In a busy medical office, it can be easy to give in to the temptation of administrative shortcuts. But oftentimes, these timesaving practices can have an adverse effect on your revenue cycle.
The three following shortcuts are responsible for many of the billing mistakes that occur at practices. By eliminating them from your processes, you can increase revenue and prevent denied and lost medical insurance claims.
Not Photocopying ID Cards Regularly
A patient’s insurance identification card contains important information needed for proper billing. Not retrieving the correct information on your end can lead to problems when trying to collect from the patient’s provider.
To combat this, your practice should ask staff to photocopy patients’ insurance IDs every six months. If they don’t have it on them during a particular visit, your staff should stress the importance of bringing it the next time.
Payers like BCBS sometimes change prefixes on cards or alter ID numbers, and the patient simply doesn’t notice.
Not Running Aging Reports Or Following Up On Claims
One of the most damaging practices to your profitability is not following up on outstanding insurance claims. This often results in huge financial losses, which physicians commonly overlook.
Running 30-day aging reports regularly can help prevent outstanding claims from going unnoticed. A practice management system that allows for daily aging of accounts receivable makes this easier.
Not Reviewing Clearinghouse Reports
Hectic days can make it difficult to review clearinghouse reports, especially if there is a backlog to go through. Unfortunately, if you don’t inspect these carefully, you won’t see the problem claims that require attention.
Make reviewing clearinghouse reports part of your billing staff’s weekly duties. It will ensure a faster return on your claims and will prevent any habitual problems from going undiscovered.
Take some time to focus on these mistakes and put corrective policies in place to foster a healthier revenue cycle. If claim mistakes are still occurring on a regular, it may be time to consider outsourcing your billing department.
Find out how CareCloud will boost your profits by contacting us at 1-877-342-7517 or hello@carecloud.com.
