The coronavirus or COVID-19 has led to increased demand for HME and DME services and equipment coupled with ever-changing insurance requirements resulting in providers fearing more claims submission errors and costly employee training expenses. By outsourcing the HME and DME billing processes, providers are finding significant time and money savings while being able to help more patients and healthcare professionals. Check out these top billing outsourcing benefits that are a critical component of HME and DME providers' ability to keep pace with a rapidly changing industry.
Removing COVID-19 Related Billing Challenges
As the need for HME and DME services and equipment rise across the nation, providers are searching for ways to solve a series of new logistical and economic challenges. Social distancing, amended company policies for safety, local stay in place orders, and the impact of employees testing positive can all heavily impact office policies, procedures, workload distribution, and workload capabilities. For example, infected individuals who have been in contact with other employees may cost providers up to 14 days of office quarantine bringing efforts to serve patients and the healthcare community to a suspended halt. Even if no changes are made to the number of employees, the DME and HME billing departments are being over-run with a surge in claims submissions.
By outsourcing DME and HME billing services, providers are finding the freedom and flexibility to concentrate on how best to serve the needs of the community. Instead of spending time and money strategizing over how to complete claims submissions with COVID-19 infected employees or follow up on payments when the billing team is overwhelmed with the extra workload, providers are able to shift the focus to doing what they do best - help the healthcare industry and individual patients with critical services and equipment. Moreover, resources spent on billing may be re-allocated to provide better support to other areas of the business.
Saving Money
Speaking of resources, Barbara's Billing and Consulting Services reports being able to provide clients with a savings of 10 to 50% in increased DME and HME revenue! This is largely due to their team boasting more than 75 years of combined experience and a 100% focus on DME and HME billing and reimbursement. In fact, the team also reports having saved clients over $20 million dollars in 2017 with a 97% collection rate!
Limiting Errors
One reason the team at Barbara's Billing and Consulting Services is so successful is their extensive understanding of each insurance carrier's preferences and unique claims requirements. This is a tricky area for many providers as each carrier has a slightly different process. Additionally, DME providers appreciate outsourcing to a team that goes beyond simply scrubbing the claim by reviewing every claim component before it is submitted. Such knowledge is invaluable to providers when finding extra revenue which may, in turn, present more opportunities to help a greater volume of patients during this unprecedented time.
Performing Stress-Free AR Management
By this point, it is easy to see how much more efficiently billing departments would run with a dedicated team applying over 75 years of combined experience towards correcting claims and solving reimbursement issues. However, other services such as finding patterns of coding mistakes, posting payments daily, and accounts receivables (AR) management also contribute to the smooth billing operations that can lead to increased revenue. By outsourcing their AR management, providers are advised on such factors as the patient's age, claim history, and dollar amount overdue. The team at Barbara's Billing and Consulting Services offer clients the option to then determine the next steps that follow based on the collected data. If pursuing the payment is the decided action, it can be far less stressful to let an objective third party contact patients, especially when the individual has formed a trusting bond with the provider's staff. This way, the trust stays intact as an outsourced party collects the owed sum.
Offering Training
Sometimes, a billing department's employees require transitional or DME training. Using outsourced partners like Barbara's Billing and Consulting Services to train billing employees on such topics as the latest insurance requirement changes amidst COVID-19 and current coding updates is another great way to ensure accuracy and reduce the amount of time between claims submissions and payments.
Therefore, when it comes to DME and HME billing, outsourcing has become an increasingly popular way for providers to save both time and money. With a surge in demand for DME supplies and a possible reduction in staffing due to COVID-19, working with partners like Barbara's Billing and Consulting Services can become an invaluable asset that affords providers the chance to serve a larger population in need. Learn more about the amazing ways outsourced DME and HME billing services are helping companies like yours get paid faster, spend less time on corrections, and more time serving the community by filling out their contact form or calling (678) 273-3404 today!