How to Ensure Billing Compliance in Anesthesia

From improving documentation efficiency to educating your staff on new policies, there are proactive steps you can take to ensure regulatory compliance in anesthesia medical billing.

At Coronis Health, we never underestimate the importance of compliance when it comes to anesthesia medical billing. We understand how centralized technology tools that help achieve accurate medical billing and an organized workflow allow you to have confidence in your compliance. Regulatory requirements are complex and ever-changing, requiring your team and any service provider to stay abreast of potential compliance issues. 

Below are tips on how to stay on top of regulatory compliance.

Understand the Billing Process for Anesthesia Services

Medical billing for anesthesia services can be more problematic than surgeon or hospital charges. While accurate documentation is essential to billing, compliance, and reimbursement for every type of healthcare specialty, the process can prove more complex for anesthesia facilities compared to other providers.

Surgeons, for example, only have to use a single CPT code to cover all necessary services from pre-op to post-op. Anesthesia medical billing and coding, on the other hand, is not as straightforward. Anesthesia services are uniquely calculated based on the following criteria:

• Base units – These reflect the complexity of the surgical procedure. Each procedure has a corresponding code with a base unit value. More difficult procedures that require a higher skill level will have a higher base unit. 
• Time units – A time unit is usually 15 minutes in length, but the valuation can change by contract. Time accrues while the physician assumes patient care, remains in attendance caring for the patient, and continues until the patient is no longer under their care and the report has been completed.
• Modifying units – Emergencies and certain conditions in a patient’s health are considered modifying units. 
• Conversion factor – Specific to the provider’s location, this cost is assigned to each unit.

Follow Coding and Documentation Guidelines to Ensure Accurate Billing

To maintain compliance, you will need to:

• Know the correct modifiers – Modifiers refer to the two-character indicators that help identify relevant details on a claim. Accurate usage of modifiers will help ensure proper claims payment. Modifiers also help avoid duplicate billing and unbundling. 
• Report qualifying circumstances – If particular services are deemed necessary and reasonable, qualifying circumstances can be submitted to the insurance provider. Compliance improves due to more accurate documentation of the patient chart. 
• Append physical status modifiers – These are used for reporting the patient’s overall physical health (ranging from a healthy patient to an organ donor) at the time of encounter or procedure.
• Accurately calculate the time for anesthesia administration – Because anesthesia services must be precise, you must document the exact number of hours and minutes from start to finish. For commercial insurance companies, this is the formula used to report time units for anesthesia services: Base Units + Time + Physical Status Modifier = Total Units

For Medicare: Base Units + Time = Total Units

By being meticulous about documentation and coding, your facility will increase efficiency and compliance in medical billing, resulting in proper reimbursement and an optimized cash flow.

Make Sure Your Staff Is Properly Trained

Billing for anesthesia procedures demands that you are more than just familiar with current requirements. Knowledge is power, as the saying goes. You must constantly educate your staff about regulatory compliance and patient safety goals. 

The anesthesia industry, just like other medical fields, is always rapidly evolving –whether in the form of new drugs and devices or approved pain management strategies. You and your staff must keep up with the new guidelines, policies, and patient safety information that go along with these changes, as well as understand and be able to execute what is expected when it comes to processes and documentation. Educate and train your staff to not only stay compliant but to maintain or improve your facility’s organization and efficiency as well.

Use an Automated Anesthesia Billing System to Streamline the Process

You must not only work hard but also work smart. A facility with an optimized workflow runs like a well-oiled machine that enables steady collections while lowering the administrative burden on your staff. An automated anesthesia billing system, in particular, can help streamline all system facets, such as coordinating front and back communication and eliminating lost paper documentation. This allows you to focus on delivering quality care.

When you automate your process, you can bring efficiency to the system so payments are made in a timely manner, while minimizing errors and denials and improving your cash flow. 

If you utilize an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system, for example, you can simplify your facility’s workflow. Improving tasks, such as scheduling, coding and billing, and payment processing allows you to improve efficiency and meet your revenue goals. 

A cutting-edge billing system also updates regulatory changes and contains relevant compliance requirement information that is useful to your facility.

Stay Up-To-Date on Changes in Reimbursement Rates and Other Billing Regulations

Remain updated with all HIPAA policies, guidelines, procedures, and new anesthesia codes in medical billing to avoid claim denials –even fines and lawsuits. 

The law is complex and remaining compliant requires regular review and education. Managing compliance is also an around-the-clock endeavor. Facilities must always be vigilant to address ever-changing regulations, improve healthcare quality and safety, mitigate risk, enable accurate billing and coding, ensure timely reimbursements, and keep patients safe. 

Regularly Audit Your Anesthesia Billing Records to Ensure Accuracy

An audit will examine your current processes and performance, covering all facets of anesthesia medical billing services, from medical coding and patient eligibility verification to claims submission and denial management practices. An audit evaluates records and processes to identify areas requiring improvement or special attention.

Regular auditing will help educate your staff on regulatory compliance. And when everyone follows proper procedures with accuracy, you can better achieve your goal of efficiency, optimized revenue, and safe, high-quality patient care.

Questions about Anesthesia Billing Services? Contact Coronis Health Today!

A compliant facility is an empowered one. If you’d like to learn more about how you can stay fully optimized and compliant, contact Coronis Health to request your free financial checkup today.

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https://www.coronishealth.com/blog/how-to-ensure-billing-compliance-in-anesthesia/

How to Optimize Your Lab’s Billing and Revenue Cycle Management

Maintaining your facility’s revenue requires a high level understanding of the complete revenue cycle, from the moment a patient presents, to the point at which you receive payment from the insurance company and patient. You can optimize your laboratory’s billing and revenue cycle management by working with an expert that knows your specific needs and how to meet them. When you partner with Coronis Health, you gain more than just a better understanding of billing and revenue cycle management.   

Work With Your Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) Partner to Optimize Billing and Collections

The billing process – for medical or laboratory facilities – is a complex and lengthy endeavor, especially if the facility is consistently busy with a high volume of patients. When you outsource your laboratory billing, you can rest easy knowing that you have more than a billing office at your disposal – you have a revenue cycle management partner that guides you in the optimization of your billing and collections, and ultimately the optimization of your bottom line. 

Think of revenue cycle management as a fluid process, like a relay race around a track. The runners depend on one another to hand off the baton and finish the race. Your partnership with expert laboratory billers and coders will ensure that your relay race – your billing and collection process – is optimized to gain the most out of your reimbursements. Coronis Health has the experts you need to guide you through every step in the revenue cycle process, from analyzing codes to submitting claims and finalizing patient collections.

We work quickly – just like runners depend on one another to keep the pace, providers can depend on us to create the most efficient billing process for your facility. The finish line is in sight, so partnering with a strong runner will guarantee that your claims are clean, your reimbursement is optimal, and your collection rate is in first place.  

Implement Best Practices for Patient Payment Collection

Insurance payers reimburse facilities at a contracted or set rate, and once that payment is determined and charges are adjusted, the patient may be left with some responsibility to pay a remaining balance. This may result from only partial coverage of a laboratory test, or the test not being covered at all. The following are some best practices to help guide your team when talking to patients about making payments:

• Educate your staff – When your team understands the nuances of speaking with a patient about a bill, the patient is more likely to listen and comply.
• Effective communication with patients – Engage the use of the patient portal. Eliminate long hold times on the phone, and maximize the use of your facility’s technology to benefit the patient.
• Payment technologies – Debit cards and automatic payments help to streamline your billing process, and adds convenience for the patient. If you have a patient portal or can store payment information for future bills, give your patients the option to use every convenience possible. 

Use Technology to Improve Billing and Collections Processes

Billing technology is advancing as fast as the technology labs used to analyze specimens. In an effort to improve your facility’s billing and collections processes, Coronis Health uses technology that sees far beyond the old school billing process with paper claims and the check in the mail. 

• RCM Clarity to integrate laboratory information systems with billing software
• Integration with multiple electronic health record platforms, such as Epic, Cerner, NextGen, eClinicalWorks, and many more
• Benchmarking and dashboards to provide high-level analysis for your profitability, opportunities, and threat analysis, including accounts receivable information, payer statistics, and billing performance
• Incorporating the technological knowledge from billing and coding experts who are former lab professionals

Coronis Health strives to provide quality service through the entire billing and collection process, and we do this by creating a unique platform that caters to your facility and its services. Between our expert teams and our top of the line technology, we offer the opportunity to improve your revenue cycle by maximizing your collection rate and streamlining your billing. Coronis Health’s expertise, technology platforms, and passion for quality is the perfect package for your laboratory billing needs. 

Questions About Optimizing Your Lab’s Billing and RCM? Contact Coronis Health today

Your patients demand quality service and an excellent experience from your laboratory. You should demand the same from your billing team, and Coronis Health can do both and more. To learn more about how you can optimize your billing and revenue cycle management, don’t hesitate – contact Coronis Health and find out how you can start your journey to a healthier revenue cycle management partnership with an expert laboratory billing team.

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https://www.coronishealth.com/blog/how-to-optimize-your-labs-billing-and-revenue-cycle-management/

How outsourcing your laboratory billing services can maximize reimbursements

Medical billing is known to be a complex process, requiring a dedicated and skilled team of billers and coders to create efficiency and success with revenue cycle management. Coronis Health provides outsourced medical billing for primary and specialty physicians, hospitals, behavioral health – and also for laboratory services. If you want to maximize your reimbursements and eliminate the administrative burden of billing for your laboratory services, Coronis Health can provide you with better reimbursement and peace of mind so you can focus on what counts – your clients and patients.. 

The benefits of outsourcing your laboratory billing services

Outsourcing your laboratory billing is a logical step towards creating more than just efficiency in your facility – it is the best step you can take to ensure that you are receiving the most out of what you do every day. From clean claims, to lowering your days in accounts receivable, to increasing your overall reimbursements, outsourcing your medical billing is creating the optimal environment for your finances. 

You can benefit more than you think from outsourcing your laboratory billing as well:

• Timely claim resolution and better data supplied for analysis 
• Improve efficiency and create optimal strategies for growth
• Increase cash flow by improving and streamlining your operational processes
• Reduce or eliminate billing and coding errors – more accuracy equals better data to analyze
• Automated verification of benefits and eligibility

• A dedicated team of billers and coders who are consistently updated on adjustments with coding and regulatory changes
• Faster reimbursement – Your team will process claims quicker than an in-house billing team that may be tasked with other responsibilities outside of their billing tasks. . 

How to maximize reimbursements through accurate and timely billing

Your team at Coronis Health has a goal to ensure your claims are accurate and submitted in a timely manner. This guarantees that you will maximize your reimbursements. Time and accuracy make the difference between consistent and optimum reimbursement and resubmitted claims because of errors or lack of information. 

Coronis Health focuses on a high level of accuracy, which can easily increase your laboratory’s efficiency and reduce the amount of unpaid patient bills – resulting in maximum profit for your laboratory facility. When you weigh the options, it makes sense to go with a billing option that gives to your facility, and doesn’t take away from your bottom line. 

What to look for in a qualified billing service provider

Coronis is well-versed in medical and laboratory billing and coding. When you are researching medical billing companies, it’s important to understand laboratory billing is more complex than medical billing, as it focuses on a unique set of CPT codes, and the more experience a company has with laboratory billing, the better chance you have with increasing your revenue. 

Look for the following attributes of a billing company for your laboratory services:

• Specialized experience and expertise in laboratory billing
• What types of laboratories are serviced
• Clean claims and error rates
• Whether the company performs in-network and out-of-network billing
• What analytics or dashboards are provided for your review
• Available training and collaboration for your team
• Whether the company integrates with any LIS

How to reduce the administrative burden on your staff

If your lab is considering outsourcing, ask yourself: Is billing a core competency of our operation or can our resources be better utilized elsewhere?

Most labs agree that billing remains secondary to day-to-day specimen collections and testing. Maintaining billing within your facility creates more than just an administrative burden on your staff – it can increase overhead costs and time spend on hiring, recruiting, training, and developing a robust billing team. 

The cost to maintain a billing team includes more than just salaries – training and employee benefits are two big factors, but it’s necessary to also cross-training other employees to fill in if your billing team has absences or gaps in staffing due to turnover. 

Outsourcing your laboratory billing goes beyond maximizing your reimbursements; you will see an increase in job satisfaction, morale, and job stress that is created by the complex process of billing. 

Coronis Health has team members who only focus on laboratory billing, so your team can focus on everything else. The teams at Coronis Health are subject matter experts who have decades’ worth of experience specifically in laboratory billing. Many of the team members are former lab managers with high-level insight into the challenges that laboratories face. The team stays abreast on current and upcoming industry and regulatory changes to ensure your lab can address these shifts proactively rather than reactively.  Their expertise in billing and coding allows your team to set goals, organize, strategize, and focus on what matters the most – operating a laboratory. 

Questions about outsourcing your laboratory billing services? Contact Coronis Health today

If you want to eliminate staff turnover, increase your reimbursement, decrease your days in A/R, and reduce the cost of operating your laboratory facility, you are one step closer to maximizing your revenue and efficiency when you contact Coronis Health. When you call us today, you are making the decision to step away from the stress of in-house billing and partner with subject matter experts that can make the difference for your laboratory facility. 

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https://www.coronishealth.com/blog/how-outsourcing-your-laboratory-billing-services-can-maximize-reimbursements/

Laboratory Billing and Coding Services: How They Can Help Your Facility

When it comes to clinical lab testing, you want the staff within your facility to focus on providing expert care and promoting optimal patient experiences. Tracking down revenue and dealing with insurance companies can feel like daunting tasks to healthcare workers, often leading to heavy workloads, drifts in focus, and high turnover rates. 

By outsourcing your facility’s laboratory billing and coding services, your staff can continue putting patient needs first while relying on a team of experts to handle your ongoing reimbursement needs. 

What Are Laboratory Billing and Coding Services?

Collecting on unpaid accounts should not be at the forefront of your staff’s responsibilities. Outsourcing your laboratory billing services allows your in-house team to make optimal patient care their primary goal. Billing services include selecting appropriate modifiers, billing patient insurance providers, and assuring timely receipt of payments. 

What Modifiers Are Used in Laboratory Coding?

Laboratory modifiers differ from codes used in standard healthcare billing, as determined by both Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) and the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD). Outsourced billing and coding experts have the time, expertise, and resources to stay abreast of coding changes to establish a smooth billing process. 

Ensuring that the proper modifier is used can prevent claims from being denied by insurance companies. Laboratory coders work diligently by comparing services rendered to the patient’s benefits to verify coverage under their insurance premium. This attention to detail can hasten the reimbursement process, saving time and repeated paperwork while helping your facility’s billing department stay out of the red. 

The Benefits of Using a Professional Laboratory Billing and Coding Service Like Coronis Health

Facilities that outsource their medical laboratory billing services enjoy a long list of benefits, such as: 

• Maintaining focus on quality patient care
• Acquiring higher rates of reimbursement 
• Controlling costs and delinquencies
• Reducing revenue cycle management challenges
• Scaling down high operational costs
• Lowering staff turnover rates 
• Improving patient experiences 

How to Choose the Right Laboratory Billing and Coding Service for Your Needs

Selecting a third party to outsource your facility’s laboratory medical billing services should be a well-researched decision. You want to know that you’re choosing the best of the best so you can let the experts take the financial weight off of your staff’s shoulders. The provider you choose should:

• Employ certified, trusted advisors with decades of experience
• Utilize innovative technology to stay ahead of the industry
• Provide measurable results, transparency, and expertise
• Offer concierge-level service and attention at every turn
• Work with you to create a focused revenue cycle strategy
• Feel like a true partnership in your financial success

Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Laboratory Billing and Coding Service

Once you select a competent, revenue-driven company to maintain your facility’s clinical laboratory billing for lab services, you can immediately enjoy the various added benefits outsourcing can provide. 

Relying on a team of professional billers and coders allows your staff to redirect their focus to providing the best patient care possible. By freeing up time they may have spent on adhering to proper HIPAA guidelines and dealing with insurance companies, your team of healthcare providers can put all of their energy into superior service. 

Not only does this change improve the balance of your staff’s daily tasks, but patients who receive individualized attention will also enjoy the benefits. An attentive and caring provider is a requirement of most patients and often leads to improved satisfaction rates and a loyal client base. 

By letting your healthcare staff focus on patients rather than laboratory billing and coding services, you can reduce the prevalence of employee burnout and high turnover rates. Instead, you can rely on the expert organization you entrusted to minimize billing errors and get outstanding accounts up to date.

While you focus on patients and allow your new outsourced partner to monitor your reimbursement rates, your facility will gain the financial benefits of cost savings and increased cash flow. By eliminating the overhead of maintaining an in-house billing and coding staff, your facility can use these funds to improve other areas of service. Relying on a team of professionals also ensures quicker collection rates and a more consistent cash flow as a result. 

Ready to Outsource Your Laboratory Billing and Coding Services? Contact Coronis Health Today!

The trusted advisors at Coronis Health Laboratory & Pathology provide specialized solutions to healthcare facilities by building a high-touch relationship with their clients. Coronis understands that staff retention, high-volume, low-dollar collections, and changing modalities can stretch labs thin and diminish their revenue. 

With 35+ years of revenue cycle management experience, Coronis Health Laboratory & Pathology has the skill, experience, and resources to maximize collections for labs.
If you’re interested in all the benefits your facility can gain by outsourcing your laboratory medical billing services, contact Coronis Health to request your free financial checkup today.

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https://www.coronishealth.com/blog/laboratory-billing-and-coding-services-how-they-can-help-your-facility/

What is FQHC medical billing, and why is it important?

Federally qualified health centers (FHQCs) are federally funded health centers that provide medical care for historically underserved areas, ensuring everyone has the right to healthcare services. These facilities provide affordable access to primary and preventative care for patients and qualify for reimbursement through Medicare or Medicaid. 

FHQCs must meet several requirements for not only the services they provide but the way those services are reimbursed. FQHC medical billing can get complicated, as the medical coding rules and guidelines for Medicare and Medicaid are rigid and ever-changing. 

Let’s dive deeper into the nuances of FQHC billing and how it affects your center’s ability to reach its highest potential. 

What is FQHC medical billing and what services does it include?

Because FQHCs are federally funded, it’s important for medical billing and coding to be performed in compliance with the rules set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The services performed at FHQCs must be carefully captured and billed so the facility can receive the necessary reimbursement and continue generating a healthy revenue cycle. 

An FQHC medical billing company does the hard work of medical billing and coding, adhering to the complex requirements involved. These are experienced billers and coders who understand the Medicare and Medicaid requirements—ensuring claims are clean, profits increase, and days in A/R decrease. Beyond FQHC medical billing service, some companies even provide revenue cycle management and financial reporting to identify and correct revenue cycle problems. 

How can FQHC medical billing help your clinic or practice run more efficiently and improve patient care?

Unfortunately, most health care teams don’t have the time and expertise to stay up-to-date with the ever-changing Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement requirements. The complicated nature of FQHC medical billing can lead to delays in financial reimbursement, financial errors, and overall team frustration. Accurate FQHC billing is crucial to yielding profits and creating a healthy revenue cycle. Abiding by the CMS and HRSA guidelines and avoiding denied claims allows for consistent net profit and more time to dedicate to patient care. 

The time-consuming nature of keeping up with the FQHC billing and coding guidelines can burden your staff. Many facilities handling the billing and coding in-house see poor collection rates and high claim denial rates, leading to lower staff morale, higher burnout, and less time for the most important aspect of your FHQC center—the patients. FQHC medical billing services relieve healthcare staff from the frustration of navigating the rules and regulations and puts the focus back on the patients. 

How does FQHC billing differ from traditional medical billing services?

FHQCs are reimbursed for their services on an all-inclusive model through Medicare and Medicaid. However, FQHCs often struggle to collect fair payment for their services, encountering higher claim denial rates and more lost revenue than traditional healthcare centers operating with commercial insurance. There are many unique aspects of FQHC billing, including:

• Sliding fee scales
• Cost-based reimbursement
• Encounter rates
• Wrap payments
• PPS Medicare reimbursement
• And more… 

All claims for services performed at an FQHC must also be documented with HCP and HCPCS coding that differs substantially between Medicare and Medicaid. These billing and coding differences are constantly changing as CMS releases updates. 

Due to the complicated nature of FQHC billing, it’s vital for FQHCs to closely analyze their revenue cycle and make changes that will support their growth plan. Lost revenue and high denial rates can stunt the growth of these centers, making it imperative to find the root cause of denials and correct them with experienced medical billers and coders to maximize their revenue cycle. 

Questions about FQHC medical billing? Contact us at Coronis Health today!

Coronis Health differs from a typical FQHC medical billing company by providing FQHC and CHC services for not only medical billing and coding, but collections and denial management, revenue cycle management, financial analysis, and reporting. 

We understand the importance of FQHC medical billing done right. Our highly trained, certified professionals will ensure timely financial reimbursements, an improved clean claims rate, and excellent customer service so you can put the focus back on patient care. 
Contact us today to learn more about what Coronis Health FQHC billing services can do for your team.

from
https://www.coronishealth.com/blog/what-is-fqhc-medical-billing-and-why-is-it-important/

Signs Your Facility Is Ready to Outsource EMS Medical Billing Services

As frontliners, your staff needs to focus on providing excellent urgent care. They simply don’t have the time or resources to keep an eye on collecting payments from insurers for EMS services. If it is becoming increasingly challenging to chase after payments while coping with frequent rule changes, it may be time to outsource your EMS medical billing services.

If you are still unsure whether you need to have a medical billing company on board, here are five signs to watch out for:

EMS Billing and Insurance Claim Processing Is Taking Time Away From Patient Care

The primary focus of any healthcare provider is patient care and satisfaction. When your staff are overworked and stressed, they will not deliver excellent, quality care to patients. 

If you notice that your facility is constantly handling EMS billing issues and chasing after patients more than providing healthcare, it may be the right time to bring in medical billing experts. While these professionals focus all of their attention on finding the best medical billing solutions to boost your revenue, you can devote all your time and energy to giving the best care your patients deserve.

Unable to Keep Up With an Increasing Number of Patient Billing Records

In many facilities, the staff has to spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with the large volume of patient records, resulting in billing and payment issues (in addition to disorganization and poor workflow).

Each provider also requires a different set of documentation and specific patient data when filing for claims. Having to manually manage countless files, records, and spreadsheets may cause duplications and errors. Any mistake, no matter how minor, can result in a denied claim. 

Partnering with a reputable medical company means gaining access to advanced technology that will help streamline your operations and workflow, track claim status, and improve your first-pass rate. 

Optimized search and retrieval tools can be seamlessly integrated into your existing office system. Existing documents, including billing-related paperwork, can be scanned and organized into a secure system and even accessed from mobile devices from anywhere in your facility. 

Not Enough Staff Members to Manage EMS Billing and Insurance Claims

Claim processing is integral to the lifeblood of any facility, and having a shortage of staff who can handle EMS billing services will inevitably lead to a slowdown in the processing of your claims.

When you outsource medical billing, you are hiring experts who will take over your claims review process. These experts don’t treat billing as a side project but as the core function of their job, guaranteeing that each and every claim will undergo a thorough process using the best billing practices to minimize error and increase faster reimbursements. 

Cost of Maintaining an In-House EMS Medical Billing Department Is Too High

Staff turnarounds are often high, and constantly hiring and training new employees can be time-consuming and costly.

Outsourcing EMS billing services can lead to financial savings because it eliminates fixed expenses, such as monthly salaries, payroll taxes, benefits to full-time employees, as well as purchasing technology systems. You also save time and resources when it comes to recruiting, training, and managing staff by having a team of experts handling all your billing needs.

Lacking Resources or Expertise to Manage EMS Billing Effectively

Taking care of patients leaves little time for paperwork tasks that need to be accomplished each day. More importantly, healthcare providers are trained to provide patient care and not handle administrative tasks such as billing.

With just a few employees on staff, your billing department can be overwhelmed with all the paperwork that needs to be processed. As a result, you can encounter data errors, denied claims, and delayed reimbursements.

The best EMS billing services provider is firmly rooted in and informed by the medical field. These experts are always in tune with what facilities need and provide their services in an efficient, intuitive, and comprehensive manner. In addition to experience, they have the flexibility to keep up with the latest industry trends and technologies.

Partnering with a medical billing and coding company will help simplify the overwhelming tasks for your facility, staff, and patients. The skills and experience of their team, coupled with advanced EMS billing software and processes, will take care of medical billing and coding while also staying in compliance with relevant privacy regulations. Your staff can then manage larger document loads, and patients appreciate the easy and rapid access to their records. 

Let Coronis Maximize Your EMS Billing Efficiency 

Coronis Health has extensive experience in the industry, specializing in the reimbursement and billing arena. Our team is made up of certified coders and industry veterans with expertise in cutting-edge billing technology, so you can be confident in knowing that we can provide the best EMS billing solutions and that your business is in the best of hands.

From customized monthly reports to certified coding services, we have the top-notch experience and technology to optimize EMS billing collections for providers, including fire EMS, private ambulance facilities, volunteer squads, and hospital-based ambulance systems. To learn more about how outsourcing your EMS billing services can help you collect more, improve the profitability of your facility, and focus on patient care, contact Coronis Health to request your free financial checkup.

from
https://www.coronishealth.com/blog/signs-your-facility-is-ready-to-outsource-ems-medical-billing-services/

EMS Billing: What Your Facility Should Know

Are you understaffed to efficiently run field operations while keeping up with EMS billing functions? Is dealing with billing errors lowering your revenue? If so, outsourcing your billing services might be the best solution to relieve the pressure from your staff and optimize your cash flow.

What Is EMS Billing and What Services Does It Include?

EMS billing is the process of generating claims to submit to insurance companies for the purpose of obtaining payments for services rendered.

EMS provides 24/7 patient care in the form of first-line medical or emergency care for sick and injured people at the scene, whether in the person’s home or at an accident site, and while they are being transported to the hospital for care.

EMS services require a fee for any kind of medical assistance provided by paramedics, ambulance agencies, etc. These charges are typically covered by insurance premiums people pay, meaning that if a patient has health insurance, the service fee for medical assistance or transportation will be billed to insurance providers.

EMS billing services include:

• Comprehensive medical billing, coding, and collection services
• Credit balances processing
• Patient payment posting
• Charge entry
• A/R management and follow-up
• Credentialing and enrollment of providers
• Insurance verification
• Denial management
• Customizable Reporting

• Post Patient And Insurance Payments
• Provide Secondary And Tertiary Insurance Billing

How Do I Know If My Facility Needs EMS Billing Services?

Outsourcing EMS medical billing services not only addresses any organizational issues you may have in your billing department but also has a lasting impact on your bottom line.

These are the signs that it’s time to outsource EMS billing services:

• Administrative strain – If you are seeing inconsistencies in your revenue cycle, such as issues with your accounts receivable (A/R), timely filing, or an increase in denials, you may have staff who are struggling to keep up with the demands of the work.
• Frequently delayed payments – Denied claims are the number one reason for a delay in payments, and it could be related to several factors, such as overworked or inexperienced staff, which can result in a high rate of billing or coding errors or having to constantly train new clinicians or staff. 

• Diminished revenue – Compare your revenue with the industry median. If you fall below the industry average, outsourcing could be the key to optimizing your revenue.  
• Struggles with compliance – New policies and regulations are constantly introduced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and other third-party payers, so it’s critical to ensure that medical billers and coders are consistently updated on changes that affect the billing process. 
• Lower quality of patient care – A staff that is overworked and stressed may not be able to constantly deliver excellent, quality care to patients. Managing medical billing on top of their other tasks may reduce their ability to function at an optimal level.  
• A decline in clean claims percentage – If your facility has a clean claims rate lower than 85%, your revenue cycle management strategy is lacking. The percentage of your clean claims rate is a reflection of the work your staff is completing, so the lower your percentage, the more time your staff is spending on reviewing denials, communicating with payers, and fixing errors before submitting a claim for the second time. 

What Are the Benefits of Outsourcing EMS Billing?

These are the advantages you gain when you outsource EMS billing services:

• Lower costs – By outsourcing medical billing tasks, you can eliminate fixed expenses, such as monthly salaries, payroll taxes, and benefits to full-time employees, as well as save time and resources on recruiting, training, and managing staff.
• Fewer errors – Incorrect codes and patient data, duplicate billing, and authorization errors can be costly. Outsourcing medical billing allows you to partner with experienced, professional medical billers who utilize the most advanced EMS billing software to ensure that your claims are accurately submitted in a timely manner.
• Improved cash flow – Having a dedicated team for medical billing allows for a continuous, steady flow of clean claims going out and cash coming in. Increased efficiency – outsourcing EMS billing services will help streamline your operations and workflow. With more automated tasks, your staff can focus on their critical administrative functions and operational areas, resulting in enhanced productivity.
• Higher quality patient care – by allowing trained and experienced billers to handle all billing and coding requirements, you can free up more time to focus on patient care. 
• Compliance – keeping up with the ever-changing rules and regulations in healthcare can be a source of concern for many facilities. Outsourcing EMS billing services eliminates the headache of tracking these updates because the billing team stays on top of these changes and implements them into your processes right away. 

How Do I Choose an EMS Billing Service?

Here’s what to consider when selecting an EMS billing services provider:

Industry Experience and Expertise in EMS Billing

EMS billing requires a billing expert who can ensure each step is executed and managed correctly. A medical billing company with experience and expertise in EMS billing will have a better knowledge of your facility’s requirements for documentation, coding, compliance, and more. Failure to partner with a company that has expertise in EMS billing may result in coding inaccuracies and claim denials that make it more difficult for you to reach those bottom-line goals.

Security

Partnering with a medical billing company means trusting them with sensitive financial and patient data. Ask about their protection framework and make sure that the company will be able to handle all your data securely. 

Customer Service

High-quality customer support is crucial throughout the billing partnership. You want to ensure that your medical billing company is with quality customer support and helpful resources whenever you need them, enabling you to achieve peace of mind.

Claims Submission and Follow Up

Your billing partner should use the latest electronic medical billing techniques that will help your facility prioritize follow-up tasks, reduce the days spent in A/R, and boost collections. 

Transparency 

Medical billing services should include 24/7 access to all financial reports, which should be clear and comprehensive, allowing you to easily keep track of your facility’s financial health and make the best decisions for your business. 

Questions About EMS Billing? Contact an Expert at Coronis Health Today!

Coronis Health has extensive experience in the industry, specializing in the reimbursement and billing arena. We provide unparalleled efficiency to our customers when it comes to electronic medical billing and claims follow-up.

Our team is made up of certified coders and industry veterans with expertise in EMS billing and cutting-edge billing technology so that you can be confident in knowing that your business is in the best of hands.Outsourcing EMS billing is a great step to take toward achieving more efficient business operations and greater profitability. To learn more about how Coronis Health can help meet your specific needs and provide the best EMS billing solutions, contact us to request your free financial checkup.

from
https://www.coronishealth.com/blog/ems-billing-what-your-facility-should-know/