A recent report revealed that there are errors in as many as 30-40 percent of all medical bills. That amounts to around $125 billion in lost profits for American medical practices around the country. When your practice bills in-house, it’s vital to correct these mistakes quickly.
Being able to identify mistakes and prevent them are the keys to successful billing and payment solutions.
Why Is Medical Billing Often an Issue?
Let’s start with the issue. Medical practices cannot operate without adequate cash flow. The only way to keep money flowing in is to manage the billing system properly. Without a speedy and streamlined method of invoicing, practices cannot receive payments on time. Insurers are more likely to reject claims, and patients are likely to avoid their payment responsibilities. As a result, delays occur, and cash flow dries up. It’s no wonder so many practices are struggling to cope.
Complexity
Medical coding is continually going through changes and updates. It’s no wonder that practices are struggling to keep up with the pace of change. Medical billing errors often occur simply because the coding used is incorrect or missing from the bill entirely.
While the original idea behind ICD was to make the healthcare system more efficient and safer, it’s also come with some downsides. Initially, they were designed to reduce billing errors because of the specific services for every code, ICD has only caused more difficulties. Practices have found it challenging to learn the complex coding system and to stay up to date with it. Insurers have also taken a stricter line when it comes to coding and medical billing practices. Now, even tiny errors cause medical billing claims to be instantly rejected. As a result, the billing cycle becomes more prolonged, and months may go by before services rendered are finally completed.
This means your business is losing time and money in the long run.
Regulations
The second challenge that faces medical practices today is finding ways to cope with changing medical billing regulations and rules. The Medicare E&M code changes in 2019 have only added yet another set of billing codes to remember.
Practice staff members are already struggling to keep abreast of the system. They often also lack the skill and time to implement those changes after they’ve been learned. Medical staff members are rapidly becoming frustrated with how to stay compliant with a large amount of changing regulations.
How REPAY Can Help You with These Issues
Finding a more efficient medical billing solution is a high priority for today’s struggling practices. REPAY can offer a cutting-edge system to streamline the presentment and payment of medical bills. With online payment portals tailored to the healthcare industry’s needs, REPAY is leading the way for practices. Staff members will no longer need to spend time manually processing invoices. Even better, REPAY’s solutions are fully compliant. This takes another level of pressure off medical staff since compliance is a complex yet vital problem.
Takeaways
Keeping cash flowing into the practice is paramount. However, tackling the problems associated with medical billing may seem to be an insurmountable difficulty. A better billing solution is the answer to keeping up with constant fluctuation in coding and regulations. When staff members can use online systems to process invoices and payments, they can focus on other things. REPAY’s compliant medical billing solution is easy to implement and works seamlessly with existing practice systems. As a result, the process of getting paid for healthcare services rendered becomes intuitive and faster.