctors%u2019, OPD sites and 60,000 employees. The innovative technique of EHR system is said to be enrolled with approx 4 million online patient records comprising CT scans, X-rays, clinical laboratory reports and a lot more. The particular EMR system initiated by UPMC is duly assessed by 30,000 users covering 6000 medical practitioners.

According to the verdict of UPMC, chief medical information officer, Dan Martich, there is dire need of candidates wishing to pursue their career in the health care industry, especially as the Electronic Medical Recordsprofessional because the IT section of the UPMC requires lot of integration for working collectively with the medical firms. Thus requiring professionals well versed with world of information technology to resolve such issues persistently.

However, there are some places across the globe that lacks the full fledge working of the EMR system; the main reason for this is the applied cost to the program. Some of the hospitals or clinical establishments lack the desired support system for utilising the project on the larger scale. On basic terms the hospital may spend $15 million to $150 million for the implementation of the Electronic Medical Records depending on the requirement.

Although the recent study conducted by one of professors of the Harvard School of Public Health reveals that the use of Electronic Medical Record facility could help the several hospitals or doctor%u2019s clinics to save approx $150 on annual basis, which is being spent on the paper work of the patient data.

On the whole if we go by the statistical information for the implementation of the Electronic Medical record facility, we may come to the conclusion that Electronic Health Record professional are required to not for saving or investments in the health care industry rather they are required to improve the patient health care system with the justification of their financial settlements towards the hospitals or clinical establishments across the world.

For more information about Electronic Medical Records, visit http://www.activemds.com.

A Brief about the Billing Process under Medical Billing Services

Medical services are indisputably complex services to offer and demands around the clock alertness and snugness, because one dime’s mistake is capable enough of resulting in million dollars’ havoc. Prior to the advent of medical billing services, the staff of medical institute always complained about being overburdened with medical duties as well as administrative duties. Although medical assistants is a productive solution, but when it is about big medical institute like hospitals where number of visitors as patients are in millions, a bunch of medical assistants neither can be easily hired nor they can handle heaps of paper formalities especially insurance claims. This is where; a medical institute looks for a company to whom they can outsource all these worried pertaining to health insurance claims. In this article we will be discussing the billing process.

Billing process
So far we know that, medical billing and coding services are related to submitting, processing and following up insurance claims to the concerned companies. Now let us understand its billing cycle:

1. Visiting a medical institute: The process can also be termed as a deal between the medical institute or doctor and insurance company. The process starts when a patient visits a clinic for his medical ailment and the medical staff, for the first time creates his medical report containing specific information about his medical history and personals.
2. Medical Report consists: This medical report contains all relevant information about patient such as his name, his social security number, contact details, his pre and post medical history and the test performed or to be performed.
3. Coding: After a basic medical report is prepared, the patient undergoes through various medical tests and level of service for billing services is determined on the basis of their results, complexity of the medical decisions to be considered and the pre-treatment medical history. Once the level is arrived, medical staff allocates a code (five digit standardized code) and the talked code is extracted from CPT’s database (Current Procedural Terminology). In addition to CPT code, there is another code known as ICD-10-CM, acronym “International statistical classification of disease and related health problems”, is also required and equally important as well. Without this code, the billing cycle won’t complete and one may have to face notifications like Pending claims, Denied Claims, Rejected Claims or Missing Claims
4. Sent to insurance company: After a code is arrived and the bill is prepared, it is then forwarded to the insurance payer (the payee insurance company). The insurance company, then use the expertise of its claim examiners and insurance adjuster for arriving at a decision about claim. If everything goes well, bills are approved or otherwise in case of any discrepancy found, the lodger is intimated about that.
   

The entire process is time consuming and it may take anything from few days to few months (depends on the level of complexity within claims), till a medical billing services company actually comes up with a bingo. For detailed information logon to http://www.activemds.com

Medical Billing Companies Playing an Important Role in Growing Physician Practices

The medical billing scenario has become extremely intricate. The procedure of medical billing includes the filing of the claims made for healthcare services. Nowadays, the schedule for medical professionals around the globe has become so hectic that they have to outsource the work to companies dealing in medical billing. For all the individual practitioners and various healthcare practices, Medical Billing Companies play an important role, today there is a wide variety of such companies offering their services around the globe. Every physician wants to grow his/her practice and efficient billing companies really play a key part in doing so.

Medical billing companies make sure well timed reimbursement
As discussed above, while focusing on everyday tasks and following hectic schedules, these physicians also have to bill the insurance companies or their patients to make sure that they receive reimbursement for all the services related to healthcare, well in time. It is very important the claims be filed based on the submission and evaluation of the patient enrolment, medical codes and treatment and diagnosis. In the situation where the claims are filed incorrectly, the revenue would considerably come down and hamper the medical practice. Today, more and more physician’s practices count on the medical billing services so that their accounts are managed efficiently.

Various Medical Billing Companies are proficient enough in managing the filing of the claims and payment collection. These companies hire well-trained professionals and following are the services that they offer-

• Software for medical billing is put into use for the filling of the claims electronically.
• Analyzing different forms of patient claims to authenticate enrolment, diagnosis and treatment recommended, insurance and enrolment.
• To make sure that appropriate codes have been assigned for all treatment procedures.
  

Every medical billing service company usually sends the bill within 24 to 48 hours so that it does not influence the cash flow. Further, the claims are being sent to the clearinghouses, which are accountable for billing the patients, who then pays the payment to the physician directly.

Medical Billing Companies know how to conduct their tasks more efficiently and cost-effectively as compared to the practices of the physician as they are the masters of the field. They also make use of the coding specialists and all the necessary hardware and software in order to carry out medical billing. Therefore, they are considered more proficient in handling various tasks as compared to the medical practices. They help in restructuring various office procedures, which help the practices of the physician to grow.

To know more about Medical Billing Companies, logon to http://www.activemds.com.

Medical Practices made Easier with Electronic Medical Records

Before going any further, it would be better to first define what actually the electronic medical records (EMR) means. EMR are patient’s medical records used in various hospitals and physician’s offices of United States of America. The main reason behind the usage of EMR is that they provide certain benefits as compared to the paper-based medical records. These records also come handy in the processing of the insurance claims and following up with various patients. In addition to this, the data is stored at one place electronically and can be easily accessed anytime by the physician.

Today, medical practitioners have to save space, coordinate and access the records more quickly; this is the main reason that e-medical records are becoming more and more popular. With the help of EMR, the clinical staff members have easy access to the patient’s data from practically any place. With the help of this feature, various practices that use EMR have considerably reduced various errors. This has also helped in saving time that was consumed in the faxing of the records that are sometimes very difficult to comprehend.

There are doctors and physicians who have their practices in different places and their respective patients visit them in different locations. Now, this means more paper work, more files to be transferred and filed in different locations. However, with Electronic medical records, all that frustration and wastage of time is reduced largely.

EMR has also simplified the claims processing procedure by the insurance companies. This also helps the practitioners to manage the claims denials made by the insurance companies. Electronic medical records also enable the physicians and the nurses to work more efficiently. With the automated drug and allergy interaction checks, EMR helps in prescribing the drugs easier and less confusing. The prescription records, clinical notes and lab results are easily accessible for the physicians.

EMR has some added features like accounting and scheduling as well. Now putting all the mentioned benefits into practice, healthcare providers must assure the right to privacy of the public and that means that all the medical records of the patients has to be kept confidential. Even if the data is being accessed for statistic reasons or the person is having no personal interest in the data, still the data needs to be safeguarded.

Knowing that your health record is confidential and easily accessible to your physicians through EMR makes it a rewarding service that any physician can provide to its clients.
Electronic medical records are changing the face of healthcare and helping to make it more efficient. Visit http://www.activemds.com/ for further details.

Let us know the Services and Benefits of a Medical Billing Company

The primary duty of any physician is to deliver the best available healthcare to a patient. However, in the current scenario the majority of a physician’s time is spent on filling up of forms and claims. The innovation in technology has helped to overcome this issue in the form of medical billing services. A medical billing company helps to reduce the intricacies of paperwork involved in a large healthcare facility as well as in hospitals and multispecialty clinics. The patient data is organized in the form of electronic medical records that are easily accessible to the healthcare facilities and the insurance companies.

A medical billing company aids patient care facilities, medical attention centers as well as to the individual physicians and specialists by providing benefits that helps in their effective functioning. Let us discuss the serThe primary duty of any physician is to deliver the best available healthcare to a patient. However, in the current scenario the majority of a physician’s time is spent on filling up of forms and claims. vices and benefits provided by these companies in the section below.

1. An important aspect of the revenue cycle of any medical entity is the submission of numerous bills, insurance claims and other paper work under the strict time limits. It is possible for these bills to face rejection on issues of errors that proves costly for a practitioner or a medical facility. Medical billing companies ensure that his processing and coding is done efficiently and without any errors.


2. Billing companies make use of the registration system of a practice in order to access patient information that is useful for insurance companies when claims are filed with them. Medical billing companies are useful in the verification process for settling insurance claims.


3. Medical billing services perform the various coding procedures such as medical coding audits, CPT coding, and other related coding procedures with accuracy.


4. These services also take care of all the accounting issues that concern a practice or a healthcare facility. This can deal with collections of accounts that are receivable and reconciliation of accounts.


5. Medical billing services act as a useful bridge between the insurance and the healthcare industry. They provide a fast turnaround time that ultimately boosts convenience and productivity.


6. A reduction in the overall costs is the USP of these billing companies, so whether it is in house or outsourced billing services; it will eventually help in reduced costs.

A medical billing company is a perfect solution for healthcare facilities seeking assistance in increasing their revenues and efficiency. Visit http://www.activemds.com/ for further details.

Doctors & Hospitals benefit from a Medical Billing Company, How?

Unquestionably, the profession of doctor is noble and they have to be on their toes for every job round the clock. They are too busy in taking care of the health concerns of the human race, as a result, important tasks like billing, payments, patient registration, record keeping, etc. put that extra burden on them in order to exercise successful medical and patient care services in a healthcare facility or a clinic. At this stage, the services of a medical billing company have the potential that can ease of the burden in a professional and competent way.

Their primary focus always remains on maximum reimbursement for their clients. The workforce of a medical billing company is well trained to bury the loads of paperwork and expert in handling all medical billing issues. They are well informed about the existing legalities of medical bills and insurance premiums and are competent enough of resolving obstacles affecting reimbursements.

Advantages of using medical billing services of company:

• General practitioner can spend more time at their clinics serving the community


• The clinic staff can focus on more medically productive duties rather than performing duties out of profiles


• Such companies act like a nominee and take care of all unclaimed bills and insurance payments, that attributes towards the revenue generation


• Those who have an exposure of working with insurance companies know about the difficulties to get the claims settled in time, but these professionals are extensively trained in doing so


• In case of any law change, the medical billing firm keep themselves aligned with the changes and inform the hirer about those


• In general, medical claim’s clearance period is framed between 5-6 months, but these companies can get a claim cleared within weeks as all claims are electronically dealt


• Either the medical billing companies ask for an insignificant commission out of the reimbursed amount or fixed amount for the claims processed, which is not at all hard to promise


• There is no need to learn the bill negotiation skills and no need to mug the codes, if one is hiring a medical billing company


• In addition to these, hiring the services of such an institute means no commissions or regular payments to the employees, freedom from excessive workloads, and accurate management of cash flow and above all, increased patient satisfaction.

Hence, next time if you want to increase your productivity in providing appreciable medical services, do check for the useful services provided by a medical billing company. For more information, visit the website http://www.activemds.com.

Let us know the Benefits of Electronic Medical Records

Electronic Medical Records are the fastest ways to access any patient’s information in the health care industry. These records have changed the way the health industry function by providing a personalized approach to the medical care and assistance. These services help to save resources like time and cost that are important for staying float in the competitive market.

An electronic medical record serves as an essential component of automated health information systems. Healthcare professionals and administrators benefit from the use of these records as it enhances their efficiency and expertise. This paperless technology is proving to be crucial for various medical facilities by improving their services. These records find their uses in healthcare services, hospitals, medical institutions and laboratories.

Advantages of Electronic Medical Records -

They help to manage the patient’s medical reports and the medical documentation process in an organized way.

It is easy to scan the existing records of a hospital to an EMR storehouse. The constant updating of these records adds to the efficiency of any health care facility.

EMRs are enormously helpful in upgrading security systems and furnishing better quality systems. They have helped to make the health delivery process much more effective.

EMR companies involve crucial technologies and proficiency to convert the records into electronic format.

The medical professionals can easily capture data at the onset of treatment procedures. They can now easily put together this data from various sources.

Physicians now have the advantage of speedy decision making due to the apparent and fast accessibility of desired information.

Types –

These medical records are of two types and are discussed below,

Web-based: This type of EMR offers a broad spectrum of solutions together with free online systems, shareware systems and cloud-computing products etc.

Client-server: This type of EMR is the conventional choice for many organizations. It finds its uses by long-term care physicians, and is stored on the proprietor's server.

The healthcare industry is benefitting from the use of these records as it helps to increase productivity and serve the patients better.

Electronic Medical Records have helped in delivering high quality, valuable and cost effective healthcare solutions all over the world. For more details, please visit www.activemds.com

Electronic Medical Records – Their Contribution towards the Healthcare Industry

In the year 2009, the United States government signed a stimulus program for providing $19 million to facilitate the increased usage of electronic medical records by private practitioners and hospital facilities. These records are changing the face of healthcare by making patient’s information readily accessible and saving up on time. An electronic medical record is the best way in which the health care industry can leverage on the offerings of the informational age.

Let us understand the contribution of these electronic medical records to the field of healthcare -

1. These records offer manageability to the organization to take care of the patient’s information using futuristic technology. Appropriate electronic medical records software can work wonders for a business by increasing its efficiency.


2. They help in increasing the efficiency of an organization by decreasing the amount of resources required for operations that may include those like time and money.


3. The process of storage of the patient’s data is made versatile as these records store not only the notes of the physicians or specialists but also medical codes. Therefore, multiple users can access information by using personal/online support.


4. A large part of the resources of an organization is spent on the information technology infrastructure. These records help in eliminating of the extensive infrastructure and making the databases more efficient for usage.


5. Most of these electronic records are easily accessible with the help of compatible devices. This means that they can be easily downloaded to a palmtop or a laptop with a valid access and internet connectivity.


6. An excellent support system is also an advantage for these electronic records software. It is also possible to get access to various medical records that may include Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other codes.


7. These records have also helped in decreasing the number of errors that are encountered in healthcare documentations. It is due to this reason these records have also been termed as “preventive medicine” by various people.


8. The utilization of these records have also reduced the number of hours spent by patients waiting outside the emergency for the physicians to access their personal medical record.

Electronic medical records are changing the face of healthcare by making it more efficient and productive. Visit http://www.activemds.com/ for further details.

Employ Medical Billing Services Provider For Efficient Healthcare System

Every industry demands a well-organized infrastructure. There are many things that constitute for an effective healthcare solution. Efficient medical billing is one of the important aspects of every healthcare facility. It is one of the basic supportive tasks. Physicians often complain that due to billing related hassles they do not get paid in time. This may be because of a disorganized medical billing structure.

In order to cope with the billing related functions well, many healthcare setups choose to outsource medical billing services to professionally trained and competent providers. Choosing the right provider ensures perfect solutions to all your worries. You can get rid of voluminous paperwork as well as expenses involved in managing an additional workforce to do the in-house process.

Many a times untimely claim denial and wrong billing by the in-house staff can lead to various types of hassles. But by employing a skilled medical billing company, one can eliminate these types of problems to a great degree. The professionals at the medical billing company are dedicated to improve the efficiency of your billing functions, boosting the reimbursements, decreasing the denials, trimming down the costs, and saving a lot of time.

These days, you can find many established medical billing companies that employ skilled experts and advanced technologies to deliver the best medical billing solutions. The professionals employed by these companies have excellent know-how in the latest medical billing and claim processing guidelines and they make use of specialized medical billing software to work proficiently. They process bills and claims accurately and quickly.

Professional medical billing companies can manage to deliver efficient processing of claims and you need not worry about the followup for submitted claims as they will take care of it. Their high privacy and security solutions ensure confidentiality of patient data. The staff of these companies gets timely training of new updates, error correction sessions, and periodic reporting system that ensures that you get quality services. They aim to provide you swift and well-defined output.

If you have been looking to seek freedom from all billing related functions, outsourcing your medical billing can do a great job for you. It is advisable to search online to get information on reliable service providers. Research about the services offered and the pricing of short-listed providers. This will help you choose the most suitable medical billing services provider that guarantees consistent solutions in rapid turnaround time at most affordable rates.

Active Management is one of the well-known consulting companies offering world class medical billing services. For more information about them and various services offered by them you can logon to their website www.activemds.com

Important Tasks That A Good Medical Billing Service Should Accomplish

Even though outsourcing the task of medical billing has become a common practice among health care providers, not many of them are actually aware of the services that should be given by companies offering such services. To get the maximum value for the money invested in hiring a third party to provide medical billing services, it is vital to be aware of responsibilities that such companies are supposed to handle. Given below are the major tasks that ought to be accomplished by any Company hired for medical billing by a health care facility.

1. Companies handling the medical billing of a health care facility are required to calculate the gross and net collection ratio of the facility. These figures are vital in calculating the overall performance of a health care facility as well as in determining the actual number of paying patients visiting the facility.

2. Medical billing also includes minimization the time taken in actually receiving the bill payment. Although, the time taken to clear the bills of different medical specialties varies significantly, it can be reduced by regular follow up and minimizing the errors in the submission of bills.

3. It is also important to keep a record of any previous bills that are yet to be cleared. Providers of medical billing service are required not only to keep an updated report of such bills but also to perform an effective analysis to determine the reasons for the non payment of bills.

4. Billing companies are also expected to calculate the patient liability percentage. This data is extremely important for determining the effectiveness of the functionality of the front office of a facility.

5. It is also vital to provide report about the number of claims that have been cleared without the need of doing any follow-ups. This data is vital in determining the efficiency of the billing service.

Active Management is a reliable and leading medical billing company with vast experience and expertise in the field of providing accurate medical billing service. For more information on the services offered by them you can logon to their website www.activemds.com.

Some Basic Facts About Radiology Medical Billing Service

Radiology is an entirely independent branch of medical science and hence it is quite understandable for radiology medical billing needs to be significantly different from any other type of medical billing service. That is why several providers of medical billing facilities offer special services to meet the medical billing requirements of numerous independent radiologists, radiology service providers and hospitals as well as other health care providers. Accurate radiology medical billing is essential not only to enhance the efficiency of medical care centers but also to maximize their returns.

Outsourcing radiology medical billing can prove beneficial in numerous ways. It not only helps in organizing the patient schedules and sending reminders to them but also keeps tracks of the demographics and charges at the time of enrollment of the patient. Additionally, these services are also responsible for carrying out insurance enrollment for the physicians and officers. The companies’ also carryout tasks like insurance verification and authorization, coding, auditing, billing, integration of accounts, account analysis, denial management and financial management.

Given the fact that radiology medical billing service is quite different, radiology health care providers need to ensure that the company they choose for medical billing employs trained and experienced staff, capable of handling radiology medical billing in an efficient manner. They should be well versed with the latest medical billing software and should have a proper know-how about the working as well as the medical facilities provided at a radiology health care center.

Choosing a reliable and trustworthy radiology medical billing company not only ensures the coverage of all the aspects of billing requirements, but also ensure faster and accurate settlement of claims. However, health care facilities also need to regularly check the quality of medical billing by seeking periodic reports related to diverse issues. Additionally, they also need to constantly analyze the patterns on codes, procedures and other issues related to billing.

Active Management is a reliable and leading medical billing company with vast experience and expertise in the field of providing medical billing service. For more information on the services offered by them you can logon to their website www.activemds.com.