General / Provider News

Follow 3 Tips to Improve Your A/R Process and Boost Your Collections

Avoid the ‘code it, bill it, and forget it’ mentality — don’t be afraid to follow up on your claims.

The economic downturn coupled with looming healthcare changes means that your practice — and all others — are under more pressure than ever to collect every penny you deserve.  You can refine your accounts receivable (A/R) process quickly and easily to bring in the money without a lot of extra effort.

A/R defined: “Accounts receivable (A/R) is the money that is owed to the practice,” explains Elin Baklid-Kunz, MBA, CPC, CCS, a director of physician services in Daytona, Fla., during The Coding Institute’s audioconference “Top A/R Tactics: Fight Back Against Lower Payments and Increased Government Scrutiny.”

Follow these three best practices to set your practice on an improved A/R track and avoid thousands in lost reimbursement.

1. Monitor Each Claim You Send Out

The first step in perfecting your A/R process is to make sure someone in your practice is paying attention to what happens to every claim you submit. Ask questions such as: “did the insurance company even receive the claim?” and “Did the patient pay her copay portion of the bill?”  “There are companies out there I call ‘code it, bill it, and forget it companies,’” says coding, billing, and practice management consultant Steven M. Verno, CMBS, CMSCS, CEMCS, CPM-MCS, in The Coding Institute’s audio conference “Reveal and Recover Hidden Money You Didn’t Know You Missed.”

“They code the claim, they bill the claim, and then they forget about it. They leave it out there and don’t do anything to bring the money in. They don’t follow up on the claim.”  Following up on your submitted claims early in the game can save you time. First ensure that once your practice submits a claim that it is...

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May 10, 2011
Provider News

CMS Makes Key Changes to ABN Modifiers

We’ve got the new instructions you’ll need to follow. CMS will update the ABN modifiers effective April 1, according to MLN Matters article MM6563, dated Oct. 29. The ABN descriptors will read as follows: Modifier GA — Revised to read, “Waiver of liability statement issued as required by payer policy.” You’ll use this when a required ABN was issued. Modifier GX — [...] Related articles:

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November 10, 2009
Hot Coding Topics / MAC

Coders: Watch Out for Claim-Denying Computer Glitches

Don’t wait for your MAC to alert you to an error — be on the lookout for them. If you’ve been losing reimbursement to computer hiccups at your carrier, you’re not alone. Earlier this year, thousands of Medicare recipients in one state were wrongly told their benefits were being cut by $300 — but the state decided not to notify those affected with a letter. Instead, the state only told [...] Related articles:

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October 17, 2009