The process can be complicated and lengthy, as it can take between 50-90 days for the healthcare provider to receive payment. To optimize the process, medical billers can leverage medical billing software that provides a variety of tools and features to help limit the number of billing errors. Prior to an appointment, the system verifies the patient’s insurance information to ensure successful collection of payment. Before you submit an insurance claim, the documents are scrubbed of any errors that could cause payment delays, or in some cases, missed reimbursements.

Billing templates are configurable to fit with specific practices and multiple specialties. Patients may manage payment plans and any upcoming bills online. The software can notify them of any upcoming payments due, limiting the number of missed payments. Below are a few tools used in medical billing solutions to help reduce the number of billing errors.

• Insurance Eligibility Verification
• Claim Processing
• Electronic Remittance

Get paid faster

One of the primary advantages of using medical billing software is how quickly it allows you to collect payment and reimbursements. These solutions can send out automated notifications to remind patients of upcoming payments or overdue balances.

As we mentioned, medical billing systems provide tools to help reduce the number of billing errors. The assurance of accurately filled-out claims helps provide a higher first-time acceptance rate, and as a result, your organization gets paid faster.

Medical billing provides you with a risk assessment regarding a patient’s payment history. Risk assessments can give your staff insight into the likeliness of a patient paying their medical bills. If you need to speed up the payment process, look for some of these tools:

• Payment Reminders
• Reimbursement Tracking
• Electronic Superbills

Improve efficiency

Automating the medical billing process can save your staff a considerable amount of time. Nurses and medical assistants have reported spending over 20 hours per-physician per-week on administrative tasks such as patient check-in or insurance verification. Billing software allows your staff to focus their efforts on what they do best, providing healthcare to their patients.

Digital billing and payment prevent the possibility of misplaced or damaged paper payment confirmations. It also assures accuracy when documenting patient information and allows your organization to get reimbursed faster. Another benefit of going digital is the ability for patients to fill out their intake forms prior to arriving at the office; this saves everyone time and improves doctor-patient relationships.

Here are some standard features that typically help improve productivity as well as operational efficiency:

• Patient Scheduling
• Workflow Dashboard
• Clearinghouse
• 24/7 Accessibility

Keep patient information current

Medical billing functionality typically integrates with an EMR/EHR system. This allows any updated patient information, such as demographics, insurance information, medical history and more to be easily accessible from any department. A patient’s insurance can be verified automatically, and payment plans can be set up in advance.

Once a patient’s information updates, the system automatically transfers that data to the EHR/EMR platform. Physicians and other staff members can spend less time documenting and looking up patient information and reallocate their time to patient care. These features help ensure patient information is accurate and up to date.

• Real-Time Data
• Patient History

FAQs

How Does Medical Billing Software Work?

A variety of health organizations and medical specialties use medical billing solutions for both inpatient and outpatient care. These facilities rely on software to streamline their billing and payment processes, automatically manage insurance claims and reduce the number of billing errors that occur. Medical billing almost always integrates with an EHR or EMR solution; this allows health organizations to share data between multiple departments, giving all staff members up-to-date, accurate patient information.

How Do I Know I’m Ready for Medical Billing Software?

There’s no magical formula that can determine how much you’ll benefit from implementing software. However, there are some clear indicators that your organization is ready. Here are just a few:

• Experiencing rejected or unqualified claims
• Reimbursement takes a long time
• Noticing errors
• Missed revenue due to unverified insurance
• Spending large amounts of time with manual billing

How Do I Select a Medical Billing System?

Just like any software selection process, adopting a medical billing software system is challenging and time-consuming. There are so many options available and it’s important that you choose a system that suits your unique health organization. For example, you will need to consider factors such as the size of your facility and the number of clients you provide for. However, keep in mind that some software systems are designed to address a specialty.

An in-house evaluation of your organization’s requirements is a great way to ensure you find the best fit, and it’s a good idea to involve all staff that will be using the software. Take a look at our Medical Billing Software Features and Requirements or our Top Five Cloud Medical Billing Software Solutions to get started with your selection process.