In the recent times, the ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) have become popular and are growing in numbers. They are establishing their place in the American healthcare space as cost-effective healthcare providers with services that match the best in the healthcare field. Like all organizations, the ambulatory surgery centers also are going through few challenges which are outlined here. Low volume: Though the ambulatory surgery centers are increasing in numbers and increasing their services, the volume of cases with ambulatory surgery centers is a challenge yet. Even though it is true, that high volumes need not provide success, it is also equally true that low volumes in any kind of business result in failure over a period of time. Relationship with Insurance Payer: To get a high volume of cases, it is necessary that the ambulatory surgery centers get insurance companies on board. In spite of the fact that the ambulatory surgery centers provide the best services at comparativ...

Everyone craves for superior knowledge and expertise once they are well versed with the basics of the subject. For the people in medical coding profession, who are experienced, there are certain AAPC credentials which can establish their superior levels of knowledge in certain specialty disciplines. These credentials are independent certifications and do not require one to hold certified professional coder (CPC) certification. These specialty credentials help in substantiating a coder’s knowledge in a specialty regarding the codes, reimbursement and compliance issues. To get a specialty credential in medical coding one has to show expertise in the operative and patient-note based coding apart from the correct application of ICD-10 CM, CPT, HCPCS level II and modifier coding. To clear the exam for these credentials one has to prove their knowledge in specialty-specific coding and related regulations. Let us take a look at the different specialty certifications that one can ea...

A medical billing denial occurs when the insurance company refuses to honor the request to pay for the healthcare services provided by a healthcare professional. Medical billing denial is a serious matter as it has a negative impact on the healthcare provider’s cash flow, revenue cycle and operational efficiency. The rate of medical billing denials is usually between 5% and 10%. If you are the best in medical billing jobs, then this rate is around 4%. Medical billing denials can always be avoided and reduced with care and a reduction in medical billing denials improves the revenue cycle of the healthcare facility. To avoid denials, you should first understand the common medical billing denials and then you can take remedial action for the denials. Common medical billing denials: Information is missing:   Any information that is missing, any code that is missing or incorrect code, any wrong information or missing information regarding the social security number...

Medical transcription has been one of the best career options for many graduates with good English language skills. With a little bit effort in learning the medical terminology, many people have made a successful career in the medical transcription services. Many job aspirants get skeptical that opportunities in medical transcription may dwindle with time. However, there are many medical transcription companies in Hyderabad that provide training and jobs to true aspirants. Here are the reasons for the growing outsourced jobs in transcription services. Quality services: Outsourcing of medical transcription to companies like Avontix that work from India gives the assurance of quality services to the healthcare providers. These companies strictly adhere to the global procedures and follow the rules and regulations without any deviation. Accurate records: The process of medical transcription followed in these companies is very stringent. After the audio files are transcribed, th...

    Medical billing jobs demand accuracy of the highest levels and however efficient a medical biller maybe, there would be instances where rejections and denials of medical claims come across. For a layman, both rejection and denial may appear similar. But, in the real sense, there is a huge difference in them and it is utmost important for the medical billing professionals to understand the difference between rejections and denials in order to adopt the appropriate remedial for the ruling of rejection or denial. A good understanding of this difference brings in timely reimbursements for the services provided by the healthcare provider, thereby, increasing the profitability of the organization.  Rejection: Medical claims that are submitted to the insurance payer but fail to meet certain specified requirements are rejected. In the medical billing field, these are called rejections. The rejection of the claim may be a result of not meeting specific data req...

The Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Programs provides incentive payments to eligible professionals if they fulfill the meaningful use of certified EHR technology. The purpose of these incentive programs is to support and encourage healthcare providers in the days of transition from paper records to digital records in the healthcare industry. These programs are meant to incorporate the use of electronic health records in meaningful methods to help the US government to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare for patients. Meaningful use: Meaningful use is the usage of certified electronic health record technology to  Improve quality, safety, efficiency and reduce health disparities Engage patients and family Improve care coordination and public health Maintain privacy and security of patient health information The purpose of meaningful use is to make sure that complying with certified electronic health records will result in: ...

One of the amazing and challenging careers in the healthcare industry that has a lot of scope for growth is medical coding, which is the process of designating codes to the medical procedures performed on a patient. The coding is done in alphanumeric characters known as International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes. These codes play a crucial in the American healthcare industry and medical coders need to be highly attentive while giving codes to the medical diagnosis, procedures and treatments provided to patients. Who can do medical coding ? We know India is the hub for many BPO companies that provide services to the American clients and we have many companies that provide services to the American healthcare industry. Medical coding is one of those services and a number of medical coding jobs are available here in companies like Avontix, one of the best medical coding companies in Hyderabad. Anyone who is a graduate can become a medical coder with training and medic...

Are you getting irritated for the smallest of things that go wrong? Then, it is probable that you are stressed out. When there is a gap between what you can do and what is expected of you, then you get into a situation called stress. This occurs when you think that expectations on you from the work front or relationships surmount your ability to cope.  How to identify if you are under stress: Here are few silent signs that give you an idea if you are dealing with stress. According to psychologists, stress has an impact on both physical and mental health. If you find any of the symptoms mentioned here, it may be that you are under stress and need to take remedial actions. When you are going through a lot of stress, your immune system becomes unstable and you may get skin irritations or always have a cold, the cause for which may be mistaken for allergies.  If you are dealing with frequent headaches or tummy upsets, it may be a better idea to look out for the r...

The healthcare industry is a unique business that is different from other businesses as it deals with not a single transaction but a procedure starting from the appointment of a patient with the physician and ending with the patient’s account closure. Managing a healthcare facility is a tremendous task which includes vital matters like insurance verification, medical coding, medical billing and collections. Let us take a look at some of the challenges faced by the medical billing industry. Claim rejections: According to recent studies more than 20% of claims submitted are rejected. And more than a quarter of these rejected claims are not submitted again. If we think about the reasons for claim rejections, we can find two major answers: claims are not received by the insurance payer; insurance payer denies the claims. Usually, the payer denies the claims when there is a defect in the claim with respect to incomplete information or lack of support for the bills. Denials no...

In the stressful world that we live in, nobody turns off any help that is offered. That too, help that is not from any person and does not need any recognition and reciprocation. Yes, here we are talking about help from online resources. Like all jobs, medical transcription job s are also demanding and require total commitment. Medical transcription is a field that requires acquiring knowledge on human anatomy, medical terminology, and perfection in English grammar. For people who are new to medical transcription jobs, there will be many areas which are confusing and require a little support.  For such people, here is a list of online resources that can be useful. OneLook: For all your doubts regarding medical terminology including the acronyms and abbreviations, you can take help from ‘OneLook”. One of the best things about OneLook is that you can customize the results according to your preference. The website will remember this and produce results next ti...

If we notice, there is one common thing among all successful people. That is their organizational skills. We all have our ups and downs in our lives, but successful people tend to bounce back sooner than the rest because of their organizational skills. Being organized keeps us relaxed and calm that helps us to be positive and deal with any kind of situation. If you are among those who think being organized doesn’t matter, this is the way I like to be then it’s time you change your attitude and get habituated to being organized. After all being organized helps in many ways. Reduce clutter: Organizing things lets us understand what is important and required and what is not important and not required. This helps us to remove all the clutter from our desk and make our workspace a happier place.  Locate easily: Making a place for everything and putting things in their places after every use, becomes a habit for us and it is easy to help locate things when necessary.  S...

With electronic health records becoming mandatory for all healthcare providers, we see that more and more physicians are beginning to use EHR software that transforms the way healthcare is provided. With the increased use of this software, it has become indispensable in patient care for both providers and patients. The recent changes and updates in the regulations and the incentives that are provided to the healthcare facilities have made a huge impact on the way electronic health records are viewed. As we go forward and there is more use of EHR software there is scope for easier access and interoperability of improved patient portals. The most significant feature of electronic health records is the easy accessibility of data to both providers and patients. One of the more recent trends related to electronic health records is moving towards cloud-based solutions in which the EHR software facilitates smooth workflow as information is at fingertips. This also leads to inte...

In the US healthcare industry, medical billing plays a crucial role in providing the reimbursements for the services provided by healthcare providers. The reimbursements from insurance players are the lifeblood for the healthcare providers and any rejections and denials of insurance claims prove to be dangerous to sustain in the business of healthcare. Medical billing errors which are often common and result due to typographical or data entry errors lead to significant wastage of time and delays in payments from insurers. Here are some common errors that can be avoided with little caution from professionals in medical billing jobs . Patient details: Enough care should be taken right from the initial stages to enter the correct details of the patient in the records. The insurance identification number should be quoted accurately in order to avoid any claim denials. A wrong patient ID number can result in denials and it will take plenty of time to identify the error and rec...