Tuesday, September 4, 2012

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.

2 comments:

  1. Thanx for providing the very useful information about find the right medical billing service for practice. Always look for a service provider that has years of experience including a history of dealing with your specific kind of practice.
    Only a professional and experienced service provider can deliver medical coding services and medical billing solutions that ideally meet the requirements of your medical practice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for your useful information about find the right medical billing and coding service.
    physician billing service.
    medical billing service.
    dealing with your specific kind of practice.

    ReplyDelete