Benefits of Outsourcing Dental Billing and Coding

Healthcare is a very critical service industry and dental healthcare services are becoming extremely popular nowadays. Dental practitioners are responsible not only for the well-being of their patients, but also for every aspect of their dental practices. This includes maintaining their offices, taking care of payroll for their staff and handling all matters pertaining to dental billing and coding. Such responsibilities can consume the valuable time the dentist should have spent on patient care.

One of the main benefits outsourced dental billing and coding services offers is relieving medical professionals from their administrative task and allowing them to concentrate more on providing better dental care services for their patients. There are several small to large individual dental physicians, dental hospitals, clinics and other dental healthcare institutions that have gained largely from the benefits of outsourcing dental coding and billing, making it a primary option of choice among organizations planning to outsource their dental insurance billing.

Many established dental billing companies in the United States offer professional medical billing services that are immensely beneficial to dental practitioners. Such dental billing and coding firms are staffed with highly competent dental insurance billing experts and other professionals that can quickly and efficiently deliver dental billing and coding services at very cost-effective prices.

How a Dental Billing and Coding Company Can Help Your Practice Grow

Outsourcing dental coding and billing services result in higher efficiency in the functioning of the dental healthcare facility, which can later be translated into higher revenues. Listed here are the benefits of outsourcing to a dental billing and coding company.

•    A minimum of 30% outstanding A/R will be collected
•    Accelerates cash flow 
•    Reduces management time for dental physicians
•    Increases reimbursement by a minimum of 30%
•    No maintenance of hardware/software/technical issues or dealing with backups
•    No hidden costs
•    Better data accuracy, which is very essential to get maximum reimbursement for claims from insurance companies.
•    Eliminates backlog
•    Reduces processing cost by up to 60%
•    Saves cost on employee benefits such as health insurance, payroll taxes, and paid vacation time
•    Increased patient satisfaction 
•    Easy to understand invoices means response rate goes up by 400%
•    Simplifies your workload, so it lets you focus more on patient care
•    No upfront fees to start
•    You are ensured cleaner claims and speedy reimbursement with the help of a professional dental billing and coding company.
•    Improves efficiency 

Other benefits of dental billing services include: provides access to the latest technology, trained coders and quality controllers; frees up resources to work on core activities; enhances the flexibility of your organization and more.

At present, there are many large and small dental billing and coding companies offering a range of dental billing services. But when it comes to your dental coding and billing, don't trust just any dental billing company. Try to choose a professional and reliable dental billing service provider that offers services at affordable rates.

Helpful Tips to Find Medical Coding Companies

Locating outsourcing companies that offer reliable medical coding services can be a complex task for healthcare entities, as numerous firms exist in the industry. Here are some tips that will help you find established medical coding companies that can provide professional medical coding solutions that perfectly suit your practice requirements.

Selecting Reliable Companies- Core Features to Look for 

Medical coding tasks are to be performed with accuracy, as coding errors can lead to rejection or denial of reimbursement. Leading medical coding companies provide efficient coding solutions for all medical specialities. Consider the following tips when selecting a medical coding company.

Experience: Consider the experience of the particular outsourcing company you are interested in partnering with. Choosing a medical coding company with sufficient industry experience will help you obtain more accurate solutions, strictly adhering to the latest regulations formulated by the federal government and insurance companies.

Reliability: Ensure that your preferred company is reputable. Such firms can provide consistent services that will improve the revenue and cash flow of your practice.

Technological aspects: To provide client-focused medical coding solutions, medical coding outsourcing companies have to maintain state-of-the-art technology, innovative infrastructure, equipment, and advanced coding software like Ingenix, Flash Code and AMA software. Find out whether your firm is fully equipped with the necessary technology.

Services: It is necessary to evaluate the major medical coding services that are offered by your firm.  Most professional companies provide comprehensive medical coding solutions covering:

•    Hospital / in-patient coding
•    DRG/ICD-9-CM coding validations
•    Emergency room e-code evaluation
•    Medical coding audits
•    CPT medical coding, and more

Expertise and Consistency: Before signing up with a medical coding company, ensure that they have AAPC certified medical coding specialists proficient in CPT, ICD-9 CM, and HCPCS codes and standards. Further, check whether they can complete your specific medical coding tasks within your stipulated time limit.

Turnaround time: Confirm that the selected company can provide systematic medical coding solutions within minimum turnaround time. Timely submission of error-free insurance claims and medical bills will help obtain medical reimbursement in a timely manner.

Data privacy: Find out whether your medical coding company is HIPAA compliant and offers total security and confidentiality for patient data.

File transfer facility: Medical coding firms should maintain secure file transfer facilities. Ensure that your coding firm provides safe and secure file transfer options through 128-bit encrypted FTP or e-mail.

Pricing structure: Medical coding services are provided by various firms at different charges. Therefore, an assessment of their pricing structure will help assign the job to a reputable company providing effective solutions at competitive charges. Most well-known medical coding firms offer 30% - 40% cost savings as well.

See whether the firm offers free trial options, as this will enable you to assess their service quality, free of cost and take a decision.

Experienced Firms for Precise Solutions

Partnering with experienced medical coding companies ensures precise and quality medical coding solutions that will help maintain a steady revenue cycle for your medical practice. Organized medical coding services also bring in supplementary benefits such as:

•    Reduce claim denials and rejections
•    Enhance productivity and profitability of your practice
•    Minimize your operating outlay
•    Reduce your managerial workload

Web Resources Help your Search

To find reliable medical coding companies, you can utilize various web resources. Performing searches on online directories and yellow pages with zip code or the name of your city will give you a complete list of companies functioning in that location. Social networks and forums are the other resources that can help your search. Reading blogs, newsletters, articles and press releases will also direct you to the right company.

Fast and Efficient Insurance Verification Services for Healthcare Facilities

It is very important that health care providers understand the significance of fast and efficient insurance verification services. Health insurance verification plays a major role in a hospital’s claims denial management program. It is all about checking a patient’s active coverage with the insurance company and verifying the eligibility of his or her insurance claim.

Insurance eligibility verification is a necessity in healthcare facilities. In order to avoid claim rejection, each healthcare provider has to verify the insurance eligibility and coverage benefits of the patients before patient admission. Or else, it might lead to problems such as delayed payments, increased errors, non-payment of claims, patient dissatisfaction, and so on.  Therefore, insurance verification and authorization should be carried out before the patient arrives for the appointment.

Comprehensive Validation Process

Leading outsourcing companies provide speedy and error-free insurance verification services for healthcare facilities. This includes:

•    Receiving patient schedules from the hospital or clinics via FTP, email or fax
•    Verifying patients' insurance coverage on all primary and secondary (if applicable) payers
•    Verifying demographic information
•    Updating patient accounts
•    Making contact with patients for additional information if required
•    Updating the billing system with eligibility and benefits details such as group ID, member ID, coverage start and end dates, co-pay information and much more.

Benefits of Availing of Health Insurance Verification Services

Hiring insurance eligibility verification services from a reliable outsourcing company allows healthcare facilities to benefit from the service of insurance authorization specialists. Equipped with the latest technology, this team of specialists can even handle high volume jobs.  These experts can ensure excellent support for the verification of payable benefits, patient details, pre-authorization number, co-pays, co-insurance details, deductibles, patient policy status, effective date, type of plan and coverage details, plan exclusions, claims mailing address, and more. 

Outsourcing insurance verifications and authorization tasks minimizes worries about lost revenue due to billing errors or delays in process. The service providers take care of the entire medical insurance verification process and ensure speedy reimbursement. Here are some of the reasons why fast and efficient insurance verification services may be a great solution for healthcare facilities.

•    Faster billing cycles
•    Reduced operational costs
•    Minimize delays and denials considerably
•    Improve payment and collections
•    Improved staff productivity
•    Streamlined billing procedures
•    Free up staff to focus on more productive tasks
•    Reduce your risk factors
•    Reduced rework of claims
•    Expand company focus
•    Speed up approval and authorization
•    Simplified workflow

If you are planning to outsource insurance eligibility verification, try to find an outsourcing company that can deliver fast and efficient insurance verification services that meet your requirements and budget within the specified time period.

What to Expect from a Medical Coding Company

Medical coding companies have gained an important position in the present day healthcare industry. As an increased number of healthcare facilities are outsourcing their medical coding tasks, more and more companies have turned up with quality services. This article provides an overview of what to expect from a professional medical coding company.

Comprehensive Medical Coding Solutions from Established Companies

Medical coding services offered by medical coding companies are highly beneficial. Outsourcing your medical coding tasks to established medical coding companies would help submit your medical bills and claims with accuracy and obtain maximum cash flow and profit for your practice. While searching for a professional medical coding company that provides dependable services, consider the following core factors:

Industry experience: To meet the medical coding requirements of your medical practice, the particular medical coding firm you prefer must have enough industry experience. An experienced firm can provide more reliable solutions that would provide maximum benefits for your firm.

Workforce credentials: Medical coding companies must be staffed with experienced and skilled AAPC certified coders with thorough knowledge about the various medical terms and coding procedures. Talented professionals can deliver accurate medical coding solutions within your specified time frame.

Technology and software: To deliver premium quality medical coding services that can help save your money and valuable time, the company must utilize innovative technology, equipment and advanced software such as AMA, Flash Code and Ingenix.

Data security options: Ensure that the medical coding outsourcing company you select can provide better confidentiality and security for all medical records. Reliable firms provide cent per cent HIPAA compliant solutions.

Services: Established companies should take care of all the procedures in medical coding.

•    Medical coding audits
•    Hospital/ in-patient coding
•    CPT medical coding
•    Emergency room e-code evaluation
•    DRG/ICD-9-CM coding validations
•    ICD-9 coding based on AMA and CMS guidelines
•    ASCs – Ambulatory Surgical Centers Coding

Turnaround time: Ensure that the selected firm provides client-focused services in rapid turnaround time. Trustworthy companies strive to complete a project within twelve to twenty four hours.

Customer support: Evaluate whether your medical coding company can offer round-the-clock (24/7/365) customer support services and technical assistance. Most well-known companies are staffed with efficient customer care executives to serve customer needs at any time.

Service charges: Medical coding outsourcing companies should be able to provide well-planned and budget-friendly medical coding solutions. Many experienced outsourcing firms are offering top quality services at affordable charges that ensure an additional 30-40% cost savings.

Free trial facility: Many medical coding companies provide a free trial option. Test drive their services, so that you can form an idea whether the particular firm can efficiently serve your requirements.

Ensures Optimum Reimbursement for Your Practice

Organized medical coding services offered by reputable companies ensure optimum reimbursement benefits through completely minimizing the odds of claim denials and rejections. They also enable you to save bulk investment that is needed to appoint additional staff, and set up advanced infrastructure for performing the medical coding tasks within your facility.

In other words, a responsible medical coding company will help enhance the efficiency and productivity of your practice quickly, keeping the revenue cycle intact. The valuable services of such firms also allow you to provide more importance for patient care without worrying about the complex medical coding and insurance claims processing tasks.