No matter what technology you deploy or the strength of your process, superior medical billing ultimately relies upon a strong billing staff. There are four key elements to creating a world-class billing team:
1) Deploy a systematic approach to and dedicated resources for obtaining and developing strong employees:
As was mentioned above, great medical billing requires great medical billers - no matter what system you have. Finding these individuals typically require4s resources dedicated to identifying and screening potential billers for your team. The process should include multiple levels of testing and should reflect the importance of the position. These people will determine if you have cash to pay your bills and yourself.
The leading billing organizations train to develop desired quality. Junior staff members must pass demanding training programs-junior team members are developed into billers, capable of following the measured and monitored billing process. In addition, staff is trained throughout the year in latest payer rules, follow-up techniques and compliance guidelines. A dedicated Compliance Officer is responsible for all additional HIPAA and OIG training.
Part of building a great team is removing the weakest performers and replacing them with strong performers. Such action raises the bar for everyone and leads to a stronger team. Each year disciplined and measurable reviews must be given and the weakest performers replaced.
2) Make your team specialists: Just as some lawyers focus more on trials and others on contracts your medical billing team should be specialized. You should have members that are focused on demographics, charges, payments and others that focus on insurance follow-up and patient collections. Build upon the strengths and natural tendencies of your team members; do not expect them to be masters of all elements of medical billing.
3) Invest heavily in analytical efforts: Continuous improvement of the billing process and the billing team requires significant and on-going analytical efforts. By measuring key factors about both payers and the billing process, a billing group can speed up collections, lower denials and lower the cost of the billing process.
4) Compensate your medical billing specialists based upon performance, not effort: Your billing department should succeed when the practice succeeds. Many good billing systems have been undermined by a compensation approach that does not give the medical billing team the proper motivation to doggedly and efficiently pursue the practice's claims. Remember to insure the compensation system falls with the OIG's guidelines.
These steps provide a foundation for growing a medical billing team that will be second to none.
Copyright 2008 by Carl Mays II - 16890
1) Deploy a systematic approach to and dedicated resources for obtaining and developing strong employees:
As was mentioned above, great medical billing requires great medical billers - no matter what system you have. Finding these individuals typically require4s resources dedicated to identifying and screening potential billers for your team. The process should include multiple levels of testing and should reflect the importance of the position. These people will determine if you have cash to pay your bills and yourself.
The leading billing organizations train to develop desired quality. Junior staff members must pass demanding training programs-junior team members are developed into billers, capable of following the measured and monitored billing process. In addition, staff is trained throughout the year in latest payer rules, follow-up techniques and compliance guidelines. A dedicated Compliance Officer is responsible for all additional HIPAA and OIG training.
Part of building a great team is removing the weakest performers and replacing them with strong performers. Such action raises the bar for everyone and leads to a stronger team. Each year disciplined and measurable reviews must be given and the weakest performers replaced.
2) Make your team specialists: Just as some lawyers focus more on trials and others on contracts your medical billing team should be specialized. You should have members that are focused on demographics, charges, payments and others that focus on insurance follow-up and patient collections. Build upon the strengths and natural tendencies of your team members; do not expect them to be masters of all elements of medical billing.
3) Invest heavily in analytical efforts: Continuous improvement of the billing process and the billing team requires significant and on-going analytical efforts. By measuring key factors about both payers and the billing process, a billing group can speed up collections, lower denials and lower the cost of the billing process.
4) Compensate your medical billing specialists based upon performance, not effort: Your billing department should succeed when the practice succeeds. Many good billing systems have been undermined by a compensation approach that does not give the medical billing team the proper motivation to doggedly and efficiently pursue the practice's claims. Remember to insure the compensation system falls with the OIG's guidelines.
These steps provide a foundation for growing a medical billing team that will be second to none.
Copyright 2008 by Carl Mays II - 16890
About the Author:
Carl Mays II is an expert in medical billing and medical revenue management. He has worked with clients acrossthe United States for more than 16 years. Carl is President & CEO of ClaimCare Medical Billing Services. You can read more about the medical billing industry at Carl's medical billing services Blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment