News

Top Medical Billing Tips from the Experts at NCDS

Health care centers and practices should be familiarized with creating a healthy revenue cycle. Disbursement comes after the patient treatment part is over. Hence, there’s a lag between the time of services and receiving patient payments.

So, what are the methods to adopt to minimize losses and ensure on-time and full payment?

In this article, we'll share our top medical billing tips:

Plan a Clear Collection Process

Build clear terms

It's important to clearly relay to patients what is expected from them in settling their dues. The more information you get about patients, the better the chances for receiving payments. Thus, you must keep a record of their ID, insurance details, and any relevant contact information.

Reminders

Patients should be reminded about their co-pays. Ensure you have a staff who can follow up efficiently.

Know your patient’s insurance company and agreements made

Adopt an open policy for the patient’s insurance company. Communicate with its representatives transparently and highlight any overdue billings. Instituting an open letter policy, in fact, will avoide any problems when they arise.

Manage Claims Properly

Experts believe that about 80% of medical bills go for revision, amendment, or correction. The paperwork that is submitted to insurance companies can be very timely and take weeks or months to process. When your payment comes late, your cash flow crashes.

Most common mistakes or errors include incorrect information such as the patient’s name, insurance policy and address. Furthermore, work to avoid the duplication of bills. It’s a failure to verify when you bill a patient twice for the same service.

Minimize Coding Errors

When lodging a medical claim, there are codes to follow. The most frequent errors are incorrect, missing, or mismatched codes.

Upcoding 

This fraudulent act deals with the addition or exchange of certain codes that are used for expensive medical procedures. Its intentional or deliberate misuse is illegal.

Undercoding 

Undercoding occurs when codes fail to represent the services performed.

Such errors will happen as a result of poor communication.

Promptly Handle Denied or Rejected Claims

A claim under a rejection file is one that has yet to go for processing, but any error can hinder its procedure. However, you can correct it and receive a reimbursement.

A claim in denial occurs when the insurance company has already processed it, but it is non-payable due to a violation or breach of payer-patient policy. Such cases are a must for an appeal before re-submission.

Not to mention, both lead to a loss of both money and time.

NCDS: The Premiere Option for Medical Billing

This is the right time to go hire a company like NCDS. Our aim is to streamline medical billing services for healthcare facilities and medical practices. Let us work with you to implement the right strategies to enable you to gain the revenue and cash flow that your business deserves. Our expert consultants will review your reports, trends, industry changes, and policy updates to provide your business with the right feedback and solutions to improve your entire billing process. To learn more about our commitment to excellence and performance for medical practices and healthcare providers or for questions regarding our tailored revenue cycle management solutions or other medical billing services, connect with us today.

Questions?