In our experience, the most fraudulent activity happens in or during the billing process. Unfortunately, patients have been known to file false medical billing claims in an effort to defraud the state or federally funded programs for money. It is also unfortunate https://www.bookstime.com/ that abuse and fraud are committed by medical office staff members. Common forms of staff fraud and abuse include billing for services never performed, billing for equipment never provided and adjusting charges to get a larger reimbursement payout.
Write-offs can especially become a larger issue for companies with a manual collection process, as details tend to fall through the cracks, causing unpaid balances to accumulate. Busy offices have found that patient pre-registration, such as adding a check-in kiosk to their waiting area, not only improved workflow, but also helped them collect outstanding balances. Your handout should give them a brief education on how billing accounting for medical practices is processed, including when they should expect a bill and approximately how much their insurance will cover. Accounts that have aged over 90 days are at higher risk for going uncollected. Therefore, it’s very important to keep track of how much money is moving into this aged category from month to month. Like any other practice statistic, you can measure AR and set performance goals to drive continuous improvement.
ALLOWS COMPANIES TO GO PAPERLESS
Processing Insurance – after the medical office assistant processes a patients’ medical insurance card, they may ask for a co-payment. Once coded, the insurance claim will go to the insurance company and the remainder of the payment after co-pay is returned to the doctor’s office for services rendered. Much of the claims forms will be transmitted electronically per HIPPA regulations. Financial statements are essential for a medical office as they provide insights into the business’s financial health. If accounts payable are not managed effectively, it can lead to inaccurate financial statements.
- It also makes organizations more reliable and environmentally friendly, as patient data is stored and updated on the cloud.
- Checks received by the NIH Cashier or through electronic means such as wire transfers are processed in the NBS as all cancelled checks received when payments are returned by Treasury as unpaid.
- This is where NIH as the seller, bills Trading Partners on reimbursable agreements.
- Charge entry in medical billing refers to the process clinicians follow for submitting detailed lists of the services patients receive, which must be coded for claims submission.
Your administrative costs related to managing AR will increase along with your total balance. When payments go uncollected the first time around, you end up spending more money on postage to resend billing statements and time for you staff to contact delinquent patients. Today’s healthcare organizations face many challenges as they strive to provide greater value to patients while reducing costs. Your accounts payable system doesn’t have to be part of the struggle when you embrace AP automation. MineralTree provides multiple payment options, including free, secure virtual cards.