5 Common Mistakes Physicians Commit With The Dermatology Billing
You
must have an accurate and efficient medical billing experience for your
dermatology practice to receive maximum service reimbursement. While every
medical specialty requires precise billing procedures to receive treatment
payments, dermatology practices must go above and beyond to ensure accuracy.
Paying special attention to compliance guidelines and the specialty's unique
use of modifiers is part of proper medical billing for dermatology practices.
In
fact, Dermatology practices face distinct medical billing and coding challenges
due to the specialty. As dermatology requires both medical and surgical
aspects, dermatology medical billing can be complicated and necessitates a
thorough understanding of dermatology CPT codes, modifier usage, and other
factors.
Let’s
have a deep understanding of common mistakes physicians commit with dermatology
billing:
1. Insufficient
Claim Information
A
single empty or unchecked box on a claim can result in a denial. Even the most
essential fields, such as gender, date of birth, and time of the accident or
medical emergency, are frequently left blank.
Ensure
that the second set of eyes performs a cursory review of each paper or electronic
claim in your office files to ensure that all required fields are
filled out. Check that your software system prompts users to review missing
fields and enter all required information before allowing them to submit
e-claims.
2. Insurance
Verification Failure
The
most common reason for claim denials is insurance issues. An overreliance
typically causes failure to verify on routine. If a patient visits the office
frequently, the staff may assume that their insurance provider or coverage plan
hasn't changed and may fail to check eligibility.
However,
you must incorporate a verification step into the dermatology billing workflow
for every patient visit, as insurance information can change anytime. This
entails investigating all four potential causes of insurance-related denial:
●
On the service
date, coverage had been terminated or was ineligible.
●
Not authorized
services.
●
Non-covered
services as per the plan.
●
Maximum benefits
already reached.
By
including a step in your dermatology billing workflow that verifies the
patient's insurance at each visit, you can ensure that there are no
policy-related issues that could lead to denied claims.
3. Failure to
Meet Filing Deadlines
Some
payers provide two-year "timely filing" windows for individual
medical claims, while others only offer 30 days. You're out of luck if you
don't file your claim on time. Denials for timely filing are among the most
difficult to appeal.
Maintain
a list of your most common payers' deadlines in your dermatology practice's
billing office and incorporate it into the organization of your biller’s
"to-do" lists. Unfiled claims should be audited regularly to ensure
that none fall through the cracks. A recurring reminder or calendar event can
also help resolve this issue.
4. Lack of
Specifics
Insurance
companies frequently deny claims as they are not coded to the highest level of
specificity or are "truncated" (unnecessarily or inaccurately
shortened). Each diagnosis, as a trained coder knows, must be coded to the
absolute highest level for that code - that is, the maximum number of digits
for the code.
If
your staff is unfamiliar with coding, they may make this type of mistake
regularly without realizing it. Education is essential: show your dermatology
billers how to spot truncated codes so they can fix them before filing.
5. Typing and
Miscoding Errors
Simply
put, sometimes you make mistakes. Whether an unbundled code, a duplicate
charge, a mistyped patient name, or an incorrect date, even an honest mistake
can derail an insurance claim. It's easy to make a general error when you're
heavily involved in dermatology billing and coding—especially if you have other
responsibilities. Here are a few of the most common ones to stay away from if
at all possible:
●
Incorrect insurance,
patient, or provider information (i.e., name, address, date of birth, policy
numbers, etc.).
●
Entering
ICD-10-CM codes with an unusually large or small number of digits.
●
In a given claim,
no codes are entered.
●
Incorrect CPT
codes were submitted.
Outsource your
Dermatology Billing!
With
recent billing changes and stringent compliance standards to uphold,
dermatology practices can save a lot of time and energy (as well as peace of
mind!) by entrusting their dermatology billing to an outsourced third party. A
responsible and achievable financial health plan must be prioritized for
dermatology practices to realize their true revenue potential. Dermatology
medical billing outsourcing allows your practice to have the most
efficient and accurate bill processing possible.
As
the internal billers team must balance the rest of the practice's operations,
an outsourced dermatology medical billing firm can typically maintain better
consistency of your practice's finances. 24/7
Medical Billing Services is one such outsourced dermatology medical
billing company that can provide your practice with the dermatology billing
knowledge it requires to grow and thrive in today's modern medical landscape.
About
24/7 Medical Billing Services:
We
are a medical billing company that offers ‘24/7 Medical Billing
Services’ and support physicians, hospitals, medical institutions and
group practices with our end to end medical billing solutions. We help you earn
more revenue with our quick and affordable services. Our customized Revenue
Cycle Management (RCM) solutions allow physicians to attract additional revenue
and reduce administrative burden or losses.
Contact:
24/7
Medical Billing Services
Tel:
+1 888-502-0537
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