Medical billing professionals carry out an important function in the health industry for both physicians, patients and insurance companies. This brief article will discuss why these skilled workers should be critical components to any physician’s practice, as well as the medical billing mistakes every doctor wants to avoid making.

What Responsibilities Do Medical Billers Have?

Medical billing and coding companies like 1^st Medical Billing, also commonly referred to as Medical Billing Clerks, handle all aspects of the billing process in healthcare settings, most notably hospitals and in a physician’s practice. Among the tasks these men and women regularly execute include ensuring individuals and insurance companies receive bills for the specific services their clients provided, resolve payment disputes, make collection calls for overdue payments, appeal denied claims and act as a liaison between doctors and insurance companies. Thus, having medical billing companies can considerably help hospitals and physicians navigate the complex world of billing and claims.

Five Common Billing Mistakes

Medical billing mistakes can prove costly and require a significant amount of time to investigate and correct. A simple coding error by a healthcare provider can either lead to a loss of thousands of dollars or maybe a returning patient. Medical coding as discussed in this article about medical coding systems, is critical to any medical business and acts as the backbone of the billing and reimbursement process. Thus, it is very important to thoroughly understand the coding system and its applications to properly implement them in practice.
Having said that, the coding system is made up of thousands of codes from various systems, making it a time-consuming, complex, and overwhelming process for providers thus, leading to an error. The following are five such errors commonly made:

Failing To Pursue Unpaid Claims

There are many medical practices that forget about or simply dismiss unaddressed claims. This action often happens because information about the claim gets lost, the services listed in the claim were long since rendered or the claim has been filed in distant or archived records seldom searched. Failing to be diligent about past claims can cost medical offices thousands, if not more. It is critical to carefully review old records and investigate every unpaid claim. An additional aspect where doctors usually struggle is their ignorance about the different procedures that are followed with regards to medical insurances. Hence, there exists consulting firms, which can help medical providers systematically review their billing records to identify unpaid or denied claims. Say for instance, providers can consult medicare consulting companies to help with any issues that arise with medicare insurance. Similarly, they can also approach other consulting services providing insurances like Medicaid or COBRA insurance.

Not Identifying Problem Claims

Claims can be problematic for a variety of reasons. Quite often, rejected or a delay in processing claims arise as the result of mistakes and misinformation. Such errors include but are not limited to incorrect information about an insurance provider or personal patient data and improperly written medical codes that lead to confusion about the services a physician rendered. These pitfalls can be avoided by carefully reviewing all claim reports. Ergo, any problem can be quickly identified and corrected.

Failing To File Claims With Expedience

In certain instances, claims will only be processed within a specific timeframe. Should these periods be exceeded, the possibility of not collecting on the claim exists. Therefore, it is important to identify such claims and ensure the practice formulates an efficient method of submitting them in as timely a manner possible.

Not Prioritizing The Importance Of The Billing Process

In some medical offices, those responsible for executing billing procedures are sidled with numerous other tasks. Under such circumstances, billing issues can be overlooked and critical mistakes can occur. To mitigate these risks, medical professionals could be better served by either making billing the top priority for those charged with carrying out the duty or by establishing a dedicated staff of individuals for whom billing will be their only job. Alternatively, outsourcing to specialized medical billing services can ensure that billing is handled efficiently and accurately, freeing up office staff to focus on patient care.

Misinterpreting Key Information

In some cases, denied or delayed claims may occur because the individual reviewing such documentation misunderstood some of the intricate coding and information contained inside it. It is recommended that doctors allow professionals with extensive knowledge reading and reviewing medical claims check and double check all pertinent documentation so no errors or omissions are made.