Medical billing is a critical service that supports healthcare providers by submitting claims and collecting payments from insurance companies and patients. Medical billing specialists need to be experts to guarantee that the bills are in full and in a speedy manner. It is quite common for over 20% of a practice's collectable revenue to remain unclaimed because of improper coding and ineffective collection tactics.
Medical billing outsourcing is a growing trend that medical practices and facilities are employing to level the playing field with insurance companies. Potential outsourcing options start with individual medical billers working from their home to medical billing services that with thousands of providers.
Medical billing is a highly complex area and it requires experience-based knowledge and expertise to contend with insurance companies. When it comes to cardio billing, the situation gets even more complex. Such complexity can be handled only by a company that is staffed with well trained cardiac billing professionals. The medical billing specialist must be familiar with the specific codes and rules that make up the world of cardiology billing.
The choice of an experience billing provider has become all the more important for cardiologists as they watch their cost rocket upwards. With their margins shrinking they must be confident that their medical billing service is collecting every dollar the cardiologist is owed. Selecting the proper medical billing service is made all the more difficult by the fact that many companies claiming to be experts in billing for cardiovascular practices actually do not do the billing themselves, but outsource the work to other vendors that are based in India or work from their homes.
A key battle ground in the struggle to collect all of the money due a cardiologist is appealing denied claims and answering extremely specific and technical questions about procedures and diagnoses. Success In this arena requires significant experience, the kind that is only gained from serving many cardiologists for many years.
A company that does not encompass a wide range of cardiovascular billing experience will find it difficult to track underpayments since multiple procedure rules and cardiovascular procedures have significantly more complicated contractual adjustments than a typical family doctor or internist's claims. In addition, the billing software and system design of a generalist billing company will often be insufficient for the more complicated requirements of reporting and insurance follow-up required in billing for cardiovascular practices.
These billing complications extend to the patient collections arena as well. The patient collection process for specialists like cardiologists is more complicated because of the large patient balances often owed, the complexity of the procedures/EOBs that must be explained to patients that do not understand their bills and the older population cardiologists typically serve. A medical billing service with expertise in billing for cardiology knows how to deal with these situations. Billing services without such experience will increase the risk of both lower patient collections and upset patients confused about their bill.
The safest way for a cardiologist to navigate the medical billing land mines outlined in this article is to travel the medical billing battlefield with a surgical billing service that has deep and proven expertise in traversing the cardio billing hazards. Family doctors should not be performing open heart surgery and generalist medical billing companies should not be providing medical billing services to cardiologists.
Copyright 2008 by Carl Mays II - 16747
Medical billing outsourcing is a growing trend that medical practices and facilities are employing to level the playing field with insurance companies. Potential outsourcing options start with individual medical billers working from their home to medical billing services that with thousands of providers.
Medical billing is a highly complex area and it requires experience-based knowledge and expertise to contend with insurance companies. When it comes to cardio billing, the situation gets even more complex. Such complexity can be handled only by a company that is staffed with well trained cardiac billing professionals. The medical billing specialist must be familiar with the specific codes and rules that make up the world of cardiology billing.
The choice of an experience billing provider has become all the more important for cardiologists as they watch their cost rocket upwards. With their margins shrinking they must be confident that their medical billing service is collecting every dollar the cardiologist is owed. Selecting the proper medical billing service is made all the more difficult by the fact that many companies claiming to be experts in billing for cardiovascular practices actually do not do the billing themselves, but outsource the work to other vendors that are based in India or work from their homes.
A key battle ground in the struggle to collect all of the money due a cardiologist is appealing denied claims and answering extremely specific and technical questions about procedures and diagnoses. Success In this arena requires significant experience, the kind that is only gained from serving many cardiologists for many years.
A company that does not encompass a wide range of cardiovascular billing experience will find it difficult to track underpayments since multiple procedure rules and cardiovascular procedures have significantly more complicated contractual adjustments than a typical family doctor or internist's claims. In addition, the billing software and system design of a generalist billing company will often be insufficient for the more complicated requirements of reporting and insurance follow-up required in billing for cardiovascular practices.
These billing complications extend to the patient collections arena as well. The patient collection process for specialists like cardiologists is more complicated because of the large patient balances often owed, the complexity of the procedures/EOBs that must be explained to patients that do not understand their bills and the older population cardiologists typically serve. A medical billing service with expertise in billing for cardiology knows how to deal with these situations. Billing services without such experience will increase the risk of both lower patient collections and upset patients confused about their bill.
The safest way for a cardiologist to navigate the medical billing land mines outlined in this article is to travel the medical billing battlefield with a surgical billing service that has deep and proven expertise in traversing the cardio billing hazards. Family doctors should not be performing open heart surgery and generalist medical billing companies should not be providing medical billing services to cardiologists.
Copyright 2008 by Carl Mays II - 16747
About the Author:
Carl Mays II works with, Cardiology Billing Partners is a specialized medical billing service that focuses 100% on cardiovascular billing. Do not select a medical billing service until you have spoken to Cardiology Billing Partners and learned about the benefits of specialized medical billing services.
