Why Outsource Speech Therapy Billing Services?

 

Are you a speech-language therapist or any other medical professional dealing with the evaluation of speech? Are you just a beginner with your pathology practice?

If so, are you sure that your practice is completely updated with the latest changes in the speech therapy medical billing?

Medical billing codes keep changing all the time. Even the most expert billers and coders find it difficult to seek reimbursement from the insurance payers. Additionally, there are tons of Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes to choose from, and the majority of them are quite similar to each other.

Therefore, if you are looking forward to running your speech-language pathology practice efficiently and smoothly, it is essential to have a strong understanding and knowledge of the various codes used in medical billing.

Undoubtedly, coding is the most complicated task, and no one understands that better than us. That’s why we at 24/7 Medical Billing Services seeking to help up-and-coming pathology practices to place the right foot with the correct procedures for speech practice medical billing. Let’s have a deep dive into how we offer such help:

Records Documentation Requirements

Documentation plays a key role in explaining the necessity of the medical procedures rendered by you to your patients. All documentation must comply with all the necessary legal and regulatory requirements applicable to the state in which you undertake your medical practices.

All the medical records must have the necessary details like type, intensity, frequency, and the duration of the treatment to a patient.

Additionally, all the medical records must also include the following:

•         Initial Evaluation: it consists of a plan of care; medical necessity documents; and the objective findings.

•         Plan of care: diagnoses; a goal for the long-term treatment; type, duration, amount, and frequency of the therapy services provided.

•         Progress Reports: short and long-term goals along with the continued treatment or assessment.

•         Treatment Notes: the encounter notes must contain the details of the treatment name, total treatment time, the intervention of activity, and the signature of the medical professional providing the speech therapy services.

If you're still uncertain about the requirements and minute details of the documentations or simply don’t have the required time to handle it by yourself, think of hiring the 24/7 Medical Billing Services. We are experts in executing all kinds of administrative tasks with impeccable expertise and efficiency.

Using the Most Accurate ICD-10 Codes

Coding is the most troublesome task required for claims submission in speech therapy medical billing. There are dozens of codes that might be applicable for your services and diagnoses with the precise rules governing them. Thus, it can be complicated for you as a speech therapist to remember all the codes and which codes apply in what situation.

Moreover, ICD-10 codes are the ones that describe the diagnoses you provide. They can be extremely challenging as they are so specific. For instance, one ICD code might work, but another code must describe your speech diagnosis, allowing you for the reimbursements for the services provided by you. You need to be familiar with all the ICD-10 codes that you will frequently be using and also keep handy an entire list of all the required speech therapy ICD-10 codes with their descriptions. Also, be sure to review the list timely and before assigning any code to the case. Another alternative to avoid this cumbersome process of preparing and checking the list is outsourcing your speech therapy to 24/7 Medical Billing Services.

Use of Time-based Codes

Undoubtedly, most of the CPT codes used by the speech therapists are session-based, i.e., untimed. But sometimes, you might need to use a timed code- for instance, code 96125 is used for standardized cognitive performance testing and coded per hour of a qualified medical speech therapist time. The time spent includes both one-to-one times administering tests and interpreting results for these tests, along with preparing the report.

It is also important to know the applicable rules when the timed codes are used in speech therapy. For instance, as per the 51% rule, you must spend at least 6 minutes with your patient to use the 15-minute code. Also, it comes to 16 minutes for a 30-minute code and at least 31 minutes for a 60-minute code. Additionally, Medicare has different rules that governed the timed codes. Therefore, it is quite obvious that if you use the timed codes incorrectly, you will definitely face a claim denial or rejection. This clearly highlights the need for outsourcing the billing to an expert’s team.

Conclusion

One of the most important and challenging tasks for the speech therapist is to submit the clean claims with all the requirements to get the 100% reimbursement timely. However, speech therapists neither have the time to thoroughly research the intricacies nor have the required knowledge. In fact, it shouldn't even be expected from them. That’s why 24/7 Medical Billing Services are always recommended as your outsourcing partner for speech pathology medical billing and coding.

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