Small Oncology Center had called in to Avail our Medical Billing
Continuing with our “the other day” series of posts, the other day the practice manager of a small oncology center had called in to avail our medical billing services. The fiasco which triggered their rendezvous with us was an encounter with a medical billing attorney who had, much to the embarrassment of the clinic, pointed out gross errors in a medical bill sent to a self-pay patient.
The resultant haggling with the attorney resulted in the patient finally paying only half the amount in comparison to the one billed initially. This really set them thinking, if this was the fate of a bill, which never had to undergo the grind of an online claims submission, and then they shuddered to think what might be happening with the real deal.
Errors on Claims
The fact remains that despite the hoopla surrounding pay-for-performance and other supposedly efficiency-levitating infusions into the healthcare system, roughly 75% of the medical claims submitted contain errors; and considering the fact that about 40% of providers’ resources are utilized in achieving this result, it indeed is a very poor return on investment. No doubt then that bottom lines are being affected adversely across the board.
Medical Billing Issues
And of course, the panacea for all these medical billing ills is ….(you guessed right).. outsourcing, or as we would like to call it, right-sourcing. The issues facing today’s medical billing world is not what it used to be, and really a very far cry from the 80s, when the insurance companies paid whatever was claimed, based on good faith. But then things changed, they got wiser, and devised elaborate rules. Also, spiralling healthcare costs trained the spotlight on unnecessary and unwarranted treatment methods, and Medicare & Medicaid, like the private insurances began displaying tighter fists.
Some of the difficulties the New Age Medical Billing faces, which can be best handled by a dedicated Medical Billing and Medical Coding company, are the following:
1. New Medicare and Third Party Reimbursement Rules.
2. RAC Audits.
3. ICD-10
4. HIPAA Transformation (newer 5010 electronic standards)
5. PQRS
6. Larger Patient Copays.
7. Meaningful Use etc.
So, if you really want to surmount this “Hamburger Hill” of medical billing, call BillingParadise at 1-888-571-9069, we do have “The Full Metal Jacket” that you seek.
