Outsourcing Insurance Verification and Authorization Benefits Medical Practices

Verifying insurance eligibility is very important when it comes to providing covered services for your patients. Efficiently carried out, the procedure improves your revenues as well as enhances patient satisfaction. Most healthcare professionals are not aware of the intricacies of the health insurance verification process and their staff may not have the time to carry out the insurance verification services efficiently. This often leads to a situation of delayed payments, nonpayment of claims and ultimately, patient dissatisfaction.

Outsourcing to Significantly Reduce Rejections and Denials

To take the stress out of managing insurance eligibility verification task, it is better to outsource insurance verification services to an outsourcing company. This can get your claims billed and processed accurately. All your concerns regarding insurance eligibility verification can be put to rest. Today, there are several outsourcing companies that ensure that all your necessary paperwork will get done promptly for timely reimbursement. They will work with patients, healthcare staff and the insurance company to meet your verification demands.

These companies have a team of professionals to carry out the verification of patient details, coverage details, co-insurance details, deductible details, out of pocket expenses, allowed visits details, pre-authorization number, pre-certification details, claim mailing address, adjuster contact details, IP benefits and case details to avoid last minute cancellations and to ensure accurate medical billing. 

The Eligibility Verification Process

The insurance verifications and authorization process involves many steps:

•    Receiving patient schedules from the hospital or clinics via EDI, email or fax
•    Verifying patients' insurance coverage on all primary and secondary (if applicable) payers
•    Verifying demographic information
•    Updating patient accounts
•    Contacting patients for additional information
•    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.

Gains from outsourcing insurance verification and authorization services

Outsourcing your insurance verification authorization to experts saves time and improves your cash inflow. It also speeds up approval and authorization.  Other gains:

•    Reduces your risk factors
•    Simplified workflow
•    Reduced number of returned claims
•    Faster billing cycles
•    Minimizes delays considerably
•    Improves payment and collections
•    Reduces need to rework claims
•    Frees up workforce to focus on more productive tasks
•    Reduced operational costs 
•    Fewer claim rejections
•    Streamlines billing process

Choose the Right Service Provider

Before handing over the task of insurance verification and insurance authorization to a reliable outsourcing firm, make sure that they 

•    Offer continuous evaluation of each account regarding the amount of returns possible and the timing
•    Provide regular QA checking with readily available reports
•    Weekly and monthly status reports
•    Follow all HIPAA guidelines

Always ensure that the company provides insurance verifications and authorizations based on your budget constraints and unique requirements.  

What to Expect from an Emergency Room Transcription Service Provider

There are many benefits to expect from an emergency room transcription service provider. Emergency room transcription service is comprehensive and cost-effective if handled by a reliable transcription company. The emergency room is where things are always stressful for doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals involved. In the rush to save lives, HIPAA compliance and other factors often get left out. Some assistance is not only useful but also necessary.

How Emergency Room Transcription Outsourcing Helps

Emergency room transcription outsourcing can help with transcribing all the documents created in a typical emergency room in the formats specified. The services are always customizable with regard to the format you need the files to be transcribed in, the rates, the mode of file transfer, and other requirements. Emergency room transcription service by a reliable medical transcription company can serve the needs of hospitals, trauma care centers, medical emergency centers, clinics of individual practitioners, and other healthcare facilities.

File Transfer Protocol for Better Client Experience

The transcription company has many technologies to ensure efficient and secure file transfer. The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is an example. This ensures safe transfer of files which can be easily accessed by the client. There are also browser-based file transfer methods that are secured by advanced encryption technology. Quality and accuracy of the transcription is ensured by three levels of quality checks. 

Secure Dictation Options – Digital Dictation Machine and Toll-free Number

Reliable and experienced emergency room transcription service providers offer the digital dictation machine and toll-free number options for clients to dictate the files. The digital recorder is provided by the transcription company through which the information dictated by the healthcare professional reaches the local computer from which it is transferred securely through the Internet to the secure servers of the company.

The entire digital dictation medical transcription outsourcing process, from the transfer from the local computer to the server to when it is allotted to and accessed by the transcriptionist, is made secure through encryption technology. Toll-free numbers are secure phone connections set up by the medical transcription outsourcing provider which enable direct dictation to its server. 

Emergency Room Transcription Services – Distinguishing Features

The other features of emergency room transcription outsourcing from a reliable medical transcription company generally include: 
   
•    99% accuracy
•    Transcriptions done domestically or internationally
•    Customized turnaround times, even within 24 hours, depending on the need of each physician
•    Affordable pricing with great savings
•    AAMT guideline 65 character line billing
•    HL7 transcription interface
•    100% security by strict compliance with HIPAA guidelines
•    Smooth document flow management system
•    24/7 customer service and technical support

Client companies can get accurately and securely transcribed reports for their use. The customization features of medical transcription services enable them to be adapted to the unique requirements and working structure of various healthcare and emergency or trauma care centers, hospitals and clinics of individual practitioners. Usually, the services provided are cost-effective for the client. If the company providing emergency room transcription service is a reputable and reliable one, you can expect value added services that will ideally meet and even exceed your expectations.

HIPAA compliant medical coding services for cardiologists

HIPAA compliant medical coding services for cardiologists protect the security and confidentiality of health information stored in electronic format.  Cardiology medical coding involves CPT coding, hospital/in-patient coding, hospital/out-patient coding, DRG/ICD-9-CM coding validations and review, emergency room e-code evaluation, payer specific coding requirements, medical coding audits and more. Error-free coding is done from documents available in the form of chart notes, fee slips, encounter forms, chart sheets, and transcripts.

Features of HIPAA compliant medical coding services

A reliable medical coding outsourcing firm is up-to-date on HIPAA regulations and ensures that the service it provides exceeds these data security requirements. Medical coding companies that are HIPAA-compliant have different types of security arrangements in place to prevent theft or vandalism of the sensitive data that they are entrusted with. Their capabilities, software, functions and even electronic claims are streamlined according to HIPAA security norms. A medical coding company protects patient information and ensures the secure storage and transmission of medical data with the following measures:

•    Strong authentication procedures are implemented which include both user identification as well as secure passwords
•    A security administrator defines and manages user and role-based access as directed by HIPAA
•    Use of 128-bit encryption technology that conforms to the proposed HIPAA rules for information transmitted over the Internet
•    Security features are implemented that allow only designated users to view reports
•    Tracking system that records user activity, including all the information any user has accessed, as required under the proposed rules
•    Special privacy regulations for staff managing vital patient information
•    Periodic backup of data and critical facilities accessibility
•    Secure workstations, storage facility and authorized access
•    Password protected computers made secure with lockers for critical patient data
•    Frequent updates of firewalls and antivirus software on all systems
•    Technical evaluations performed on a routine basis
•    Employees are made to sign confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements

Cardiologists can avoid claim rejection and law suits and increase reimbursement with the help of these HIPAA compliant medical coding services. Other important benefits that follow from outsourcing coding tasks include:

•    Reduces administrative responsibilities
•    Eliminates billing headaches
•    Prevents coding errors
•    Improves office efficiency
•    Reduces your audit risks
•    Reduces claim submission delays
•    Reduces fixed office expenses
•    Eliminates coder training costs

Hiring a HIPAA compliant medical coding service provider

If you plan to outsource the medical coding requirements of your healthcare facility, try to locate a reliable medical coding company. Make sure the service provider is experienced in providing HIPAA compliant medical coding services for cardiologists.