Hospitals and medical practices benefit greatly from medical billing and coding. For a medical practice to receive prompt payment from insurance companies it is important to streamline the claim process. This is where medical billing and coding come in handy.
Some facilities have in-house medical billing and coding employees, while other operations outsource them. Regardless, medical billing and coding workers input data related to the following:
- patient records
- registration
- encounters
- appointments and scheduling followups
- electronic insurance claims
- claim denial followup
- insurance authorization
- account reconciliation
- coding and code verification
- reporting
and much more.
When a medical facility incorporates well trained personnel or contract services to provide medical billing and coding, it frees up physicians so they can spend more time caring for their patients. When doctors and physicians do not have to deal with administrative tasks it keeps patients flowing, patient care more one-on-one, more patients may be seen, with an improved revenue picture.
Not only do expert medical billers and coders increase profit margins, they also minimize loss. Well trained staff employ better coding which prevents denied or challenged claims.
As technology continues to advance, reduced paperwork is a big advantage. Bill Gates himself said that he envisioned that offices may one day be “paperless.”
Timeliness. By electronically submitting streamlined and clean claims it expedites the processing and payment from insurance companies. Quicker payments mean quicker profits for medical providers, losing much less over harder to recover receivables.
Well trained staff are important whether employees, subcontractors, or outsource services. A newly emerging pro is the Medical Scribe.