Despite the difficulties inherent in the medical billing process, everything can go according to plan. As a result, a claim is filed once instead of multiple times through the process. Moreover, the time it takes to pay a claim is shortened significantly. Hence, teaming up with medical billing professionals is crucial.
All efforts should be made to ensure that newly trained medical coders develop efficient routines from the very beginning of their training. Learners can use this checklist of 6 steps to help them develop a systematic approach in medical coding companies and establish effective coding practices immediately.
1. Patient Check-In or Registration
Keep in mind that this is the initial phase of the patient’s scheduled session. Collecting the patient’s personal information, such as age, and insurance details, such as the insurance provider and policy number, falls under this category.
If this is not the patient’s first appointment, they will need to fill out a variety of papers and validate the information already in their medical file. It’s important to note that patients need to bring more than just their insurance cards and completed documents when they visit the doctor.
If the patient has been to the doctor before, their history will already be on file. Since this is the case, it is sufficient for the patient to merely provide an explanation of the reason for their appointment. It is imperative that your employees gather all the information necessary for your clinic to submit a claim.
However, in order to verify that a new patient is entitled to receive medical care from the provider, the patient must give personal and insurance information.
2. Validate Insurance Details
Did you know that a very significant portion of repeat patients are required to verify their identity and insurance coverage prior to each and every medical visit? Keep in mind that benefits and authorizations can be affected by sudden changes in insurance information. That’s why it’s important to confirm with patients ahead of time if any of their demographic data has changed since your last visit.
Also, note that insurance verification is the technique used to check insurance claims for accuracy and prevent fraud and denials. Remember that verifying insurance claims over the phone requires skilled professionals to speak with the insurance company.
Benefits can be significantly altered by incorrect, out-of-date, or otherwise altered data. This emphasizes the importance of verifying patient data twice. You should also notify patients that they will be responsible for paying for any uninsured therapies or procedures upfront to avoid any confusion down the road.
3. Understanding Diagnosis, Modifier, and Procedure Coding in Medicine
In this phase, medical coding validates both the patient’s diagnosis and the procedure codes against predetermined criteria. ICD-10 and CPT are two examples of such norms. The medical service utilized is denoted by a five-digit procedure code.
However, the doctor’s diagnosis can be aided by the diagnosis code. When providing medical care, it is essential that your billing staff assigns each service a unique medical code. In order to guarantee precise and timely medical billing, the staff should also condense every minute of information into standardized codes.
It is further important to remember that the insurance company has to know exactly what the patient is being treated for and how the therapy is being administered and that this information can only be provided via accurate and fast medical claims coding.
It is also important to have correct medical coding information when describing the patient’s disease or symptoms to decide on the best course of treatment and diagnostic tests. Hence, medical coders must adhere to the established rules for adding modifiers to HCPCS and CPT codes.
4. Charge Entry
This means that people should pay for the treatments they receive. It is important to remember that charge entry entails correctly associating medical codes with the corresponding patient visits, treatments, and functions.
Keep in mind that the medical costs tagged by your coding team do not include any expenses incurred in providing the medical services or the maximum collectable amount. It’s also important to note that this is a critical part of the process of filling out the insurance company’s medical claim form.
Experts need to keep an eye on the setup to guarantee they’re providing sufficient value. The reason is a medical claim may receive a lower settlement if an error or omission causes its value to be lowered.
5. Claims Submission
As soon as you’ve finished gathering the necessary information, you can submit your claim to the insurance company for payment. Be mindful that everyone participating in the medical billing process has access to all the information they need. Professionals develop medical billing claims after collecting all relevant data.
Did you know that while deciding when and how to submit a medical claim, medical billing professionals must take into account every variable for each insurer? The medical claim is typically submitted electronically to a clearinghouse. In this context, it is important to remember that a clearinghouse is a service provider that operates as an intermediary between health plans and medical facilities.
While most health insurers adhere to a consistent set of rules for accurate medical billing, it’s important to remember that some copays have their own requirements. Your business’s medical billers need to pay close attention to details that are unique to each payer. For instance, they need to check that their medical claim submission procedures are being followed to the letter.
6. Receipt and Payment Submission
Keep in mind that once the insurance company makes a decision to pay a medical claim, they will provide payment by a cheque or an electronic fund transfer. With the latter, which consists mostly of bulk payments, the corporation discloses a summary. This synopsis is often touted as an “Explanation of Benefits” (EOB) or “Explanation of Rights and Obligations” (Electronic Remittance Advice).
The insurance company will reimburse your medical practice if you file a claim in time. The medical coder will then deposit the funds into your business’s bank account. Medical coders are also accountable for correcting incorrect claims, which you may not have known.
They will also check up on overdue payments. It’s important to remember that the people in charge of collecting payments must also enter the sums received into the electronic health record.
Final Thoughts
Despite the fact that the majority of businesses adhere to a generally accepted set of standards and principles when it comes to medical billing, there are still many payers that rely on non-standard practices. Due to the fact that some facets of medical billing are highly payer-specific, it is crucial to double-check each payer to ensure that all requirements for submitting medical claims are being met.
In order to ensure accurate and timely medical billing, healthcare providers should adhere to these six guidelines. Remember that as soon as a patient enters your office, the medical billing process begins. By adhering to these 6 measures, you can rest assured that your medical practice will have a positive and stress-free experience with medical billing.