By Dave H. Perkins

If your organization is faced with one or more of the following issues then the chances are we can help you, then you should consider outsourcing your billing:

• Need to Focus more on Patients: You find yourself having to divert
  time and attention away from your patients to deal with technical issues.
  You need to simplify.
• Collections are Low: You have a high level of dissatisfaction with the
  effectiveness of your current billing and collections process yet can’t seem
  to get your hands on what needs improving. Professional certified
  coders can make sure all procedures have the correct CPT and ICD codes
  and modifiers to ensure maximum reimbursement for the services you
  provide.
• Not capturing all of your charges? Do you have a good way to know
  all of the services you provide are actually billed? Surgery charges?
  Outpatient services? Hospital patient visits? In-Hospital consults?
  Office Visits and ancillary procedures? We can help by providing the
  tools you need to bill EVERY service in a timely manner.
• You Need a New Practice Management System or Computer
  Upgrade: You know you need to replace your existing practice
  automation system(s) however you are losing sleep just thinking of the
  time, expense, and risks involved with selecting the right solution and
  then successfully implementing that solution.
• You are considering going to Electronic Health Records at some
  time and you don’t think your current practice management system has a
  complimentary EHR/EMR.
• You fear the loss of vital practice data: How can you really know
  your data is protected from Internet viruses, “hackers”, environmental
  disasters or Acts of God? Off-site hosting of your essential computerized
  records gives you assurance that it is safe. Secure hosting sites with
  hourly automated backups and on-site IT service protects you like you
  never could be with an in-house server.
• You don’t want to deal with technical issues or problems. “The
  server is down AGAIN”. If you had rather spend your time in patient
  care rather than computer care, you should consider outsourcing. With a
  hosted-managed off-site server solution, all you would have to have in
  your office would be workstation terminals, printers for relatively low
  volume on-demand printing, and possibly scanners for scanning patient
  documents at time of service.
• You Have Staffing Issues: You are experiencing issues with either high
  staff turnover and/or it is simply taking too much time to manage the
  billing office.
• Your Billing Costs are Too High: If you are concerned that your billing
  and collections related expenses are higher than they ought to be.
  Training and support fees, upgrade fees, software license fees are
  ongoing.
• You are concerned about capital expenditures at a time of
  uncertainty: Recent changes in health care, including the ARRA 2009
  and the “Health Care Reform” in 2010 have complicated your business to
  the point you don’t know what to do and could use the expertise of
  experts with knowledge of these changes in legislation and their impact
  on your practice. You’re not sure if now is the best time to spend more
  money on capital equipment, systems, or staff, when you don’t know
  what the future holds.
• Are you in “compliance” with CMS, OIG, HIPAA, “Red Flag Rule”?
  eHealthTech’s commitment to “compliance” is evident in every aspect of
  our operations. While our primary goal is to achieve the highest possible
  reimbursement to which our clients are legally and ethically entitled to,
  we always work in a manner that fully complies with both the letter and
  the spirit of all applicable guidelines and regulations.

The Compliance Program is under the direction of the eHealthTech Compliance Manager, who oversees quality from the original medical record through the coding process and ultimately through billing and collections. This written plan incorporates the guidelines defined by the “Compliance for Third Party Billing Companies” from the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) of the Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”), the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”), and specialty organizations . A key component of compliance is correct coding for all services. eHealthTech’s professional coders are all Certified and members of AHIMA. To ensure they are informed regarding the latest changes in coding guidelines, each is required to earn continued medical education (“CME”) credits throughout the year. eHealthTech subscribes to industry newsletters, including Medicare Part B News to stay abreast of upcoming changes in coding and reimbursement. The plan is maintained as needs evolve and management ensures eHealthTech is continually following its own written program.

eHealthTech’s clients may rest assured that their billing is being handled accurately, professionally, ethically, and in complete compliance with the above-referenced regulations and guidelines at all times. Our account managers regularly review accounts with our coders and auditors to improve communications and fine-tune processes to continually improve data quality and integrity and keep our clients fully informed through regularly scheduled meetings and notices.

For more information on how eHealthTech Marketing, LLC can benefit your practice, please contact me.

For another article on this topic, please visit:  Software Advice

Dave H. Perkins
President
eHealthTech Marketing, LLC
www.ehealthtech.com
Phone: (601) 573-1826
Fax: (601) 898-4404

Interested in outsourcing your medical billing
or need a professional healthcare consulting company?

eHealthTech is here to help.                          

contact us today

Privacy to personal information is the right if any individual at any part of the globe. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was passed in 1996 to prevent unauthorized access to patient information, and it is something by which all medical-related businesses should abide.

HIPAA is to be abided by all ‘covered entities’ and the term includes:

• Hospitals and clinics
• Insurance Companies dealing with health and medical policies
• Private Practices – General practitioners and specialists, dentists, chiropractors, etc.
• Psychiatrists and Psychologists
• Medical Billing Centers and Collection Agencies

Whether you have two people or two hundred working in the office which deals with medical health records, the security of patient information is important. It’s imperative for all employees to make sure sensitive data is not compromised and exposed to unauthorized people.

The medical information which is considered personal and private and which is not to be disclosed by healthcare centers as recognized by Federal law include and are not limited to:

• Prescription Information
• Medical History Records
• Appointment Logs
• Phone and Voice Mail Message Notes
• Insurance Forms and Claims
• Billing Information

While adhering to HIPAA rules, you need to destroy all the patient information which is outdated or no longer necessary. The destruction of records must be done in accordance to HIPAA regulations and it says that every sticky note, every printout needs to be shredded thoroughly. Simply throwing away papers does not guarantee security – as any unscrupulous person could sift through the garbage and have access to credit card numbers and addresses. One could also hire a professional to destroy documents.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced, May 28, the release of $81.7 million to expand services offered at the nation’s health centers.  On the same day—100 days after the signing of the Recovery Act—HHS also awarded $25.6 million in non-Recovery Act grants to expand medical capacity at 54 existing health centers, helping an additional 230,000 individuals in 25 states receive primary health care services, the agency said.

The grants, funded through the Health Center Program, have already helped more than 17 million individuals by providing access to high-quality, family-oriented, comprehensive primary and preventive health care. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency within HHS, oversees the Health Center Program.

The Recovery Act provides $2 billion for grants to health centers over a two-year period.  Of that, $500 million will be used to support new health center sites and service areas, increase services at existing sites, and address spikes in uninsured populations.

An additional $1.5 billion will be used to support construction, renovation and equipment, including health information technology (HIT) systems, in health centers and health center controlled networks.

HHS has already awarded approximately $155 million in Recovery Act grant funds to support 126 community health center sites across the country. The 126 New Access Point (NAP) grants were awarded to applicants that were approved but unfunded in 2008.  These grants will provide access to health center care for 750,000 people in 39 states and two territories.

HHS also awarded $338 million in Increased Demand for Services grants for health centers. Health centers will use these funds to provide care to more than 2 million additional patients over the next two years, including approximately 1 million uninsured people, and create and retain approximately 6,500 health center jobs.

The non-Recovery Act grants awarded today include $25.6 million to expand medical capacity at 54 existing health centers, helping an additional 230,000 individuals in 25 states receive primary health care services.  The remaining $56.1 million will supplement all health centers’ base grant awards to offset rising costs associated with maintaining current service levels.

Health Care Stakeholder Meeting – Physicians

White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle will be leading another Health Care Stakeholder Discussion, this time with over 30 physician leaders from around the country, including deans of medical schools, CEOs of teaching hospitals, leaders of specialty societies, chairs of academic departments, and several private practice physicians.

• Watch it streamed at WhiteHouse.gov/live

UPDATE: This event has now concluded but Rebecca Adelman,  HHS correspondent, reports back:

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