You worked hard to get through med school and specialty training, and you like to think it’s all paying off in increased earnings because of your credentials. You’re genuinely concerned for your patients, and take pride in providing the best cardiovascular care available. You can’t imagine why anyone would opt to receive the same services from another provider who doesn’t have the same c.v, especially when patients don’t set payer rates, so why would you think you should settle for anything less out of your billing service?
Medical Billing Blog
78% Revenue Increase Due To Certified Cardiology Coding
CPR For Your ICD-10 Transition: Check, Prepare, Respond
The healthcare industry is changing rapidly and providers are facing many new challenges, with ICD-10, meaningful use, and fee schedule reductions being only a few. If you feel like there are just too many cats in the herd, there is one area where you can take control of the situation, and that is by re-evaluating the effectiveness and adaptability of your billing function. Whether you have an in-house billing staff, or an outsourced revenue cycle management team, it’s crucial to make an accurate assessment of the processes associated with your billing function to ensure that you are not part of the majority of practices expected to face serious cash flow problems when ICD-10 goes into effect next October.
Medical Providers Can Look To Canada For Lessons In ICD-10
When the transition to ICD-10 officially begins on October 1, 2014, those in the US healthcare industry will be in a position to benefit greatly from lessons learned by our neighbors inCanada, who also recently made the transition between 2001 and 2004. Canadians already experienced similar transition situations to what the United States will be facing according to Cindy Grant, Certified Healthcare Information Manager (CHIM) and ICD-10 practice lead at TELUS Health Solutions in Toronto,Ontario; and Kerry Johnson, MAEd, CHIM, senior lecturer and HIM instructional coordinator at the University of Ontario, Institute of Technology in Oshawa,Ontario. Coders in Canada struggled most with anatomy and physiology, not the coding logic itself. "It wasn't so much the coding system and how the codes work," says Johnson. "We found them struggling with anatomy and physiology and understanding what exactly the intervention was, including determining the root operation."
A recent survey conducted by the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) regarding the preparations for transitioning to ICD-10 being conducted by healthcare providers shows that nearly half of the survey group either have not started preparing for ICD-10 or do not know when they expect to start their testing.
Managing a successful medical practice involves more than just practicing medicine. You must also view it as a successful business, and put into place sound business practices, as well. Many providers are seeing their revenues decline as payers are reducing fee schedules, so it’s more important than ever to collect every dollar that you’re entitled to, and to manage how you budget that revenue to keep your practice running in the black.