Healthcare Systems Adopt Trend of Outsourcing in the New Era of Value-Based Care

Accountable Care Organisation

In the time when both, federal and provincial healthcare quality initiatives have come up with healthcare reforms, thus making EHR mandatory in order to avail the incentives under ARRA, the compliance with Medicare Medical Billing norms, demand of documentation under Medicare’s Accountable Care Organisation (ACO) model and the transition of both ICD 10 and HIPAA 5010, health care documenting in healthcare would probably never be the same. Though these reforms have been introduced with the sole aim of increasing the clinical and operational efficiency in healthcare organizations, the physicians have a lot to cope up with and this can hinder them from focusing in their function of providing medical services.

In the era of value based care, physicians find it tough and time consuming to balance administrative along with their prime function of patient care on their own. Outsourcing the administrative processes which needs expertise and resources is significantly more appropriate approach when these aren’t available in house. Health care organizations and physicians are increasingly seeking contractors for services like billing, coding, medical staffing and information technology services in order to bridge the gap. The companies providing these services have no doubt proved to be beneficial for the growth of its clients. Moreover, it has been found that the growth in outsourcing between the 2010 and 2011 was reported to be around 13.1% with 20 outsourcing firms which served 16,463 clients.

Benefit of Outsourcing

Partnering with an outsourcing firm has brought more technology and expertise in the industry, thus expanding the job options in the field, along with helping physicians extract most of the money for the services they deliver.  Contrary to the popular belief that the small healthcare firms do not need outsourcing, truth is small facilities too are finding it beneficial to outsource as they adopt electronic billing and EMR implementation along other reforms in the new era of value-based care.

Outsourcing the task of medical billing relieves the medical professional from various administrative tasks. The health care organization can be saved from a few issues which are unavoidable like:

• Staff retention: with the outsourcing process, healthcare organization need not worry about recruiting, managing & retaining billing staff and training new billing staff  when old staff retires or moves on, hence helping in smooth functioning of the billing process
• Billing possible on all days: with in-house billing there is complete dependency on fixed staff members and in case of absence of any of the staff members or any holiday, the billing process is kept on hold, but with outsourcing this headache is eliminated ensuring on-going billing process throughout the year

Outsourcing can make your office run more efficiently and systematically with small investments which although go unnoticed, but are considerable in total like postage charges and telephone bills also reduce. Added costs for labour, office system and other operational expenses are also reduced considerably. Furthermore a better turnaround time with better revenue cycle is guaranteed along with improved collection rate on an average of nearly 20%.

MedicalBillersandCoders.com the biggest consortium of billing and coding experts, has been assisting medical practitioners and health care workers for over a decade now towards betterment of revenue cycle and management of administrative tasks. Our billing and coding experts are also constantly trained and updated with the latest reforms, thus rendering the clients stress free and relaxed as far as revenue is concerned.

Navigating Through a Multiple Payer Environment – Providers’ Perspective

Healthcare delivery in the United States of America has come a long way from cash-based to insurance-backed. Currently, over 85% of the nation’s residents have health care plans either through employers’ private pools, private companies, the veterans’ health administration, the children’s health insurance program and Medicare/Medicaid/TRICARE. While insurance payers (whether Federal or private) essentially cover health risks of the insured, they differentiate themselves with their respective restrictive operational requirements. The impact of this restrictive payment environment is such that health care providers are increasingly finding it difficult to procure their payments on time. And, with the Federal Government inclined to make health insurance mandatory, care providers’ only hope is to find a way to deal with multiple regulatory insurance payers.

Unlike United Kingdom and Canada, which have single-payer system, US is characterized by Federal and Private Payer systems. And Federal system is again sub-divided into Medicare/Medicaid/TRICARE.

The majority of insured Americans receive their health care (insurance) coverage via a private insurance company. Currently in the country, 59.3% of all insured Americans have coverage through private insurers. These private insurance holders can once again be classified under:

• Group insurance, which is availed through an employer with provision to cover spouses and children, based on the particular package
• Individual Insurance, which is purchased by the insured himself to cover his or his family health risks
• Managed-care plans: The two most popular types of managed-care plan providers in America are Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs). An HMO plan will have a predetermined facility and doctor for you and/or family. When you need treatment, you will have to visit the contracted facilities and see the contracted physicians in order for the insurance to pay the bill

With so many variants of private healthcare policies, healthcare providers usually have a hard time understanding and billing with private payers. The stress is so much that it is actually started to impede their clinical efficiency, which is their main concern. There is a whole lot of stressful restrictions that providers will come across, such as:

• dealing with deductibles and copayments,
• establishing medical necessity of a procedure
• dealing with preexisting conditions

Though dealing with Federal Payer system is relatively less difficult, providers have to deal with state-specific rules that govern Medicaid/Medicare:

• With the Federal Government hinting at extending Medicare base from the current 28%, providers will have more Medicaid/Medicare supported visitors
• Federal Government entertains Medicaid/Medicare beneficiaries’ bills from only a few designated providers. Therefore, care providers have an overriding duty to check insurance authorization prior to administering medical services
• Further, Medicare/Medicaid is also bound by restrictions on repetitive, pre-existing, and quantum of admissible medical expenditure to its beneficiaries

If understanding multiple payer system and their respective restriction constitutes half of the battle, billing and coding in ICD-10 and HIPAA 5010 Version will constitute the other half. But, providers, with their clinical efficiency at stake, would do well to assign these operational issues to external billing consultants.

Medicalbillersandcoders.com with credible history of helping physicians realize maximum claim realization amidst multiple payer environment – will help make the task a lot easier. Our medical billing professionals are highly trained and certified with experience in handling multiple payer environment and the latest coding practices. Their expertise combined with our technology edge is a sure way to turnaround your practices’ revenues.

The Financial Importance of Timely Medical Claim Submission

The importance of timely claims submission is not lost on physicians or their staff and is an integral part of the revenue cycle management (RCM). The dynamic nature of the health industry and the reforms has further exacerbated the already volatile situation when it comes to claim submission, denials, and re-submissions. There are numerous factors that affect the efficiency of the claim submission process and these may range from type-o errors to other issues regarding medical billing and coding or policy matters. Moreover, the tendency to deny or reject claims based on simple errors seems to be the unwritten principle of most of the insurance companies in the market which further hampers the whole RCM process, thus affecting physician revenue and patient satisfaction.

The most important aspect in RCM is the timely filing of claims that has an undeniable impact on how much and when the providers get paid. There are, however, numerous hurdles in timely filing of claims that can be encountered in a clinic and by their staff or even medical billers and coders:

• One of the most common hurdles in timely filing of claims is the fact that simple errors can and do occur while submission and this rate is even higher for an in-house staff that juggles with numerous issues and interacts with numerous payers
• The biggest hurdle in timely filing is resubmission which is when the claim is denied and filed again due to some error or incompetence on the part of insurance companies
• However, there are other more practical hurdles such as unavailability of time, work pressure on staff, increased demand, and other pecuniary factors that influence the timely filing of the claim

The most important factor that affects the timely filing or submission of claim is whether the in-house staff is handling claim submission or interaction with payers or if the complete RCM process has been outsourced to a professional billing company that not only has competency and professionalism but is also professional and scientific in its approach. The dynamic insurance market also plays a role in the timely submission of medical claims and the rules and regulations governing various providers are also responsible for influencing the way in which claims are filed. Usually claims should be filed within 30 days of the day when the service(s) was provided; however, this may differ according to the provider policies and government guidelines.

There are many ways of dealing with the issue of untimely claims submission and its inevitable negative repercussions. However, the most important method of ensuring that claims are filed on a timely basis is to analyze the whole process of RCM so that the lacunae and repeated errors can be isolated and corrected. For instance, if a provider is denying more claims or is denying claims even when filed in a timely manner, then such situations need to be analyzed and resolved immediately. This process of finding habitual and regular errors in the process of timely submission can be easily handled by a medical billing specialist in a better manner compared to a novice or an in-house staff member.

The inevitable impact of the health reforms on claim submission and RCM is palpable in the form of adoption of 5010 platforms, Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and numerous other factors and requires specialized training and skill that can only be achieved by dedicated professionals who are capable of submitting claims in a timely manner. Moreover, recent issues such as the rapid changes in legislation, intervention of the Supreme court, legal, financial, and administrative issues surrounding ‘Obamacare’ have made it necessary to have specialized professionals who can keep up with the changes and assist in timely submission of medical claims.

Medical billers and coders at www.medicalbillersandcoders.com are not just HIPAA compliant and legally updated but also perform research and analysis of claims and strive to achieve the maximum efficiency through a scientific approach, be it claims submission or accounts receivables. To find more information and for consultancy as well as other medical billing and coding services.

Predicting the scope of medical billing consultants after 2014 and beyond

Although it has been quite a while since the Federal Government announced a series of far-reaching healthcare reforms, we are yet to experience their full impact across the healthcare continuum. And, with the Senate bill deferring a major chunk of the reforms further, it is expected that we may have to wait as late as 2014 to witness their full impact.

Amongst a string of reforms that will take effect from 2014 are the ones emanating from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which will bring immediate benefits to millions of Americans, including those who currently have coverage. The following benefits will be available in the first year after enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:

• Access to affordable coverage for the uninsured with pre-existing conditions, which means the act will provide $5 billion in immediate federal support for a new program to provide affordable coverage to uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions
• Re-insurance for Retiree Health Benefit Plans, wherein the act will create immediate access to re-insurance for employer health plans providing coverage for early retirees. This re-insurance will help protect coverage while reducing premiums for employers and retirees
• Closing the Coverage Gap in the Medicare (Part D) Drug Benefit, under which the act will reduce the size of the “donut hole” by raising the ceiling on the initial coverage period by $500. There would also be guarantee of 50 percent price discounts on brand-name drugs and biologics purchased by low and middle-income beneficiaries in the coverage gap
• Extension of dependent coverage for young adults, wherein act requires insurers to permit children to stay on family policies until age 26

Coupled with this set of reforms, which are believed to improve physicians’ revenues, there are also reforms that are likely to test their ability to practice delay-and-denial-free reimbursement practices:

• The Accountable Care Organization Model, which requires physicians to realign their practices in congruence with Medicare incentive framework
• The ghost of Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) fix, which threatens to substantially erode physicians’ share of Medicare reimbursements
• Last but not the least, the radical ICD-10 and HIPAA 5010 compliant clinical and coding practices, which, though indispensable to reduce healthcare fraud and abuse, are going to force medical practices into a more stringent reimbursement environment than ever

While the impact of the ensuing healthcare reforms are going to be felt across the whole healthcare continuum, it is the medical billing practices that would be most affected. Therefore, it is going to be crucial that medical billers and coders respond with highest degree of professional dynamism to mitigate the chances of physicians’ medical claims running the risk of denial or delay. When one thinks of the possible areas that medical billers and coders would be addressing post 2014, the following come up to the fore:

1. Ensuring compliant EMR Systems for physicians: As a seamless EMR System is the foundation for apt medical coding, medical billers will be called upon to advice their clients’ on the efficacy of implementing EMR System as part of their effective and efficient medical billing management.
2. Upgrading their competence to ICD-10 and HIPAA 5010: As the new coding and reporting regimen takes over shortly, medical billers – to avoid being outdated and obsolete – need to make a successful transition to the ensuing ICD-10 and HIPAA 5010 requirement.
3. Helping physicians on public and private insurance composition: With the healthcare reforms deciding to minimize reimbursement on Medicaid and Medicare policies, physicians/hospitals are rethinking on what should be the composition of public and private insurance holders in their patient population. Consequently, medical billers’ role assumes greater significance in recommending a judicious mix of public and private health insurance holders in their clients’ patient population.
4. Establishing a mutually respectable relationship with insurance carriers: Forging a cordial relationship can go a long way in ensuring fast, and delay free reimbursement of physicians’ medical bills; medical billers would do well to build a rapport with heterogeneous insurance carriers.
5. Educating physicians about internal preparation for medical billing: Apart from ensuring a compliant system of billing, submission, and realization, medical billers will also be called upon to educate physicians about the efficacy of upgrading internal system of data recording and filing for complimenting comprehensive needs of medical billing management.
6. Approaching Medical Billing as a wholesome exercise: Above all, medical billers will be asked to view physician’s medical billing from a complete revenue cycle management perspective rather than one-off billing exercises. Such a comprehensive approach improves the probability of positive outcomes immensely.

As physicians, in the wake of these sweeping healthcare reforms, look to elevate their billing and coding practices through outsourced medical billing services, Medicalbillersandcoders.com – known for its proven medical billing solutions to a majority of physicians, hospitals, clinics, and multispecialty groups across the whole of U.S – should be a preferential choice for streamlined medical billing practices.

Revenue Management & Being Vigilant amidst the impending Medicare backlash

“Although, physicians can expect their Medicare reimbursements to be unhindered at least for another year or so, they need to equally vigilant with their medical billing, coding, submission, realization, and the Revenue Cycle Management so as to be sure of not letting their Account Receivables (A/Rs) beyond the expiry of the current window for Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) temporary fix.”

Dispelling all the speculation of a permanent solution to the impending Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) fix, the Federal Government has deferred Medicare cuts till 2013, and with that it is pretty sure that the issue will meander for another year or so. Despite its possible impact on the Federal Budget, the Federal Government seems to be in no mood to stir hornet’s nest as it could possibly have demoralized physicians’ morale and motivation, resulting in deterioration of the quality of medical services – which remains the uttermost concern – across the nation’s healthcare industry.

Strangely, the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), which was promulgated to limit the Medicare expenditure within the permissible limit, has contributed to an alarming escalation of Medicare expenditure, which now stands cumulatively at 27.4%. The Federal Government, in a desperate attempt to keep the figure from swelling further, is diverting $11.6 billion from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including $5 billion from the prevention fund, and $2.5 billion from Medicaid funds earmarked for Louisiana. Although physicians can heave a temporary sigh of relief for having escaped the backlash of Medicare cuts, they would always carry the apprehension of the impending possibility.

Although, physicians can expect their Medicare reimbursements to be unhindered at least for another year or so, they need to equally vigilant with their medical billing, coding, submission, realization, and the Revenue Cycle Management so as to be sure of not letting their Account Receivables (A/Rs) beyond the expiry of the current window for Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) temporary fix. When you consider the ominous task of being vigilant with medical billing practices along with the imminent healthcare reforms – mandatory EHR implementation, Accountable Care Organization (ACO) model, ICD-10 and HIPAA 5010 compliant coding & reporting amongst others – it is sure going to tell on the physicians’ ability to keep their quality of medical services unblemished.

Therefore, amidst all these realignments, outsourcing the medical billing Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) from credible and competent vendors seems to be more viable. Apart from easing the possible workload on physicians, the outsourced model of medical billing Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) can prove financially vindicated as it can offer the advantages of voluminous operations from being source to many medical practices, clinics, and multi-specialty hospitals.

But, like in case of decision involving trusting the credentials of a vendor, physicians need to be doubly sure of their service providers’ integrity so as to avoid falling prey to unscrupulous intentions.

Medicalbillersandcoders.com (www. medicalbillersnadcoders.com) – the largest consortium of medical billing services with over a decade of proven credibility and competence – has become a premier source of medical billing and operational management solutions for a majority of medical practices across the length and breadth of the U.S. Compliant with the best practices in the industry, its medical billing solutions – being ICD and HIPAA compliant, processed on the latest automated EHR platform – traverse the comprehensive Revenue Cycle Management – comprising Patient Scheduling and Reminders, Patient enrollment, Insurance Enrollment, Insurance verification, Insurance Authorizations, Coding and audits, Billing and Reconciling of Accounts, Account Analysis and Denial Management, AR Management, and Financial Management Reporting – is built for clinical, operational and revenue augmentation.

For more information visit: medical billing companies

Medical Reimbursement issues push Physicians to flee hospitals triggering a reverse trend

For over a decade, US healthcare has seen hospitals integrating with primary healthcare physicians across all the states of the US, challenging the traditional notion of primary care as a separate set of services from hospital healthcare, to provide all types of healthcare services under one roof and ensure mutual benefits that help all the sides involved in a treatment cycle and healthcare operations – access to physicians to a larger pool of healthcare opportunities; availability of all healthcare services ,etc.

Although the practice of independent primary healthcare providers joining hospitals has existed in the US healthcare for some time, the introduction of various payment modules, including bundled payments, accountable care organizations (ACOs) and medical home, by the Obama administration has made this alignment unavoidable, thanks to the common feature of these payment modules which is delivery of healthcare services based on a collaborative approach.

However, this collaborative nature of treatment leaves hospitals to do more of what they should be doing less, financial administration. And as financial administration – preparing insurance claims, following them up with insurers, etc. – is neither the core competency nor concern of healthcare providers, they are ill-equipped to handle the situation.

This leads to physicians having to do non-clinical activities, like paperwork, and additionally results in an upshot in claim denials- resulting in the healthcare providers mounting unrealized account receivables and the primary healthcare physicians not getting their dues. This phenomenon is predominantly responsible for triggering a reverse trend in US healthcare – disgruntled primary care physicians dissociating themselves with hospitals and returning to reoccupy their traditional position in the healthcare industry outside the sphere of organized hospital healthcare.

According to a report published by The Physicians Foundation, regulations and administrative responsibilities brought by the Patient Protection Care Act (PPCA) have caused physicians to spend more time on administrative responsibilities and less time on patients, impacting their relationship with patients.  “In 2012, physicians will need to vigilantly monitor their administrative burdens and take steps to minimize any further impact on their relationship with patients,” the report warned.

While healthcare providers can’t ignore the exigencies of a changing industry neither can, they lessen their focus on delivery of quality healthcare services. This makes the role of medical billers and coders more pronounced than earlier in the US healthcare industry, in a post reform scenario. One way, to meet this post-reform challenge and is by bringing the benefits of outsourcing financial administrative responsibilities by a care provider to a medical biller and coder who has a sound knowledge of the healthcare industry and its changing trends, latest technologies and experience in handling technical details involved in healthcare claims and a proven track record to show for its capabilities.

Browse All: Medical Billing Companies, Medical Billing Services

By combining the above competencies, Medicalbillersandcoders.com, the largest consortium of medical billers and coders in the US, has been able to ensure seamless claim realization and greater control over operating costs for healthcare providers resulting in redirecting of internal healthcare staff to core activities, leading to enhanced focus on healthcare and saved costs. These benefits, if seen vis-à-vis the challenges brought about by the healthcare reforms, cited by the report discussed above, are necessary to arrest the reform-triggered trend of physicians parting ways with hospitals.

Job outlook for medical billers & coders looking optimistic in Idaho, Florida & other US states

Various factors playing a role in altering the salary of a medical biller and coder including work experience, geographic location and type of employer, the job outlook for medical billers and coders in Idaho is very optimistic according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), mainly due to the growing healthcare trend in this state. Moreover, BLS reports that with already 1000 individuals working as professional billers and coders, around 110 more job openings are expected every year in Idaho.

Statistics depicts that top earning potential in this profession in Idaho make a median annual wage of $40,930 while the bottom earners receive $21,180, the average annual medical billing and coding salary in Idaho being $30,910, comparing closely to Alabama salaries of approximately $29,000 annually.

According to the BLS data, the job outlook in Florida as well looks very promising with the top three employers along with other health centers expected to offer numerous jobs in the coming years, largely owing to the retirement of the elderly medical billers and coders in this state. Based on the BLS report there are around 10,880 medical billers and coders in Florida, and the average annual medical billing and coding salary is $33,860. Florida’s being one of the states in the US that have different pay rates for its billers and its coders, the top earners make around $53,930 in a year while the bottom earners get $20,590.

Analysts at Altarum Institute’s Center for Sustainable Health Spending reported in their latest labor brief an all round growth in health care employment last month of 23,000 jobs, nearly reaching the two-year average. Five US states depicting high potential of growth for education and health services where health care jobs are likely to grow the most are:-

Florida – 4.8 percent

Kentucky – 4.2 percent

Delaware – 4.1 percent

Wyoming – 4 percent

West Virginia – 3.9 percent

Source: Moody’s Economy.com

Medical Billing Outlook:  Compared to the average for all occupations through 2014, medical coding jobs are expected to grow the fastest according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Current and Projected Employment:
2008 Employment	528,800
2018 Employment	609,600
Employment Change	80, 800
Growth Rate	15%

A medical biller’s job is more secure with a strong background in medical coding due to the increased amount of paperwork involved in filing insurance claims. Health care has grown with the scope of health information management over the past five years and to combat the shortage of billers across US states one of the new techniques evolved include contract services.

Contract coding companies have emerged as a trend and have become nearly a $5 billion dollar business and are now helping many hospitals in US states to increase their revenue by almost 50%. Due to outsourcing hospitals and physician revenues are rising and in turn coders salaries too are increasing as they can earn 20 to 25% more than what is offered at most hospitals. Medicalbillersandcoders.com’s coding professionals are well versed with the industry needs and standards. We have 1000 medical billers and our certified medical coders are constantly trained and upgrading themselves to completely understand the procedures to be coded. The medical coding professional works as part of a team to achieve the best quality patient care and revenue maximization.