Medical billing is essential to the healthcare industry. There is a whole host of medical billing errors that occur in this industry due to various reasons. However, there are also medical billing services that aid in securing accurate records so that healthcare professionals, especially those with a medical practice can receive the appropriate reimbursement for the work performed in caring for patients.
Making a Living
After multiple years of going to school, then graduating and owning a medical practice, healthcare professionals want to provide good medical care and earn a living doing so. However, it can get frustrating and challenging for medical practitioners to stay focused on patient care and at the same time to make sure that enough revenue is coming in to run a medical practice.
The Challenge
With medical billing mistakes, it is difficult to manage and maintain error-free medical billing using the internal staff. Why? It is difficult to keep up with the ongoing training involved in the healthcare industry and internal staff also has other duties in addition to medical billing. This takes away from the focus necessary to ensure that there are no medical billing errors. These errors can prove to be very costly over time. And many in the healthcare industry are still paying loans from going to medical school. There is not much room, then for losing revenue.
The Aging Reports
If you are a medical practitioner, do you know exactly how the medical billing department is actually doing? If not, you are in big trouble. Many doctors would probably answer yes and still are not really sure. Before answering the question, though, you need to take a keen look at the aging reports received from the insurance carriers. You should find these reports in your medical billing department. What kind of information do aging reports provide? On an aging report, you will be able to see how long it is taking to receive payment for your medical claims.
Accuracy is Essential
If your medical claims are taking longer than 120 days, then you will run into financial issues. One other thing is whether the aging reports are accurate. Even if you are being paid by the insurance company, without an aging report, you may not know how much money you are leaving on the table. The aging report will demonstrate how well our staff is doing as it relates to medical claims and patient follow ups. It will show the errors being made and you would be surprised the number of errors that are causing you to lose revenue.
Conclusion
Each year, it is estimated that physicians in the United States lose more than $120 billion because of inefficient medical billing practices. This is a rude awakening that even when excellent patient care is the primary focus, it is not the only factor to a successful medical practice. To reduce medical billing errors, it may be best to look at hiring a third party medical billing company that focuses entirely on increasing revenue