Effective medical billing services are key to a profitable, well-run practice. Sifting through a pile of paperwork, scouring through physical files to find certain information, and manually verifying the correct medical code can be time-consuming and frustrating. Manual billing is also prone to errors, which can keep your medical practice from achieving ultimate efficiency.
Medical billing software is revolutionizing how hospitals and medical practices track and process their claims. Using an entirely electronic format allows practices to process a higher volume of claims, improving your revenue stream and overall client satisfaction. Here are seven additional benefits of utilizing medical billing software for your independent practice.
1. Access to Data in Real Time
Switching to medical billing software provides better control over your patient data. Integrating your billing and coding program with your electronic health records (EHR) makes it easier for your billing team to verify and confirm patient data. You can easily track your revenue trends to help improve your collection.
2. Minimize Paperwork Delays
Almost all rejected claims can be traced back to human error. Duplicate billing, incorrect coding, and missing patient information can be traced to mistakes made while filing the paperwork or manually recording the patient file. Medical billing software reduces the amount of paper and physical forms required alongside the errors that may arise from their use.
3. Reduce Billing Expenses
Billing errors can be quite expensive for any practice. The average cost for a denied claim today is approximately $118. Insurers write off between 50% and 65% of all rejected claims as the medical facilities fail to resubmit them. Reducing errors on your billing system can help save you money. Additionally, streamlining your resubmission processes can increase your revenue collection.
4. Improve Claim Tracking
Real-time data access also streamlines the claim filing process. Medical billing software can help you confirm the patient's coverage and send out your claims. You may also receive alerts for denied claims and guidelines for resubmission.
5. Streamline Coding
The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is on its 10th edition (ICD-10). It may be difficult for your medical billing team to keep up with the regular updates. Around 15% of all rejected claims arise from coding errors. Medical billing software requires an upgrade to automate your coding and charting. The program can also alert you to inconsistencies in the patient files, increasing your data accuracy.
6. Increase Automation
Medical billing software can track your payments, allowing you to send timely reminders for past due bills. It can help you verify insurance before your scheduled client arrives and allows for online payment. Ultimately, this can free up the time you would otherwise spend on paperwork. Not only can this remove unnecessary frustration, but it can also allow you to spend more time providing patient care -- and that's what it's really all about.
7. Safeguard Compliant Data
With data stored in the cloud, you do not have to fear losing the paperwork required for resubmission. Besides, it can help you remain compliant with government regulations. MMCP requires providers to keep patient records for 10 years. You can automatically save the billing information and maintain the data in securely encrypted data servers with multiple backups.
Billing services for medical practice can help reduce errors in your payment processing. You can streamline your revenue collection by outsourcing the billing services to medical billing companies. For more information on how our medical billing software works or for practice management consulting, contact us today.