5 Top medical billing tips for private practice
Every year, medical billing surfaces as a hot topic of regulatory debate, and constant changes means a medical practice needs to be on top of the latest changes. Let’s take a look at some simple tips you can consider to ensure a more fuss-free billing system for your practice.
1. Keep on top of billing compliance
In 2017, inappropriate Medicare billing resulted in $29 million of debts against doctors and healthcare providers by the federal government.
According to Loryn Einstein, Managing Director of the Medical Billing Experts and Member of Association of Fraud Examiners, the 2017 Professional Services Review Annual Report showed that, for the first time since the inception of the PSR scheme, the PSR recovered more in funds than its Treasury appropriation.
To avoid the serious ramifications to your practices of the PSR activities, Einstein suggests doctors and healthcare providers need to be diligent and well informed with all billing compliance for the year ahead.
2. Check you are billing correctly
Patient engagement software AutoMed’s founder, Peter Demaio, suggests an easy way to improve financial viability is to charge the proper fee for a consultation.
“Charging for items such as 36, HCPs MHCPs, SIP Diabetes and SIP asthma ensures your doctors’ work is being valued and the practice is properly remunerated,” he says. “Make sure you review the HCPs regularly so that your team is billing appropriately.”
3. Integrate EFTPOS for fuss-free billing
The right EFTPOS system needs to be able to integrate with your practice management software. A solution like Tyro works seamlessly with clinical and practice management software from MedicalDirector, ensuring fast, accurate accounts and billing.
“We really like how MedicalDirector’s software and Tyro integrate seamlessly,” Jennifer Surie, Operations Manager of the Family Doctor, says. “They work well together and are both very stable, fast and easy to use. Features like online reporting, the ease of setup and ongoing support also make our clinics more efficient as we continue to grow. We’ve even had patients comment on how streamlined our payment and patient experience is for them.”
4. Streamline billing with the right practice software
The right practice management software needs to have a robust, stable cashflow, billing and accounting function to meet the needs of a busy practice.
With a solution like Pracsoft, by MedicalDirector, you can ensure fast, accurate accounts and billing thanks to user-defined fee columns, secure levels of user access, easy online lodging of Medicare and Veterans Affairs claims, the ability to credit funds to multiple bank accounts, automated alerts for outstanding accounts and an extensive reporting module.
5. Ease Medicare bulk-billing stress with the cloud
It is now well within the bounds of cloud technology to make processes such as prescription management, patient booking and patient data and billing management even more simple and efficient.
Users of innovative cloud-based software are already enjoying the benefits of faster, more accurate seamless patient processing. Award winning software like Helix already performs automatic Online Patient Verification (OPV) checks.
This means users will no longer have to remember to perform a manual check prior to billing and if there were any failures, Helix will prevent the user from being able to issue the invoice until the problem is rectified or another billing method is chosen. This helps remove Medicare rejections that may result from invalid Medicare details and in turn reduce the workload of any practices that may face this common issue today.
So imagine how much time could be saved every day if primary healthcare providers and practice managers could tap into the potential of technology to automate administrative elements of care provision and practice management, from bookings to billings.
