Improve Mental Health Billing Efficiencies Easily!
You might not
think of it this way, but optimizing your billing process can help your mental
health practice become more sustainable. The less time you spend on mental
health billing, the more time you have for your patients. Furthermore, you will
be reimbursed more quickly with a streamlined mental health billing process,
thereby improving cash flows.
However, mental
health billing has numerous moving parts and pieces. So, it can be challenging
to determine which process improvements will have the most significant impact. This
blog post will look at the top strategies for increasing efficiency and making mental
health billing easier.
·
Establish a
Clear Collections Process
To ensure your
practice's financial health, you must have a collections process. Establishing
a step-by-step approach clarifies procedures for all stakeholders involved, and
it can improve revenue cycles significantly by ensuring patients are properly
and thoroughly informed of their responsibilities.
All collection
processes of your mental health billing should include the following steps:
·
Establishment
of clear terms
·
Collection
of patient information
·
Verify
address
·
Get
permissions
·
Remind
patients about co-pays
·
Verify
eligibility regularly
·
Collect
up-front
·
Payment
options
·
Letters
Although this
process is detailed and time-consuming at first. But implementing a standard
collections process can assist you in collecting reimbursement more quickly,
better identifying when to send a bill to collections, and eliminating lack of
communication or knowledge as a cause of patient delinquency.
·
Manage
Claims Properly
Approximately 80%
of all mental health bills contain errors, and insurance companies are so
strict about proper mental health billing and coding that they will almost
certainly be rejected. The cycle of submission, rejection, editing, and
resubmission can take weeks, leaving you waiting months to be paid for your
services.
Some of the most
common sources of error are as follows:
·
Incorrect
patient information
·
Incorrect
provider information
·
Incorrect
insurance information
·
Duplicate
billing
·
Lack
of documentation
·
No
EOB
on a denied claim
·
Missing
or unclear denial codes
As huge time and effort
are involved in editing and resubmitting claims, claims must be correct and
complete the first time. This includes correctly entering information for any
potential errors before submitting them. To avoid mental health billing issues,
double-check your claims before submitting them and communicate with the insurance
provider if any information is inconsistent, incomplete, or unclear. After
submitting the claims, follow up with an insurance company representative to
keep them informed of any errors that may have occurred.
·
Look
for More Ways to Improve
The mental healthcare
industry is constantly changing, and physician practices must adapt to maximize
efficiency and revenue. You can identify problem areas and implement new
solutions by tracking performance and staying up to date on the latest
healthcare regulations.
You should take
the following steps to ensure maximum efficiency and accuracy:
Monitor pending
accounts receivable:
The amount of
money owed to you is an important figure to monitor to determine the
effectiveness of your collection procedure. Tracking this amount from quarter
to quarter and comparing it to the previous year's figures is an excellent way
to determine how well your practice's revenue cycle is performing. An analysis
of this type can also assist you in assessing the impact of any newly
implemented procedures.
Keep up to date:
Mental
health billing
rules are constantly changing, and staying current may necessitate ongoing
education and training for staff, along with software updates. Keep up to date
on any changes that may affect your mental health billing and coding protocols,
and seek training if necessary — this is less expensive in the long run than
resubmitting claims repeatedly.
Determine
problematic accounts:
By establishing
clear procedures for dealing with your patient accounts, data will become
available to aid in identifying potential issues. Implement methods for
tracking problematic behaviors such as late payments, frequently declined
payments, or frequent changes in contact information to better target such
patients for additional reminders and prepare your mental health billing
personnel to outsource collections.
Know When to
Outsource!
Many healthcare
providers are falling behind despite their best efforts to implement proactive
mental health billing practices. This is frequently due to the costly time and labor
involved in submitting and editing claims and staying up to date on current
regulations — duties often piled on top of medical office staff's existing
responsibilities.
If you are also
falling into the same trap, it is the right time to outsource your mental
health billing and coding to 24/7 Medical Billing Services. They are constantly
concerned about your patients, current medical trends, and proper staff
management. They also stay updated on the latest coding standards, insurance
companies, and mental health billing regulations. It must be remembered that details
can slip through the cracks with so much to keep track of, resulting in
rejections, denials, and underpayments that cost your medical practice time and
money.
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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