For a healthcare practice’s success in maintaining a good financial health, one thing plays a crucial role and that is having the best coding and billing practices. This is no different for the Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs). Practicing enhanced billing and coding processes help ASCs to improve patient loyalty and thus increase their profits. One of the best possible ways to get best coding and billing processes is outsourcing these processes to RCM services providers that can provide medical coding services as well. Given here are few best practices that an ASC has to adhere to in order to maintain good revenue cycle management . Specialist coders are required to understand the complexities of ASC’s coding needs. If due care is not taken while coding keeping in view the specific requirements of that particular business, it can result in inaccurate coding leading to delayed payment or a denial. Outsourcing companies that provide medical coding services always take due ca...

One thing that has led to improvement in the quality of patient care and enhanced the use of technology in the healthcare industry is medical transcription or healthcare documentation. There are a number of medical transcription companies in Hyderabad that have contributed to the growth of repute of Indian companies in healthcare documentation field. These companies have played a crucial role in making India a sought-after destination for healthcare providers in the US for reliable and proficient services. With the costs of everything rising drastically, there is no exception to this for the healthcare industry as well. In such a scenario, the healthcare industry is facing immense challenges in delivering patient care of high-quality in a cost-effective manner. The EHR solutions and medical transcription services offered by Indian companies are facilitating the healthcare providers of the US in maximizing their reach in providing high-quality patient care.  Medical t...

There are two important aspects of Medicare coverage that play a pivotal role in medical coding and revenue cycle management: National Coverage Determinations (NCDs) and Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs). Both the NCDs and LCDs are released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with the purpose of standardizing Medicare coverage for some specific medical tests and treatments or procedures. These determinations provide the guidelines which are useful in determining whether a service is considered by Medicare coverage. NCDs and LCDs play a crucial role in the revenue cycle management because these are tools that assist healthcare providers in submitting accurate claims for reimbursement. NCDs: National Coverage Determinations are applicable nationwide in the US to specify the Medicare coverage of certain services. All Medicare contractors ought to follow the NCDs. LCDs:  Local Coverage Determinations are made based on medical necessity and are r...

Electronic health records is the word that is being used most often these days for the provision of quality healthcare to patients and all kinds of healthcare facilities are vigilant about the role it plays in generating timely revenues for the facility. Electronic health records save both time and money of a doctor because they have accurate patient records with the proper documentation of all the treatments and procedures performed. They also provide accurate data for medical coding and billing requirements. That gives the reason why healthcare facilities in the US are spending billions of money on EHR solutions. Cost and Money Saving: Before the shift to EHR solutions, healthcare facilities had to spend a lot of amount and time on maintaining paper records of the patients. It was a tedious task to maintain piles of paper records of the patients in the facilities. Now, after the facilities have switched over to the digital mode of documenting patient data, facilities are savi...

Medical coding is one interesting profession that takes you through all kinds of diseases and health ailments. If you are in medical coding jobs you get to code various health issues of patients ranging from regular illnesses to life-threatening diseases. One among those many health issues that have to be coded is wound management. Wound care includes management of all kinds of wounds including complicated conditions and other related issues like ulcers and sepsis. Wound care is also an important part of medical coding because it is a major contributor to the reimbursed incomes of the healthcare facilities. Hence, it requires proper and systematic review of the wound record, other ailments that impact the wound management like diabetes and any other prevailing infection, the procedures adopted and its progress. Here we shall take a look at some of the rules that help in proper coding and reimbursements. Modifier 25: Whenever there is a specific need for separate physician e...

Optimizing the revenue cycle management for hospital facilities has become necessary with the increase in the number of high-deductible health plans.  Here given are few healthcare market trends that will signify the need for revenue cycle management for better health of healthcare providers.  According to survey results, the out-of-pocket costs for patients have increased by more than 200% in the last 10 years.  Given a choice, more than 40% of employees choose high-deductible plans. Nearly 30% of healthcare providers do not have any idea about the amounts they write-off each year pertaining to in-patient collections. If you employ a robust RCM services provider, then, you will be given an analysis report on your practice management. They will also provide you with some excellent advice on the ways to improve your collections. Around 40% of healthcare providers lose their revenues amounting to nearly $30000 yearly because they fail to collect these amoun...

Hi friends…How is the New Year? Have you started it on a positive note? We all want to be positive in our lives, bring positivity to the environment we are in. But, all things do not occur according to our wishes and there will be certain negative moments, there will be certain people who are full of negative thoughts and pass on their negativity to us as well. You should take care that their negativity does not affect you and let’s see how you can achieve that. Like-minded people come together:  Believe it or not, like-minded people come together. So, be sure you do not have and carry any negative thoughts. Firstly, analyze yourself and make sure that you are not rubbing your negativity on them and blaming them. If you are entertaining negative thoughts, then just discard them ruthlessly. Then, see the change. If you genuinely feel that the other person only has negativity, then, the following points are for you. Set boundaries and take ownership: Don’t get affected by ...

For a healthy medical practice, it is necessary that there is a proper revenue cycle management system in place. An important aspect of the revenue cycle management is receiving payments for the services provided by the healthcare facilities. Programs like Medicare and Medicaid help the healthcare providers in receiving payments without any delays and help in reducing bad debts that arise from the self-paying patients.  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has launched a new data submission system on 2nd January 2018 for clinicians participating in the Quality Payment Program. This new system is brought out with the aim of making the submission of data easier for clinicians and reducing the administrative burden on them. According to the CMS, this new system makes the work of clinicians easier in meeting MACRA’S reporting requirements and they can spend more time in providing quality care to patients rather than doing paperwork and filling forms. Quality Pay...

It is very natural that employers ask for experienced candidates for their companies and when they are scouting for candidates they ask questions related to the experience levels of the candidate. If you are one of those experienced candidates searching for medical coding jobs , more chances are there that they ask if you have experience with specific EMR software. If you are an experienced person, it is ok to face such questions. But, if you are a fresher and are asked questions related to the knowledge you have regarding the EMR software, then it is a bit tough to answer. Let’s first understand that a person, who is not into the health information management field, will not have any idea about the EMR software and it is alright to say that you do not have an understanding about it. It should be noted that, if you are mentioning in your resume that you are a fresher but have expertise in using an EMR software because you have taken training in medical coding , then you are inv...

Many people think that though the healthcare industry uses technology, it does not use it like many other industries and there is still a lot of scope for using technology in better ways for achieving optimum results in the healthcare information management. One of the reasons healthcare industry people give for this is that the technology providers do not design their programs keeping in view the users. The healthcare professionals feel that the electronic health records do not fit into the physician’s workflow, so it is difficult for them to adopt the technology.  When consulted, the technology sector leaders say that the reason for this kind of inconvenience in the maintenance of electronic health records is the role of compliance with rules and regulations that are to be adhered to. We all know the importance of regulations in maintaining and safeguarding the people’s interests. Every industry has a set of regulations that are to be followed and because of the kind of...

Collecting money that people owe you is a tough task. It is even more difficult for the healthcare providing organizations to collect the money from the patients even for the overdue bills. Though it is not a gratifying job, it has to be carried out as a part of the revenue cycle management for the sake of the financial health of the organization. Let’s take a look at few tips that help in contacting patients and improving collections of a healthcare facility. Be clear with pricing: When a patient visits the facility, he or she may not be aware of the services or procedures that will be availed and the associated costs with the services availed. The patient does not have knowledge if the costs fall within his/her budget. It is better to keep the patient informed about the services being provided and the expenses that would be incurred for those services.  Train the employees: Every single employee of the organization represents the organization and in some way or ...

Medical coding is one of those professions which do not require any certifications to start a career. If you are a graduate and have a keen interest in learning new things you can become a medical coder. Medical coding companies in Hyderabad like Avontix provide excellent opportunities to young graduates to shine in their career. Once you join a company and start your career, to see maximum growth, it is advisable to add some coding credentials to your resume either from the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) or the American Association of Professional Coders (AAPC). Professionals who have the medical coding credentials can increase their chances of growth and see a rise in their pay. The American Association of Professional Coders and the American Health Information Management Association are two top organizations that conduct examinations and grant certifications to eligible candidates in the field of medical coding and medical billing.  A...