The rapid changes of healthcare reform recently have provided unique challenges for both providers and the patients they serve. The changes to the rules and regulations of medical billing has created about $125 billion in uncollected revenue losses annually for many provider services. At the same time, around 27.5 million patients are struggling to be able to pay the rising medical costs due to not having health insurance. These financial issues can be mitigated with a proactive approach for billing procedures to reduce the time a health claims administrator takes to process claims so providers can get paid. Here are three tips to speed up claims to maximize revenue.
Clarify The Collections Process
Having clear step-by-step procedures for the billing process can help increase revenue by helping reduce billing errors that can cause medical claims from health claims administrators to be rejected. This can be accomplished by informing patients upfront regarding the terms of payment. Group health providers should also collect as much personal patient information as they can such as addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, copy of photo ID, and workplace contact information. This information also needs to be verified to make the collection process easier down the road. Have new patients sign an agreement to be contacted by phone regarding billing matters as well.
Proper Claims Management
A vast majority of insurance claims submitted by a health claims administrator are rejected because they contain errors. This wastes a huge amount of time and effort to edit and resubmit the claims, which lengthens the time for a provider to be able to receive payment. Some of the most common errors that occur are from inputting the wrong patient, provider, and/or insurance information. Before claims are submitted, this information should be double-checked and verified with the group health provider to prevent the possibility of denial.
Eliminate Coding Errors
Incorrect or missing codes can increase the chances for health insurance claims to be denied. The most common errors include insufficient diagnosis codes and incorrect modifiers. Upcoding and undercoding can also lead to claim denials. Double-check codes to make sure procedure descriptions are nether ambiguous or contradictory before submitting claims.
By clarifying the collections process and eliminating medical billing errors, a health claims administrator can increase the profits for providers by reducing uncollected revenue. Implementing the correct procedures for medical billing can take time but it can provide a huge payoff for providers and patients. Being efficient will reduce the time it takes for health claim administrators to process claims which helps providers stay financially strong in an unstable healthcare economy.