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Electronic Filing Speeds Up Insurance Claims
As we have all seen these last several years, getting reimbursed for your services is becoming more and more difficult. The amount of time it takes to be reimbursed by the insurance companies is getting increasingly longer. In reality, your bills don’t wait and your staff certainly doesn’t wait until the insurance carrier decides to pay, so why should you?
A good way to speed up your cash flow is to look seriously into filing your claims electronically. The other option is to be a cash-only practice. How many of your patients can afford to or will pay at time of service? Filing claims electronically is easier than you think. You can go about this a couple of different ways.
Many practices are computerized and are using software that has the ability to transmit electronically, but for some reason they do not utilize that function. You have a simple remedy for this -- just contact your rep and get set up. For the practices that are not computerized, you can take the plunge and become computerized or contract with a billing service.
There are many billing services to choose from, each offering varied services to suit your specific needs. These resources can address several problems at one time:
- The reduction of stress in your office due to the insurance being so complicated.
- The constant worry of staff turnaround and your receivables suffering because of it.
- Your cash coming in the door faster and less problematic than you have ever seen before.
- If the insurance pays faster, then the patient pays faster.
- You have more money in your pocket and less money sitting on the books. It’s all relative!
- The added bonus of less paperwork and your staff’s time is better spent on patient care.
You will want to carefully research the various options available to you before making a decision to revamp your whole claims processing system. A few good points to consider are:
- Do you want to keep your billing internal?
- If you do, do you have adequate staff for this?
- If so, do you have a lot of turnover in you office?
- How much per hour does it really cost you to do the billing internally?
To figure out that information, consider salary, benefits, supplies and the amount of time it takes a claim to get paid and in your hands. You need to figure out what it costs to internally get these claims processed as opposed to outsourcing.
If you outsource you don’t have to worry about staff turnover, benefits, follow-upon claims and supplies. If you decide to outsource some good questions to ask are:
- How does the information get transferred from my office to yours?
- How soon after receiving the information does the claim get processed?
- Who do the checks from the insurance company go to?
- What is the fee structure of the billing service (what you get for how much)?
- Who bills the patient?
- Who answers calls about accounts?
- What will you be charged per specific service?
- Can you pick and choose what specific services you want?
- Will the service perform extra services (e.g., recalls, patient billing, patient birthday cards, database marketing and payroll)?
After you answer these questions, and more that will certainly come up along the way, you can make a rational and informed decision about the lifeline of your practice and the business.
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