Insurance Verification Services - An Overview

Insurance verification services are a key component in the medical billing cycle. In health insurance verification, a patient's active coverage is checked with the insurance company to make sure that he/she is eligible for the procedure scheduled in the hospital. The verification should be done before the patient is admitted to hospital. By ensuring that patients are eligible for services and benefits before the treatment is rendered will help avoid the risk of not getting paid.

Medical insurance verification is a time consuming process that requires minute attention to detail. It prevents serious financial losses due to patient ineligibility. Besides, it helps you save the time spent on manual eligibility checks (up to 15 minutes per patient) and reduces human error. Payment collections can be significantly improved with accurate co-pays/deductibles info.

Because of their busy working schedules, most healthcare providers do not get enough time to carry out the verification process properly. Non-verification of insurance eligibility may lead to problems such as delayed payments, rework, increased errors and patient dissatisfaction. To avoid claim rejection, it is very important to carry out the insurance benefit verification process. In such circumstances most of the healthcare professionals prefer to outsource eligibility verification services to a reliable outsourcing company. Outsourcing frees up healthcare staff to focus on more productive tasks.

Insurance Verification Services – What Is Involved

Every medical professional must understand the importance of insurance verification in making the billing process successful. Here’s a quick overview of the entire insurance eligibility verification process.

Insurance benefit verification includes verification of: payable benefits, co-pays, co-insurances, deductibles, patient policy status, effective date, type of plan and coverage details, plan exclusions, claims mailing address, referrals & pre-authorizations, life time maximum, and more. Insurance eligibility verification process involves the steps that are mentioned below:

•    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
•    Contacting patients for additional information if necessary
•    Updating the billing system with eligibility and benefits details such as member ID, group ID, coverage start and end dates, co-pay information

Seek Professional Help from a Reliable Service Provider

To get comprehensive insurance verification services, it is necessary to seek the help of an experienced and reliable medical billing company. A reliable company will help in all ways to meet your insurance verification requirements. By hiring a professional firm to meet your insurance verification requirements, you can gain many benefits including: reduced effort and time, speed up approval and authorization; simplified workflow; faster billing cycles; improved staff productivity and reduced operational costs.

Article Source:  http://www.ideamarketers.com/?Insurance_Verification_Services&articleid=3571646

Medical Billing and Coding Process - A General Overview

It may seem to be the most mundane thing in a medical office, but medical billing and coding can turn out to be the most frustrating task if not handled properly.   Of utmost importance when it comes to maintaining a steady revenue cycle, these vital processes often remain like the evading genie slipping out of your hand when you think you have it in control. Healthcare practitioners as well as medical students who are to be the physicians of the future must be fully aware of the various processes involved in medical billing and coding if flawless billing is to become a reality.

Core Tasks Involved in Medical Coding and Billing

To ensure that medical reimbursements and claims are provided by the insurance companies on time for all the services rendered to the insured patients, the coding and billing process has to be thorough and flawless. Coding and processing  of medical bills and insurance claims comprise a series of complex  tasks that need to be done with extreme accuracy, as any sort of errors in billing and coding can lead to claim denials and rejections. Let us look at the processes involved in medical billing:

•    Patient Enrollment (Demographics and Charges)

•    Patient Scheduling and Reminders

•    Insurance Enrollment (for Physicians and Offices)

•    Insurance Authorizations

•    Insurance Verification

•    Coding and Audits

•    AR Management (Insurance and Patient)

•    Account Analysis and Denial Management (EOB Analysis)

•    Billing and Reconciling of Accounts (Payment Posting)

•    Financial Management Reporting

Taking into account the busy schedule of healthcare providers, it is advisable to hand over these tasks to a professional medical billing firm.

Reduce Coding and Billing Errors and Maximize Profit

To meet the billing and coding requirements of various healthcare entities, many experienced outsourcing companies are providing professional medical billing and coding services throughout the United States.   Outsourcing the billing and coding tasks of your healthcare practice to such medical billing companies will help you benefit from quality solutions. Experienced outsourcing companies provide consistent services covering all the major billing and coding tasks outlined above.

Outsourcing companies that offer medical billing services are equipped with advanced infrastructure, and have on staff experienced billing and coding specialists. These professionals utilize the latest medical billing software such as Practice Admin, IDX, Eclipse, Medisoft, NextGen, Lytec, and eClinicalWorks among others, to process all medical bills and claims without errors within a minimum time.  Specialized medical coding services from dependable medical coding companies help healthcare entities considerably reduce expenses that may be otherwise required to train and recruit coding and billing staff. Efficient services of these companies also ensure many additional benefits such as:

•    Helps submit accurate medical bills and insurance claims

•    Timely reimbursement

•    Reduce workload

•    Reduce medical coding and billing backlogs

•    Streamline the  workflow of your medical practice

Pick a Reliable Firm for Affordable Services

In short, well-organized medical coding services can help improve the overall efficiency of your healthcare facility as well as make it more profitable through maintaining a balanced revenue system. Entrusting your medical coding and billing jobs to professional firms also ensures many other benefits including:

•    100% HIPAA compliant solutions

•    Fast turnaround time

•    24/7 based customer support

•    Free trial offer

•    Competitive pricing 30% to 40% lower than market rates

Considering this array of benefits, healthcare practices planning to outsource medical billing and coding tasks should ideally get in touch with a reliable medical billing and coding company. With such a firm you stand to benefit from customized and budget-friendly medical billing solutions that best suit the requirements of your healthcare facility.

Article Source: http://www.ideamarketers.com/?Medical_Billing_and_Coding_Services&articleid=3548135

Increase Revenue with Physician Billing Services

Effective physician billing services is a sure way of increasing revenue in medical offices. Revenue increase is facilitated with speedy and accurate reimbursement and minimum claim denials. A medical billing company that offers the service of competent and knowledgeable billing and coding professionals can be an ideal partner for physician practices looking for ways to cut down the operating cost as well as avoid strenuous back office work.

Factors that Contribute towards Improving Productivity and Profit

Physician medical billing services play a significant role when it comes to streamlining the billing procedures, increasing revenue and improving the way the healthcare practice functions. Primarily, a medical billing firm would ensure prompt and error-free medical billing and coding.

There are many ways in which medical billing services can actually increase the revenue of your healthcare practice. 
    
•    By submitting flawless claims and bills: As the medical billing, claims processing and coding procedures are done by experts, on-time submission of error-free medical bills and claims is ensured. This would considerably reduce claim denials and maximize the cash flow of physician practices.
•    By allowing healthcare professionals to focus on their core business activities and provide quality healthcare services. Physicians can make use of their valuable time and maximize their productivity, resulting in increased revenue.
•    By saving on overhead expenses such as salaries, benefits, payroll taxes, and more.
•    By reducing old accounts receivable
•    By providing maximum reimbursement by taking care of your accounts and acquiring payments on time from insurance companies
•    By reducing accounts receivable time
•    By improving cash flow
•    By reducing labor cost
•    By saving on infrastructure cost: Save on a considerable amount of money that is required to set up the infrastructure, advanced devices and software utilities to perform the billing procedures within your practice.
•    By facilitating regular follow-ups: Medical billing companies ensure regular follow-ups for all your claims and this would help you get maximum reimbursement on time.

Medical billing services help increase productivity and enable your practice to reach the next level.

Simplified Workflow and Other Advantages

A reputable medical billing company will help simplify your workflow and streamline all billing and coding processes. As your partner, the billing firm will work closely with your practice providing customized services. Be careful, though when choosing a medical billing company to associate with. Go for a professional service provider that has been serving the industry for quite some time with comprehensive physician billing services.

Physician Billing Services Help Gain Profits for Your Practice

Physician billing services play a significant role when it comes to the increase of revenue and improvement in the way in which medical practices function. The revenue of a practice can be improved by outsourcing physician billing. This is the reason why there is an increase in the outsourcing of medical billing jobs to a reliable medical billing company. Denial management, charge entry, claims submission, tracking of accounts, payment posting, scheduling and rescheduling appointments, patient enrollment, reconciling of accounts, financial management reporting, medical coding audits, AR management, and insurance authorizations and verifications are covered under physician billing services.  If these services are outsourced to established companies, physicians stand to benefit from error-free and prompt services. The revenue cycle can be managed easily as operating costs are reduced and the bottom line is improved.

How Revenue Can be Increased with Medical Billing Services

Only a knowledgeable and professional billing service provider can help in streamlining the revenue cycle. The revenue for the practice can be improved in the following ways:

•    The business process is streamlined effectively
•    You get time to focus on the provision of quality healthcare. This in turn makes sure that the patients are satisfied.
•    Valuable time is saved and the productivity is maximized
•    Operational expenses along with errors associated with in-house medical billing are reduced.
•    Technology benefits can be enjoyed. The latest billing software is used in providing medical billing services for physicians.
•    Cost savings including that associated with medical office space, payroll taxes, health insurance, office equipment and paid vacation time.
•    Maximum reimbursement of the claims along with a fast turnaround.
•    Resources that are needed for hiring and training professionals are saved.
•    High level of accuracy is provided. It is essential to have accurate data for getting maximum reimbursement of claims from the insurance company. If physician billing is outsourced, better accuracy can be achieved. This increases the chance of obtaining maximum reimbursement for the claims submitted.
•    Cash flow is accelerated
•    Costly billing errors are avoided, so claim denials are minimized
•    Accounts receivable is reduced
•    Regular follow-up for the claims is provided, ensuring speedy reimbursement

The experienced and skilled coding specialists and billers in the medical billing firm provide error-free solutions. Confidentiality of the patient is assured and the information is protected in keeping with the rules laid down by the HIPAA or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This also helps in avoiding litigation and maximizing claim reimbursement.  Reliable physician billing services are therefore a great support and will help you gain maximum profit for your medical practice.

Article Source: http://goarticles.com/article/Physician-Billing-Services-Help-Gain-Profits-for-Your-Practice/6736550/