subject: Advantages Of Outsourcing Ophthalmic Billing And Coding? [print this page] An ophthalmologist doing billing and coding will only result in mistake and insurance claim denials. You better outsource it to companies that specialize in the task. They will ensure that the task is done with pinpoint accuracy, relieving to focus on patient care.
You dont outsource to experiment, do you? You do that as you feel it would get for you better or same quality of work at less cost. As for ophthalmologists, there is another angle as well. They have to factor in the state regulation when doing the billing and along with communicating with insurance carriers on the patients behalf. An imperfect coding will result in denial of the claim and you would certainly not appreciate that.
The problem is an average ophthalmologist is not skilled enough in tasks like billing and coding. You specialize in your core skill, not in a clerical job like coding. Even if you hire someone, you can never be sure how they are exactly doing the work. You will have no way to keep a check on them. They will assure you that they are doing things perfectly well and when the claim is denied by the insurance carrier, all they will do is to display a grin.
So what is the solution? Should an ophthalmologist begin to learn coding? No, that is not an option. In fact, you wont get enough time to get tutored on it, even if you want to. You will have enough jobs on hand to keep you busy all the time and if you feel burdened by the coding thing, it will only frustrate you.
The solution is to outsource the thing to an organization that specializes in coding and billing. You can be sure that they are doing the job perfectly while you focus on the job you do well serving the clients. A good co-ordination with them will ensure that the arrangement works perfectly well. It will result in increased revenues, reduced receivables and minimized claim denials.
The merits of outsourcing notwithstanding, you must not hand out the job to just any company. You need to do adequate research on the credentials of the company. Get some referrals from them, talk to their present and erstwhile clients, and you will get an idea about the quality of their services.
Rope in a company that provides complete ophthalmology billing services, so that your staff is relieved of the job. An established billing company will have professional terms with the best ophthalmic solutions manufacturers. They will have the best-in-breed practice management software enabling them to provide top-notch solutions.
Accurate ophthalmology billings will increase payment speed and cash flow. Reliable billing and coding companies have high regard for ethics, patient confidentiality and regulatory compliance, so you need not worry about it. They recognize that quality service is their own bread and butter, so they would do their best to ensure that the things are done in the best possible manner.
When things will be on a large scale, it is imperative that some claims will be denied. They will review and reprocess such claims, doing away the mistake and sending it again to the insurance carrier. Most claims are rejected for simple reasons like incorrect diagnosis codes. Seasoned coders can work out the reason of the denial, remove it and put the file again in the process. Knowing their job inside out, they can work on the mistakes and minimize the losses because of the denials.
