A/R process: Tips to get your Practice its Deserved Reimbursements

Here are some medical billing tips to refine your accounts receivable (A/R) process swiftly and easily to bring in the money more efficiently. For the uninitiated, AR is the money that is owed to the practice.

Don't be a code it, bill it and forget it company - keep a tab on each claim you send out

Don't follow the footsteps of other companies who don't take any step to bring in the money. Ensure that someone in your practice monitors closely all the claims you submit. Enquire whether the insurance company received the claim or try to find out whether the patient paid her copay portion of the bill. Also, make it a point to follow up early; doing so can save you time. If it gets delayed, find out why.

Follow up if you get unpaid and denied claim

Every practice meets with unpaid and denied claim. The best way to ensure your practice is among dollars is to follow up on denials and appeal as the situation demands. Review your explanations of benefits (EOB), focusing on your denials. You can pick up a lot of information from your EOBs such as how quickly insurers are paying you, whether your fee schedule is enough, whether coders are doing their job properly, why insurance companies are denying your claims and if you are being paid as per your contracted rates.

You should update your A/R process

You need to produce a variety of reports to help you evaluate your A/R process. You can invest in a good management system and learn all of its capabilities. You should pay special attention to the reporting abilities of the system you use to ensure you get the data you need to manage your practice's A/R. It could be the practice's gross collection rate, net collection rate and average days in A/R for claims. After this, you can use this information to assess the efficiency of your practice's A/R management.

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