Outsource Strategies International Blog http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog Just another WordPress weblog Thu, 10 May 2012 06:38:51 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Registration for the Next 2012 AHIMA Convention & Exhibit Opening on May 14 http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/05/registration-for-the-next-2012-ahima-convention-exhibit-opening-on-may-14.html http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/05/registration-for-the-next-2012-ahima-convention-exhibit-opening-on-may-14.html#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 06:36:41 +0000 Author http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/?p=1878 As owner of a healthcare practice or healthcare outsourcing company, you would be happy to know that registration for the next AHIMA Convention & Exhibit in 2012 is to open on May 14th. Registration can be done by phone or online. The location of this convention starting on Sept 30th and ending on October 3rd is the McCormick Place Lakeside Building in Chicago.

An Opportunity to Get Noticed, Share Ideas and Seek Solutions

By being a part of the convention and exhibit, you would be opening up several opportunities for yourself. You can:

  • Improve your exposure to your target audience by advertising your products and solutions to them
  • Be up-to-date on the chief HIM (Health Information Management) trends
  • Share ideas with competent HIM professionals
  • Explore the novel products and solutions of other exhibitors
  • Look for solutions to challenges pertaining to medical coding and billing, medical transcription, clinical vocabularies and more

Increase Your Knowledge

In addition to the above three opportunities, you would also be able to gain new knowledge pertaining to important subjects such as these – RAC (Recovery Audit Contractor), coding software or solutions, web-oriented applications, software creation, reimbursement, outsourcing, ICD-10, document management and revenue cycle management.

]]> http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/05/registration-for-the-next-2012-ahima-convention-exhibit-opening-on-may-14.html/feed 0 Aging Workforce Takes its Toll on Medicare and Social Security http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/05/aging-workforce-takes-its-toll-on-medicare-and-social-security.html http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/05/aging-workforce-takes-its-toll-on-medicare-and-social-security.html#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 05:02:29 +0000 Author http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/?p=1876 Medicare appears to be the more badly hit because of increasing health insurance expenses

An aging populace and a very slowly recovering economy are taking their toll on the long-term condition of Medicare and Social Security, the United States’ government’s biggest benefit programs. The astonishing discoveries pertaining to the situation have been summarized by PRN Funding, an Ohio-based healthcare factoring company. Though Medicare appears to be in a more serious condition because of soaring health care expenses, the trustees who manage the programs say both programs are nearing bankruptcy.

Worse than Earlier Expected

As the trustees point out, Medicare’s hospital insurance fund for seniors would become insolvent in 2024. Social Security’s retirement fund has more time – it was expected to run out of funds only in 2038. The disability fund of the same program however was predicted to run dry by 2018. Unfortunately, the disability fund is not going to last as long as earlier predicted according to the Congressional Budget Office. Going by March 2012 predictions, it is going to last only till 2016. The reason for this distressing difference of two years is that the number of applications from people becoming jobless have gone up.

Reduce Claim Rejections and Improve your Revenue

You can reduce Medicare claim denials and improve cash flow into your practice by getting help from a healthcare outsourcing company. A reliable HIPAA compliant BPO company can help you eliminate medical billing errors – a major cause for claim rejections. Superior medical billing services offered would include efficient handling of all areas of the medical billing process, timely submission of claims, and reporting and follow-up on rejected claims. Outsourcing to such a service provider would actually reduce your billing associated operating costs by at least 30 percent.

]]> http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/05/aging-workforce-takes-its-toll-on-medicare-and-social-security.html/feed 0 Comment Period in Relation to Deferment of ICD-10 Compliance Date Now Open http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/04/comment-period-in-relation-to-deferment-of-icd-10-compliance-date-now-open.html http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/04/comment-period-in-relation-to-deferment-of-icd-10-compliance-date-now-open.html#comments Sat, 28 Apr 2012 02:11:10 +0000 Author http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/?p=1868 Healthcare practices can see this development as an opportunity to get affordable third-party assistance to achieve the compliance

In mid-April 2012, Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a planned rule to postpone the ICD-10 compliance date by a year. In other words, instead of the current October 1, 2013 deadline, it would be October 1, 2014 if the proposed rule is passed. The very day she made the announcement saw the beginning of a 30 day comment phase for the proposal. The comment period ends May 17, 2012.

Offers Time and Hope

If the proposed rule should come into law, it would provide healthcare practices that have not yet made the transition, more time to ready themselves and to completely test their systems. With this extra time, a smooth and harmonized transition among all industry sections can be made possible. If even one industry segment should fail to achieve ICD-10 conformance by whatever the final deadline announced, the consequences would affect all other industry sections. The outcome – denied claims and delayed payments.

Consider Outsourcing

If yours is like many healthcare practices finding it challenging to achieve the required compliance, you can consider outsourcing your medical billing process. You can entrust it with an HIPAA compliant and reputable provider of superior medical billing services. Getting third-party assistance would be better than risking failed compliance and negatively impacting a number of industry segments because of your non-compliance. Your decision to outsource would also benefit you in other ways such as ensuring that your accounts receivable are current and reducing billing process costs considerably.

]]> http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/04/comment-period-in-relation-to-deferment-of-icd-10-compliance-date-now-open.html/feed 0 How to Ensure You Get the Best from Your Medical Billing Company http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/04/how-to-ensure-you-get-the-best-from-your-medical-billing-company.html http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/04/how-to-ensure-you-get-the-best-from-your-medical-billing-company.html#comments Tue, 17 Apr 2012 06:12:53 +0000 Author http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/?p=1856 To ensure that you get maximum advantage from your medical billing company, you should first make sure you have chosen the right service provider. Reliable medical billing service providers in the US offer a free trial with which you can ascertain factors such as:

  • AccuracyMedical Billing Company
  • HIPAA compliance
  • Meeting of turnaround requirements
  • Increase in collections
  • Customer service
  • Flexibility and customization
  • Savings in operating costs

What You Can Do to Maximize Success

After you have found a suitable medical billing company, taking steps such as the following can help you maximize your outsourcing success:

Orderly Communications – It would be good if you could communicate with your service provider often and do weekly status updates to make sure that your project is proceeding and progressing along the right lines.

Evaluate Performance – You should not be satisfied if the company you outsource to gives you exceptional outcomes in the first month. Evaluate its performance each month based on the monthly reports and suggest areas for improvement. An established and professional service provider would only be happy to receive feedback from you and act on it.

Provide any Necessary Assistance – Whenever your medical billing company requests your assistance, give it to them. Let them know about any industry updates that you become aware of. This would motivate them to make their services even better. Meet with the service provider’s representatives once every year for an in-depth discussion on performance and challenges.

]]> http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/04/how-to-ensure-you-get-the-best-from-your-medical-billing-company.html/feed 0 Medical Billing Solutions Help to Handle Reforms and Improve Quality http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/04/medical-billing-solutions-help-to-handle-reforms-and-improve-quality.html http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/04/medical-billing-solutions-help-to-handle-reforms-and-improve-quality.html#comments Fri, 13 Apr 2012 06:12:14 +0000 Author http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/?p=1850 Medical BillingMedical billing is an essential yet complicated aspect pertaining to the finances of a healthcare practice. The more efficiently this process is carried out, the greater the revenue your practice can expect to earn. The process becomes all the more difficult with changing regulations and guidelines pertaining to healthcare documentation such as:

  • ICD-10 coding implementation
  • Adherence to HIPAA 5010
  • Conversion of paper patient medical records to digital ones
  • Meaningful utilization of EHRs (Electronic Health Records)

Outsourcing is Ideal

Your in-house team may already have a lot of administrative responsibilities to look after. As such, adhering to these regulations and guidelines and keeping up-to-date with changes pertaining to the medical billing industry may not be easy. Opting for professional medical billing services is a wise decision as the experts delivering these services would focus on keeping to industry standards and following regulations.

Providers of professional outsourcing solutions for healthcare billing can also offer better quality than that achievable in-house. This is possible because most established companies have a multi-level quality control process in place aimed at a 99 percent accuracy rate, error tracking, efficient analyses, reporting, and prompt resubmission of claims or follow-up on rejected claims. In a busy healthcare practice, the in-house staff would find these tasks difficult and monotonous, especially because there are other pressing matters than need attention.

Take a Step in the Right Direction

Outsourcing your medical billing is definitely a step in the right direction and can help your healthcare practice gain that much-needed competitive edge.

]]> http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/04/medical-billing-solutions-help-to-handle-reforms-and-improve-quality.html/feed 0 Use Outsourced Medical Billing Services to Reduce Billing Inefficiencies http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/04/use-outsourced-medical-billing-services-to-reduce-billing-inefficiencies.html http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/04/use-outsourced-medical-billing-services-to-reduce-billing-inefficiencies.html#comments Sat, 07 Apr 2012 07:09:21 +0000 Author http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/?p=1840 Outsourced Medical BillingDenied medical claims are bad for your wallet. It is difficult to manage both health care and your billing and coding tasks at the same time. Both need to be carried out efficiently. To ensure that you indeed get the payment you deserve promptly, the entire process of Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) should ensure timely, error-free solutions. There is no better way to achieve this than by outsourcing your billing jobs to a reliable medical billing company.

Reduce Inefficiency

A healthcare provider can be prone to blame due to many reasons:

  • Inadequate proper confirmation of a patient’s insurance coverage
  • Non-recognition of time lost between date of charge entry and time of delivery
  • Use of outdated billing software
  • Non-HIPAA compliance
  • Lack of information on why payments were denied so that staff can be trained to avoid making the same mistakes
  • No proper staff training to ensure timely medical billing
  • No unambiguous written policy concerning the patient’s fiscal responsibility

If all this is not enough, performing the strenuous and monotonus billing task can get slow after a while leading to backlog. Outsource to the right service provider and you ensure that your billing is performed efficiently, responsibly and promptly. Outsourced medical billing services can actually result in cash savings of up to 30 to 40 percent.

]]> http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/04/use-outsourced-medical-billing-services-to-reduce-billing-inefficiencies.html/feed 0 Medical Billing Services for Physicians Increase Reimbursement Success http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/03/medical-billing-services-for-physicians-increase-reimbursement-success.html http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/03/medical-billing-services-for-physicians-increase-reimbursement-success.html#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2012 07:27:06 +0000 Author http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/?p=1829 An important reason behind physicians and healthcare practices being underpaid is the lack of a proficient physician billing process. As a physician, you know how difficult it is to give your patients the attention and care they need while also performing billing and follow-up all by yourself. Billing becomes monotonous and tedious after a while. You also know the frustrations of putting in so much effort and time to perform the billing correctly only to overlook one or more errors that deny you the payment you deserve.

Outsource Medical Billing

So what’s the solution for this? You ask. It is to outsource. Medical billing services from professionals can actually increase your reimbursement rates for lower operating costs than you currently expend. One of the highlights of a professional medical billing and coding company is a comprehensive and capable AR follow-up system. The company’s experienced billers would keep track of forwarded and rejected claims and follow up on them.

Superior Quality ControlMedical Billing Services

Your service provider, if an established one, will have a stringent QA protocol. In this way, it can minimize or even do away with errors such as missing or erroneous patient information and incorrect coding. It is actually errors such as these that can result in delays and rejections. Your partnering company will send you AR reports which will give you an idea of the progress on your claims. Apart from this, a reliable medical billing firm will efficiently provide all the regular medical billing services such as the following to greatly improve your chances of payment:

  • Entering of insurance and demographic information into the billing system
  • Insurance verifications and authorizations
  • Coding
  • Cash posting
  • Charge entry
  • Reconciliation
  • Patient collection
  • Insurance collection

Find a dependable medical billing firm and enjoy the many material advantages offered, apart from the peace of mind you will have with your medical billing streamlined.

]]> http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/03/medical-billing-services-for-physicians-increase-reimbursement-success.html/feed 0 Advantages of Emergency Room Transcription Services http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/03/advantages-of-emergency-room-transcription-services.html http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/03/advantages-of-emergency-room-transcription-services.html#comments Tue, 20 Mar 2012 08:06:16 +0000 Author http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/?p=1824 Emergency Room Transcription ServicesA lot of important details are recorded at an emergency room. These are commonly time and date, when the illness started, what are its symptoms, information about the incident, the patient’s requirement, the immediate help that would be given, whether medication would be administered by way of injection or orally, whether there is a need to refer the patient to a specialist, detailed information about physical injury if the patient has any, and other necessary information. From the range of details, it is quite clear that accuracy and turnaround cannot be compromised here. Any compromise in these areas would affect continuing care, could put the physician in a tight spot, and delay reimbursements. Realizing this, more and more healthcare practices are choosing the outsourcing route for emergency room transcription services.

Outsourcing Advantages

Besides the benefits of accuracy and adherence to expected turnaround, outsourced emergency room transcription services ensure the following benefits:

  • HIPAA compliance
  • Skilful rendering of ER transcription for most medical specialties
  • Flexibility in accepted dictation and file transfer modes
  • Customized format
  • HL7 interface
  • You can review and edit the transcripts online
  • Secure archiving of documents
  • No set up and hidden costs
  • Savings of up to 40 percent
  • 65 character line billing as per AHDI guidelines
  • Reduced backlog
  • Choice of local or international transcription
  • Reports
  • Free Trial
  • The better documentation achieved helps to improve reimbursements

Outsource to the Right Provider

An experienced medical transcription company can provide emergency room transcription services at competitive rates. So make sure you do your research to choose the right provider.

]]> http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/03/advantages-of-emergency-room-transcription-services.html/feed 0 Increase Reimbursements by Outsourcing Medical Billing and Coding http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/03/increase-reimbursements-by-outsourcing-medical-billing-and-coding.html http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/03/increase-reimbursements-by-outsourcing-medical-billing-and-coding.html#comments Wed, 14 Mar 2012 06:59:44 +0000 Author http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/?p=1817 Medical Billing and CodingMedical billing and coding have an important role to play in ensuring that physicians get paid what’s due to them. The more efficient these services, the faster the reimbursements. The more often your claims are denied or delayed, the more times you’re losing payment for yourself and valuable revenue for your practice. The problem with in-house billing and coding is that your staff may not have adequate experience and may commit errors owing to this or due to monotony and tight deadlines. Outsourcing these tasks would help you cut overhead costs for these tasks, reduce errors and denials and maximize reimbursements.

How a Medical Billing Outsourcing Company Can Help You

A professional medical billing company has billers who are skilled in using advanced billing software. It also has on staff AAPC certified medical coders who are very familiar with HCPCS, CPT and ICD-9 codes. These specialists have excellent knowledge of medical terminology, a fundamental understanding of human anatomy and physiology, and good computer skills. These are assets no doubt. In addition, the company would organize its services in such a manner that:

  • It is up-to-date in billing procedures
  • Patient enrolment, insurance enrolment, verification and authorization; coding and audits, payment posting, account assessment and denial management, and AR management are systematically handled
  • Its staff are well-versed in the codes for a particular procedure for a particular insurance company
  • Payment requests are sent to the right department to avoid delays
  • There is access to claim status reviews and aging reports
  • Primary and secondary claims are filed on time
  • Patients are billed for outstanding balances
  • Follow-up is done on denied or delayed claims
  • Statements of collections and charges are made available
  • There are adjustment and receipt assessments
  • You get reports at intervals

More and Faster Reimbursements

Outsourcing medical billing and coding tasks to a reliable medical billing company would ensure that you definitely get more reimbursements than before, and faster.

]]> http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/03/increase-reimbursements-by-outsourcing-medical-billing-and-coding.html/feed 0 Outsourcing Insurance Authorization – How You Benefit http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/03/outsourcing-insurance-authorization-how-you-benefit.html http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/2012/03/outsourcing-insurance-authorization-how-you-benefit.html#comments Sat, 10 Mar 2012 02:07:08 +0000 Author http://www.outsourcestrategies.com/blog/?p=1812 Insurance AuthorizationsInsurance authorization is a process that begins immediately after a particular patient has been scheduled to undergo a medical procedure. It involves getting in touch with the insurance carrier and getting an assurance that this carrier would indeed pay for the procedure the patient plans to undergo. Research has proven that in 75 cases out of a hundred, the reason for a claim denial is the patient not being eligible for services that have been billed by the service provider. The authorization process is a tedious one and best handled by experts to avoid errors and reduce the chances of claim rejections.

The Advantages of Outsourcing Health Insurance Authorization

Keep in mind that you should only choose a service provider that is HIPAA compliant, gives you a password protected web account and allows you to modify the parameters of this online account’s data whenever you feel the need to. Here are the advantages of outsourcing insurance authorization:

  • Frees up more time for you to focus on actual healthcare
  • Minimizes paperwork
  • Eases workflow
  • Speeds up approval and billing cycles
  • A reduced need to rework claims
  • Your authorization records can be saved and maintained electronically
  • You can view the progress of your application online
  • Follow-up and communications pertaining to missing or pending requests would be handled by the service provider
  • Minimal delay
  • More and better collections
  • Phone and fax based customer support services are available
  • Less risk
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