Basics To Know Before Hire A Medical Billing Service Provider

By Author: Navin Prakash
Total Articles: 56
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Medical billing services enhance the efficiency of billing system by cutting down the operating costs, increasing reimbursements, reducing denials and save time. This enables the physicians to concentrate and spend more time in managing patients. These billing services are the ideal solutions to the frequently changing billing codes and industry's requirements. Medical billing providers deliver the result promising and reliable services that need to undertake a comprehensive evaluation and working beyond the standard performance track record metrics. Before hiring a medical billing specialist one need to consider few important factors such as:

Check the company has any HIPAA complaint.
Ask them how they secure patient’s information apart from the HIPAA compliance.
Meet to discuss monthly reports if required.
Know their experience in medical billing field.
Know their business strategy.
Provide turnover, income and debtors reporting after each month-end.
Total number of their clients (get feedback from them to know how their job is done without any interruption due to external distraction ...
... of other clients).
Analyze the advantages for the organization.
Capture and submit claims electronically. Where certain medical aid schemes do not accept electronic submissions, a paper claim will be submitted.
Compare the benefits they provide with the benefits offered when you do the job yourself.
Capture cash takings if required.
Know the deadlines and standards they have set up for the task accomplishment in each specialty.
Get details concerning to the medical billing software they use.
Reconcile payments against claims submitted.
Know their technological infrastructure flexibility to make any change, if required.
Resolve medical aid queries, do data corrections and resubmit if required.
Confirm their process accuracy percentage.
Keep a record of the process.
Perform a complete cost analysis.
Collect day sheets/paper statements via courier, driver, and fax or email delivery as agreed upon.
Get their basic information about their personnel such as number of employees, their job responsibilities and total certified personnel.
Know their business continuity plan in case of disaster, emergency or epidemic diseases.
Keep the agreement clear.
Keep a close check on company’s performance.
Assess information supplied to ensure optimal revenue generation.
Consult how they react to specific business challenges pertaining to medical billing (to understand their business efficiency).
Check and evaluate the performance of the service provider if already hired a one (such as total number of good performers, do they cross the deadlines, company’s flexibility relative to requirements and acts, keep a track of monthly reports with suggestions on financial improvement, cost effectiveness, their availability for queries and business communication etc.).
Provide patient information forms and transaction day sheets electronically or on CD.

Before outsourcing the billing responsibilities to a EMR company one should need to have comprehensive performance metrics in order to evaluate their performance, get feedback from the potential providers about their productivity measures and standard performance benchmarks. The physicians or clients should get sample reports from service providers to determine their capabilities to meet their requirements. They should get the details of medical billing software, their security features and other technology resources offered by them.