By Kathy McCoy
Billing errors can cost your practice thousands every day, but finding the time to address them on an organized basis probably seems daunting. And yet, in reality its a simple process and one well worth the time you spend on it. Plus, with audits by Medicare looming large in everyones windshield, improving your processes now could prevent many headaches down the road.
Heres a quick outline of a process you can follow to identify and correct billing issues:
1. Identify the Most Common Problems
The first step is to analyze your billing and coding to see what the most frequent problems are. You may be able to generate a report from your medical billing software to see where youre getting the most frequent denials and rejections. Review this list or one compiled manually to insure that you understand where the bulk of the problems are. Fixing these issues will benefit you much more than focusing on unusual or uncommon problems. Its the well-known 80/20 Rule80% of your problems will come from 20% of your coding.
2. Change Processes or Staff as Needed
Once youve identified your most common billing problems, decide how to fix them. Ask your billers and coders for suggestionssince theyre on the front lines, often they have ideas for solutions, and if theyre experienced, they may have encountered a similar problem before. If the problem is staff-oriented, consider what staffing changes need to be made. Is a staff member better suited to another task, either due to temperament, skills or burnout? Sometimes a job change can improve an employees outlook and their performance.
One key area to review is communication: Miscommunication can lead to charges being missed or to charges being billed when not required or medically necessary. Be sure physicians understand the importance of communicating correctly and exactly, and this includes their notes as well as any verbal communication with staff.
3. Train Effectively and Include All Staff Involved
If you decide to change processes to eliminate errors, be sure to effectively train staff on the change. Document the new process, review it with staff and let them ask questions. Often the medical school model of learning will help reinforce the behavior: Learn one, do one, teach one. When you teach your staff some of the more complicated new processes, have them try it with you present to help and answer questions, and then have them teach someone else on staff. This method has been demonstrated to improve retention.
Dont forget to include medical staff in the training as well as office staff. Keep the training as concise as possible, but make sure the providers understand what changes they need to make to their daily routine.
4. Evaluate New Processes or Staff Changes
Set a period of time after which you will evaluate the changes youve made. While wed all love to assume that a problem is fixed and we can move on to other things, its important to review the change after a reasonable amount of time and see whether you have actually addressed the problem and whether the improvement is at the level you were seeking, or whether additional changes are needed. Be critical so that you get the results you wantif youre only partway to your goal, then repeat steps 2 & 3 above and decide what additional process changes are required. Keep in mind the time staff needs to adapt, but be demanding in achieving your goal of eliminating or reducing billing errors.
5. Repeat
Make this process a regular part of your operations, reviewing your billing for the most common errors on a regular basis. You may start out doing it quarterly and then after some time, you may be able to go to twice a year or even once a year. The key is to have a regular review, with frequency determined by the accuracy of your billing rather than by workload.
These types of internal audits and process improvements may seem daunting to some medical offices, or the physicians may feel its a distraction from patient care. But remind physicians that as the treating provider, they are on the hook for any mistakes that occur in coding. And with Medicare audits becoming a guarantee rather than a vague threat, they need to be invested in ensuring the billing process is as correct as possible and that procedures are in place for consistent improvement.
With a regular system in place for improving billing processes, a visit by the RAC may seem less intimidating and give you the confidence you need to get through an audit with less stress.
Kathy McCoy is VP of Marketing for Kareo, a leading provider of practice management and medical billing software. She has over 16 years of experience in healthcare marketing, with more than 30 years experience in marketing total. Ms. McCoy holds a BA from California State University, Fullerton and an MBA from the University of Redlands.
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Health Benefits of Sex - 8 Advantages of Healthy Sexual Life
By Ryan Mutt
Sex is beneficial for body in a number of ways, as said by Davidson and other experts. The benefits aren’t just unreliable or gossip each of these health benefits of sex is backed by scientific study.
These are the benefits of healthy loving in a relationship.
1. Sex Boosts Immunity
Excellent sexual healthiness may indicate improved physical health. Those who have sex regularly it is being seen that they people have more immunity in compression to those who dont do it regularly.
2. Sex Relieves Stress
A huge health advantage of sex is lower blood pressure and overall anxiety decrease. Persons who had interaction had superior responses to stress than those who occupied in other sexual behaviors.
3. Sex Burns Calories
Sex is a vast form of do exercises; it takes labor, from in cooperation a physical and psychological viewpoint, to do it well.
4. Sex Improves Cardiovascular fitness
Scientists found occurrence of sex was not related with stroke and the sensitivity health reimbursement of sex doesnt end there. The researchers also set up that having sex twice or more a week reduced the risk of serious heart attack by partially for the men, compared with persons who had sex less than once a month.
5. Sex Boosts self-respect
Increasing self-worth was one of 237 reasons people have sex. People who already have self-esteem say they occasionally have sex to sense even better. One of the reasons people say they have sex is to feel good about them. Great sex starts with self-esteem, and increases it, sex is loving, linked, and what you desire, it raises it.
6. Sex Improves familiarity
Having sex and orgasms increases levels of the hormone the so-called love hormone, which helps us tie and put together trust.
Higher oxytocin has moreover been linked with a emotion of liberality. So if you’re feeling swiftly more liberal toward your partner than usual, acclaim the love hormone.
7. Sex Reduces ache
Since the hormone oxytocin gushes, endorphins raise, and pain declines. So if your, arthritis pain, headache PMS symptoms look to recover after sex, you can be grateful those higher oxytocin levels.
8. Sex Reduces Prostate Cancer Risk
A study, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, initiated that common ejaculations, 21 or more a month, were allied to lower prostate cancer risk in older men, also, compared with less frequent ejaculations of four to seven monthly.
These are not only the tips, there are more tips for happy and healthy relationship.
Read about Sexual Weakness and its natural cure. Find powerful herbal Erectile Dysfunction Pills to improve lovemaking performance. Know how Premature Ejaculation Pills help control climax naturally.
Top 4 Latin America Medical Tourism Destinations
By tomislav wu
We are going to take a quick look at four countries, scattered across the Latin America, which make up some of the primary destinations for Medical Tourism. In this way, you can gather a basic picture of what is available on the international scene. You need much more information than is provided here to make a decision, but here is your starting point.
Brazil
Brazil, once known mainly for its international practice in plastic surgery, is now actively seeking a wider role in Medical Tourism. More medical facilities have been accredited by the JCI in Brazil than in any country other than the United States and Singapore. In 2005, nearly 50,000 medical tourists visited Brazil - a number that is growing rapidly. Portuguese-speaking Brazil has quite a European feel, with about half of the population having primarily European roots. Medical costs in Brazil are about half of those found in the United States - not the least expensive, but Brazil does have active legal protection against malpractice and fraud. The standard and style of care are quite similar to that encountered in Western facilities, with several hospitals in Sao Paolo being considered among the world’s finest. Brazil requires visas for American visitors as reciprocation for the US requirement that Brazilian tourists have visas.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica, the only Latin American country counted among the world’s 22 older democracies, has been a popular Medical Tourism destination for cosmetic surgery and dental care for the United States, attracting over 20,000 medical tourists each year to Central America. San Jose is gaining favor as a destination for more intensive medical care, having 6 private hospitals (3 of which have JCI accreditation) and 22 public hospitals. The cost of medical procedures and aftercare services are about 30-40% of US prices. The largely volcanic geography lends to a marvelous ecotourism experience. No visas are required for stays up to 90 days.
Mexico
The proximity of Mexico to the United States makes it a primary destination for Medical Tourism, even though the costs are not as low as are found elsewhere in the world. Dental care is a major goal, as most procedures can be accomplished during a day trip just across the border. Medical costs are generally 25-35% of the equivalent US costs. Although Mexico’s laws make bring suit for malpractice extraordinarily difficult, about 90% report that the care received in Mexico was good or excellent - a better report than received by the American health system! The close integration of the border region economies makes determination of the number of Americans seeking medical treatment in Mexico difficult, but it is clear that the number is in the millions and growing rapidly.
Panama
Panama has remarkable tourist attractions, a thoroughly Americanized culture and economy, and has the safest and most modern capital city in Central America. Given the proximity to the United States, it is not surprising that the role of Panama as a Medical Tourism destination is rapidly growing. English is widely spoken, and Panama’s doctors are largely US-trained. At present, only a few thousand medical tourists visit Panama per year, partially because the medical costs are relatively high for a Medical Tourism destination - about 50% of US rates. However, the lack of culture shock in the Medical Tourism experience is worth the additional expense to a growing number of international patients.
Tomislav Wu is an expert advisor on health tourism and regular contributor to Medical Tourism Blog.
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