Medical Billing

More and more patients are bouncing checks more than ever because of the economic situation. It's really important to focus on prevention and also to have a plan in place if you do receive a bounced check.Having a financial policy in place is a good start. Right away patients know their responsibility and they are also informed of the consequences of violating that policy. The policy should every so often be updated and every time there is a change, the patient should sign the new policy upon arrival for their appointment.The staff should also be active in efforts to make sure patients pay their bills. They need to be well trained and keep the lines of communication open about the financial policy.It's important to copy the patient's insurance cards and driver's license when they first...

When running a medical practice, being able to collect payment from your customers is essential to staying in business. It doesn't matter how many doctorate degrees you have or what school you went to. Unless you can get your customers to pay for the services that you render, you will be able to stay in business. Because of this, patient financing is a topic that you may want to become familiar with.One way that you can increase the chances of getting paid when you render services is to offer in-house patient financing plans. By doing this, you increase the chances of being able to collect when you treat a patient. Many people don't have a lot of money lying around in order to pay medical bills with. If you will break it down into small monthly payments for them, they will be much more lik...

Medical insurance has emerged as the need of the hour. The advantage of having insurance can be succinctly summarized into, 'takes care of your medical bills.' In case of emergencies or even in regular situations, people may require medical care. Sometimes it's affordable but how about when it's not? Well, you will most definitely end up in a very sticky situation that requires monetary help. With medical insurance or a health insurance plan, you'll never have to worry about that kind of situation and consequently, save a life!The need of insurance has increased considerably over the last few years. Factors such as an increase in cost of living, inflation, medical expenses and various other factors can be attributed to this reason. insurance can serve the need of taking care of your medica...

Medical billing and coding is the part of the administrative side of the health care system that deals with and manages the medical care revenue cycle.It is the process that makes sure health insurance claims for services rendered to insured patients are reimbursed by the insurance companies.Medical billing and coding is an important part of the health care industry because of the popularity of using health cards to obtain and pay for medical care services. Without the people taking care of the revenue cycle at the administrative offices of hospitals and clinics, the physicians will have a hard time asking for reimbursements or payments from insurance companies and it will have a negative impact on health care services.To further explain the tasks performed by the medical billers and coder...

Cancer insurance is designed to be used with a comprehensive health insurance policy. It pays the policy holder in a lump sum once a doctor has confirmed a positive diagnosis. The benefits can be used in a variety of ways to help defer the cost of treatment.Using Cancer Insurance to Pay Medical BillsA comprehensive health insurance plan will pay a large portion of your medical expenses for treatment, but there is always a portion that is the responsibility of the policy holder. A cancer policy can be used to pay off the amount that is left over once the health insurance has paid its part. Sometimes this can be a significant amount, depending on the type of health insurance coverage.Cancer Insurance for Out of Network CostsSome people have to make a choice about their own health care treatm...

It is sadly no surprise to any one these days how much it costs to pay for health insurance. While a lot of strides have been made toward correcting the problem of health insurance and how it is provided by employers to employees, the issue is nowhere near from over.Each and every day millions are without coverage and have to look for jobs that can provide better health care for them and their families, and it so often depends on what the coverage can stretch out to.For instance, if one wants to have dental or eye coverage, they must have a set up that is going to target these coverage areas, and if they do not have a job that will pay for dental or eye coverage, they better be prepared to make some large investments that will take care of it for them.Not to mention that if they have a fam...

In part II of this article we will further discuss costly medical billing practices. In some cases, these have led to the loss of medical licenses for false reports include billing unnecessary services, double billing, upcoding or altering CPT codes, unbundling and false diagnoses.Unbundling is when you charge separately for a visit or a procedure that is normally part of another procedure or visit. Double billing is when you bill for the same procedure multiple times on different dates.Upcoding refers to using a higher procedural code than what was performed.This includes billing for services that the patient did not receive or using codes that are at a higher level of what really took place during the visit or procedure. Some examples of that are where a practice submitted bills for of...

Medical billing agencies can provide a wide range of benefits to healthcare practices. These companies work with all sorts of healthcare providers to managing insurance claims, patient payments and most other aspects of the financial end of business. They often hire accountants and legal consultants to ensure that the companies they work for are given the best possible service. It is understood that the use of these companies is an essential step at improving your business's success. Without them, you are left to manage the financials on your own or with a small staff.Why Use Them?There are many key benefits to hiring medical billing agencies to help you to manage your business's financial aspects. Hiring these professionals can be a good thing for many reasons. If you have put off hiring ...

Obviously, to receive proper reimbursement it is very important to have accurate coding practices for all health care practitioners however; here are several reasons. A group that is often involved in the billing process is nurse practitioners. Generally they are billing for their own services or they may be using a billing form (superbill) provided by their employer by marking procedural codes and diagnostic codes in order to bill for their services. The responsibility for the accuracy of the coding and billing, as well as for maintaining medical records that support the diagnosis code and procedural code that is being used to bill for specific services, is the professional provider or the nurse practitioner.Keeping up to date with accurate coding procedures is very important when billi...

Chaos is hard to control. Working in the medical industry, including EMS and fire department, may be filled with chaos everyday with patients; if not patients, then paperwork to catch up on billing. News reports show some patients don't receive ambulance billing until well after trips to the hospital. The amount of time between hospital visits and making a payment goes so far that patients potentially forget they are in debt. While ambulance billing services controls the status of patient's bills; yet, I don't see anyone is at fault or to blame. It's just chaos. EMS and fire departments have help available to them. Third parties are often being added into the chaos to keep it from spreading and get things organized.EMS billing gathers current charges, reimbursements, and compliance resourc...