The Good:

1. Efficiency: Billing software can significantly increase efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, such as data entry and invoice generation. This can save time and reduce the risk of human error.
2. Accuracy: Modern billing software is designed to be highly accurate, reducing the likelihood of billing errors that can lead to financial disputes or regulatory issues.
3. Cost Reduction: Using billing software can reduce the need for extensive manual labor, leading to cost savings in terms of employee salaries and operational expenses.
4. Data Security: Good billing software often includes robust security features to protect sensitive financial data from breaches and cyberattacks.
5. Analytics and Reporting: Many billing software solutions come with built-in analytics and reporting tools, allowing companies to gain insights into their financial performance and make data-driven decisions.

The Bad:

1. Cost of Implementation: Implementing billing software can be expensive, including the initial purchase cost, training, and potential customization to fit the company’s specific needs.
2. Learning Curve: Billing software can be complex, and employees may require training to use it effectively. This learning curve can lead to temporary disruptions in operations.
3. Dependency on Technology: Relying heavily on technology can be risky if there are system failures, technical glitches, or if the software becomes outdated.
4. Security Concerns: While billing software can enhance security, it can also be vulnerable to hacking and data breaches if not properly protected and maintained.
5. Lack of Customization: Some billing software may not fully meet a company’s unique requirements, necessitating additional development or workarounds.

Regarding the billing company’s usage of the software, it’s crucial for them to:

• Understand the Software: The billing company should have a thorough understanding of the software’s capabilities and limitations to maximize its benefits.
• Employee Training: Adequate training programs should be in place to ensure that employees are proficient in using the software efficiently and securely.
• Procedures and Compliance: The billing company must establish procedures that align with industry regulations and best practices to ensure compliance when using the software.
• Regular Updates: Keeping the software up to date is crucial for security and taking advantage of new features or improvements.
• Data Backup and Recovery: Robust backup and recovery procedures should be in place to protect against data loss.

In conclusion, while billing software offers numerous advantages, it’s essential for billing companies to carefully consider both the advantages and disadvantages and take steps to mitigate potential pitfalls. Proper education, training, and procedural safeguards are crucial for harnessing the full potential of technology in billing operations while minimizing risks. Fortunately, Merem Healthcare Solutions encompasses ways to mitigate both the bad and good in technology, so you don’t have to worry about anything related to your revenue cycle management operations.

The post Technology: The Good and The Bad appeared first on MEREM Health.

By utilizing an experienced team of medical billers and coders who are knowledgeable in various specialty medical codes and trends, you can rest assured that things are being handled properly behind the scenes while you and your medical team can take care of patients upfront.

Chances are what first brought you into the healthcare industry was wanting to help others. You wanted to make a difference in people’s lives and give them more quality years. However, as you started your own private medical practice, you probably saw it was filled practice management tasks leaving you with less time with patients and more time behind a desk dealing with insurance and other revenue cycle demands. 

Be More Proactive in Your Medical Billing and Coding

According to Healthcare Business & Technology, more than 80% of medical bills contain errors. Medical billing errors are the biggest reason for the disruption of cash flow in a physician practice. 

Fortunately, by making sure everyone on your team is on the same page when it comes to documentation (as well as having a strong medical billing and coding team), you can greatly reduce these errors so that cash flow in your medical practice continues to move in the right direction.

No Errors Allowed!

As you well know, most medical billing errors are due to:

• Incorrect patient information, which includes insurance provider information
• Duplicate billing
• Poor documentation
• Unclear claim numbers
• Wrong codes being used

However, by putting the proper training in place and outsourcing your medical billing and coding services, you can ensure that a majority of your claims will not be denied. 

When these medical billing and coding errors take place, claims come back denied. Resubmitting a fixed claim denial with the correct information can take weeks for review and approval on the other end. In addition, this puts a delay in not only payment from insurance but also slows down the payment received from the patient. 

Medical billing errors add up quickly. Before you know it, your medical practice is starting to lose money rather than gain. However, by utilizing an experienced team of specialized medical billers and coders who are knowledgeable in various medical codes and trends, you can rest assured that things are being handled properly behind the scenes while you and your medical team can take care of patients upfront. 

Give Your Patients the Experience They Deserve

Even during a normal health care checkup, a patient’s anxiety can be high. Therefore, having a warm welcome can make all the difference in starting the patient’s experience off on the right foot within your medical practice. 

Allow our team to handle the billing and coding services behind the scenes so that your front office staff, along with other members of your medical team, can focus on the patients walking through your door and providing them with the best experience possible! 

Remember, happy patients will not only return. The chances are high that they will bring friends! 

Discover how our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions in Birmingham, AL, can help your medical practice avoid medical billing and coding errors. 

Merem Healthcare Solutions offers services for every step in a practice’s revenue cycle management. We can start from the beginning from credentialing and end with payment posting once an account has been satisfied. We offer a wide range of solutions which include auditing, billing, coding, consulting, credentialing, payment posting, practice management, and pre-collections training. Check us out on our website or feel free to call us to see how we can help run your practice like a well-oiled machine – (205) 329-7519.

The post Outsource to Avoid Medical Billing and Coding Errors! appeared first on MEREM Health.

Birmingham, Alabama based specialty healthcare solution company, MEREM Healthcare Solutions, is preparing to expand their outsourced healthcare solutions to specialty practice physicians across the Southeast.

MEREM Healthcare Solutions aims to partner with rural healthcare providers across the Southeast such as individual physician practices, specialty physician groups, and healthcare institutions across the state of Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Georgia who are facing economic pressures and in need of revenue improvement, strategic practice planning, credentialing and insurance network management.

“MEREM Healthcare Solutions is more than an outsourced medical billing and coding company,” says MEREM Health VP of Operations, Brittney Tidwell, “we deliver unique solutions customized to fit the needs of individual practices that ensure improved practice performance and revenue cycle management.”

BRITTNEY TIDWELL
Vice President of Operations

Our mission at MEREM Healthcare Solutions is to provide our clients with superior, off-site medical billing management services while maintaining and exceeding the level of accountability, communication, and customer service that is valued in traditional on-site billing departments.

Providing high-quality medical billing solutions to support healthcare teams is something that we have been dedicated to for years. For practices facing significant denials and claims rejections, a specialized outsourced solution can be just what you need. We encourage physicians and practice owners to consider this… 

Patients seek out specialty care for specialized treatment of their health problems. Consider giving your practice the same quality of specialized care.

With MEREM Healthcare Solutions, Outsourcing Doesn’t Mean Offshoring

Offshoring means getting work done in a different country.

Outsourcing refers to contracting work out to an external organization. We will provide you with a billing team. We structure our billing services around a team, ensuring appropriate checks and balances, a unified strategic vision, and the convenience of a single point of contact readily available to direct your questions – your Merem Concierge. Additionally, your patients will appreciate having their phone calls received directly by one of your U.S. based billing team members.

When there’s a backup in your pipes, you need a plumbing specialist. When there is a backup in your revenue cycle, our customized revenue cycle solutions and healthcare management team of medical billing and coding professionals can help.

Outsourcing medical billing and coding significantly increase a physician’s confidence that the billing is handled accurately and efficiently. Merem Healthcare Solutions eliminates time, frustration, and expense associated with building and maintaining skilled professionals needed to achieve optimal reimbursement in the ever-changing and very challenging insurance industry. Above all, Merem clients know their business interests are in the hands of competent committed professionals.

By choosing MEREM, you can rely on our expert team of certified healthcare revenue professionals who understand payer requirements and know how to get claims paid and help you reach revenue cycle performance above the industry standards. The We utilize a 3-part process that has been proven to put more cash in your pocket:

1. Cut Costs by eliminating recruiting and training time, reducing labor costs, and improving accuracy.
2. Increase Cash Flow by resolving your denied claims and advise on ways to prevent them from getting you paid quicker.
3. Increase Charges by relying on our expert team to review each note or dictation in order to ensure you capture the maximum RVUs.

This process is a concept that provides benefit to all parties involved, but most of all to cut the cost of in house staff by providing expertise, advice, and resources designed specifically for specialty practice providers needs — areas including coding, supply chain or regulatory compliance.

If you are interested in learning more about MEREM Healthcare Solutions and the customized practice management and revenue improvement options that we can provide, please contact us or give us a call at (205) 329-7519. Our professional healthcare management team will consult and prepare customized practice solutions to fit the unique needs of your specialty.

The post Specialty Healthcare Solutions expanding outside of Birmingham, Alabama appeared first on MEREM Health.

Therefore, while we don’t want to take away from the amazing work of physicians, nurses, front desk employees, etc., our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions also wants to make sure medical billers and coders receive the recognition they deserve for the critical role they play within the healthcare industry.

What Do Medical Billers and Coders Do?

While your patients might not see them during their visit to your medical practice, medical billers and coders are there every step of the way—from the initial examination to diagnostic tests to the overall treatment of the patient. Medical billers and coders are responsible for translating the entire patient visit into special ICD-10 codes for proper billing.

But, before you start thinking, “How hard can that be?” did you know there are more than 140,000 ICD-codes? And each ICD-10 code has its own purpose. For instance, there isn’t just one code for “pain.” Rather, there is one ICD-10 code for pain in the arm that is unspecified. Then, there is another code for low back pain, and so on and so forth.

Not only is it vital for these specific codes to be known, but it is also vital that they are used correctly, as one wrong code entry could cause a delay in billing and payment, which can hurt a medical practice’s profitability.

The Unsung Heroes – Off-Site or Outsourced Medical Billers and Coders

Although some medical practices try to utilize their front office staff to assist with the medical coding and billing of patients, this practice of sharing responsibilities is not as conducive for the profitability of the medical practice as outsourcing the billing and coding to a third party.

For example, a patient walks into your medical practice. Depending on your specialty, your patient might already be high-anxiety. When they walk in, the front desk person isn’t able to welcome them warmly because he or she is on hold with an insurance company. All the patient has done at this point, is walk into your practice, and everything is already off on the wrong foot.

However, if your medical practice outsourced your medical billing and coding, not only can you reduce your chances of errors when it comes to cash flow, you can also allow your front office staff and medical team to focus directly on the patient, which can both improve patient outcomes and patients reviews—which is a win-win!

Discover how our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions in Birmingham, AL, can help your medical practice avoid medical billing and coding errors.

Merem Healthcare Solutions offers services for every step in a practice’s revenue cycle management. We can start from the beginning from credentialing and end with payment posting once an account has been satisfied. In addition to outsourced medical billing and coding, we offer a wide range of solutions which include auditing, consulting, credentialing, payment posting, practice management, and pre-collections training. Check out our website or feel free to call us at (205) 329-7519 to see how we can help run your practice like a well-oiled machine.

The post Don’t underestimate the integral role medical billers and coders play in the healthcare industry appeared first on MEREM Health.

Believe it or not, outsourced medical billing can have an outsized impact that includes costing you less over time than having these capabilities in your practice. Here’s why.

Medical Billing and Coding Services – Cost of In-House Billing

A look at in-house medical billing capabilities starts with the most obvious cost: labor.

Medical billing professionals that work for you as employees cost money. You have their salary (or wages) to begin with, which represents a formidable cost. According to Indeed.com, a medical office biller costs, on average, $34,000. Throw in benefits, like health insurance, and that cost rises even higher.

Multiply this by the number of people you need to do the job (depending on the size of your practice) and your labor cost can easily reach into the six figures.

There’s also the time spent by your managers supervising your billing specialists. That time costs money, too – and per hour, it’s even more expensive. Even if you’re in a small practice, and have one person wearing multiple hats (like billing, answering phones, dealing with patients, etc.) every hour spent billing is an hour that pads your overhead.

That’s just the labor, too. There’s also a very real technological cost that comes with in-house medical billing instead of outsourced medical billing. You’ll have to pay for hardware, equipment, software, technical support, plus peripherals like office supplies, printer ink, etc. The costs add up to quite a bit of money over time.

Bottom Line: Outsourced Medical Billing Saves You Money

Once you add up all of the expenses, you can see how the cost of an outsourced provider is more like an investment that also saves money in the long run.

By outsourcing, you gain access to trained, certified specialists who do the same amount of work but at a lower overall cost. Plus, by hiring the right provider, you can avoid the additional expense of having to not only find and hire a qualified, expert billing specialist but also making sure they stay trained and up-to-date on the latest developments.

Outsourcing your billing is a prudent, fiscally responsible thing to do for virtually any practice. If you have any questions, call us for more information – and learn more about how outsourcing is the right call for your budget.

Ready to Outsource?

Turn to MEREM Healthcare Solutions

What are you waiting for? Start saving money today by outsourcing your medical billing and coding to MEREM Healthcare Solutions. Contact us today or fill out the form below to get started.

The post In-House Medical Billing Costs More – Outsource! appeared first on MEREM Health.

How Do You Determine
The Best Fit For Your Practice?

Have you struggled with choosing an outsourced Medical Billing Company?  Is your medical practice overwhelmed with the paperwork of billing and coding?

If you have outsourced your revenue cycle management process, how did you know that the outsourced medical billing and coding services company you are working with was the right fit for your practice? 

With a reputable billing and coding service, physicians can stop focusing on billing issues and get to what’s important: the patient.

Outsourcing your medical billing and coding to a professional healthcare solution company is advantageous for a number of reasons. Understanding what to look for is essential when choosing a company to outsource your medical coding. 

Check out the list below provided by MEREM Healthcare Solutions for the top the things to consider before choosing the best medical billing and coding company for your practice.

Are you still unsure about outsourcing your medical billing and coding? If so, check out our latest article,

“Should You Outsource Your Medical Coding? Yes!”

How Much Is the Medical Billing and Coding Company Willing to Do for You?

Looking for the best fit?  The best medical billing and coding companies perform above the industry average. The most basic medical billing company will provide:

• claim submission,
• carrier follow up,
• payment posting and processing,
• patient invoicing,
• and collections.

You’ll want to seek out and choose a medical billing and coding company that delivers more than the basics. Ask about their specific performance metrics, including net collection ratio, days outstanding, denial/rejection rate and the average number of days in accounts receivable (AR).

For many practices to even consider outsourcing, patient follow-up is key. If a patient fails to pay, you should expect that the billing company you are outsourcing these matters to will pursue that debt, right? Unfortunately, some will not.

Also, does the billing company provide frequent and detailed analytics and reporting to help your practice recognize what they can do to grow? Or do they just provide a bank statement once a month?

Any company that you are considering to partner with should be transparent about the services that they will deliver in order to help you determine which is the best fit for your practice. Choose a company that goes above and beyond the basic credentials. You also want to find an outsourced solution working within your specialty field of medicine.

Choose Experience And Specialty Expertise

When choosing a medical billing company, experience matters. After all, experience can ensure a smooth, problem-free onboarding process.

The number of years a company has been in business matters, but it’s not the only consideration. You also want to look for a company that has worked for a sizable number of years in your particular specialty. This ensures that they fully understand your field and have more intimate knowledge of the specific requirements for medical coding, documentation, compliance, etc. related to your specialty—whether it’s Advanced Imaging and Radiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, or Gastroenterology.

Perhaps they have only been open for three years, but those three years were spent learning the specific, highly-detailed ins and outs of your specialty. Ask your prospective medical billing companies the following questions before you commit.

• How many years of experience do you have working in your area of expertise and in our area of medicine?
• How many clients in that specialty do you currently have?
• What size practices are you used to managing?

The answers to these questions will help you to weed out the companies who aren’t a good fit and can help ease your mind about partnering with an outsourced healthcare solution that is ready and able to seamlessly take on your practice’s medical billing and coding.

Discuss Technology… The Good and Bad

Technological advances have made for some fancy billing software. Find out what type of software the billing company is using. Does the company understand the full usage of the software? What kind of software education and procedures are in place for their employees?

Your practice wants to ensure there is not a violation of HIPAA privacy rules. A loss of data would most likely shut down your medical practice. Be sure your paperwork is safe and private by asking: 

• How does the medical billing company go about sharing your patient’s data?
• Is there a backup plan in place in case a security breach is made or the system fails? 

At the end of the day, it is essential that you ask all the right questions to ensure that you are getting a full-service medical billing and coding company that can properly handle your practice’s needs. 

Looking for the Best Medical Billing and Coding Services?

Turn to MEREM Healthcare Solutions. Get a free quote and learn more about our uniquely designed support system for revenue cycle and operations management needs. At MEREM, we don’t just provide services, we deliver solutions. 

No matter the size, healthcare organizations need a strategic partner and that is what we are here to provide. Let us help you save time and ensure proper coding for all your medical billing needs. You will feel the difference through the level of dedication and commitment we provide to our clients.

The post Finding the Right Fit appeared first on MEREM Health.

When it comes to active healthcare claims processing, it is essential to create a process that maximizes efficiency to handle denied claims. Most medical practice administrators get worried when it comes to working claims, particularly when the claims are denied. It is essential to identify the potential income loss and begin an effective medical claims management process for handling these claims.

The good news is that every small improvement will make a significant impact on the cash flow of your practices revenue cycle. Here are some tips on how to accurately process denied claims and increase the overall performance of your revenue generation.

Track All your Claims

This may seem like basic advice, but the fact is that many healthcare providers do not track all their claims. The only way to define the problem is to use an effective method that will help teams keep track of denials so that they do not lose a single claim.

Complete Your Denials in a Week

If a claim was submitted incorrectly it will get returned or denied, then it needs to be corrected and promptly submitted again. Many health insurance companies place time limits to re-file their denied claims. By making denials a high priority and actively addressing them quickly you can ensure that they are not ignored or lost.

Identify the Problem Within Your Claims Denials

Monthly, you should look over all the denials and try to locate any trends that might be a cause for errors on a large scale (global errors). By identifying a specific issue that several denials have in common, the problem can lead you to take practical steps to rework the claims and to avoid future denials. This can protect your Time, Money and Effort.

What happens if you find out an excessive number of mistakes are being made? Do you take the time to re-educate your staff, or do you choose to outsource?

Check out our blog on how to combat claim denials.

Outsource your denial management process

A good solution will be outsourcing your denial management process to an expert company that focuses on Revenue Cycle Management solutions. When you outsource medical billing, you are handing over your revenue cycle management to individuals with extensive training. If you have a cavity, you go to the dentist. Similarly, if you have trouble with your medical revenue cycle, you outsource medical billing.

When choosing an outsourced healthcare solution to use, there are a few questions you should ask like,

• Do they use expert teams that are highly skilled in working with insurance systems?
• What are their turnaround times to get the denials addressed?

By outsourcing your denial management process to a medical billing company, you will have more time to focus your attention on patient needs. Interested in learning more? Check out this overview of MEREM Health’s medical billing services.

The post Tips For Improving Your Denials Management appeared first on MEREM Health.

If you could relieve stress on your medical team, as well as improve the profitability of your medical practice tomorrow, what steps would you take? We invite you to take time and consider how outsourcing your medical billing solutions could impact your practice.

Why Should You Outsource Your Medical Billing?

Relinquishing control of any aspect of your medical practice can be hard.

Our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions understands the desire to be in control of the medical billing. But wouldn’t you rather have your healthcare team be less stressed while also knowing that payments are getting handled efficiently so that your profit margins are where they should be?

Let’s take a look at three reasons why you should really consider outsourcing your medical billing.

1. Your Dollars and Your Time Will Be Spent More Wisely

How much are you currently paying in overtime? Is your front office team working more on keying in information and handling insurance companies than spending with patients who walk in the door?

As a medical practice, you want your patients to feel welcomed and cared for as soon as they call your office or walk in the door. However, that is difficult for front office staff to handle as they juggle phone calls and if they are on constant hold with insurance companies.

By outsourcing your medical billing processes, you can obtain a knowledgeable and experienced team who stays up-to-date on the latest CMS changes. MEREM Healthcare Solutions can handle your medical billing needs while your healthcare team focuses on something more important—your patients.

2. Your Claims Will Be Processed Faster

Medical practices are no different than any other business. It needs cash flow in order to run and operate. Therefore, the last thing your medical practice needs is coding errors, late payments, insurance denials, etc., to impend on your operations budget and slow down your medical practice’s ability to turn a profit and run proficiently.

By outsourcing your medical billing to MEREM Healthcare Solutions, our professionals are able to streamline and speed up your medical billing process of efficiently filing claims while also reducing billing and coding errors. As a result, you are paid faster because these errors don’t occur, and many claims do not have to be re-processed.

Time is money. In fact, when medical billing processes are completed correctly, a claim can be reimbursed as fast as 7-14 days! How great would that be for your medical practice’s bottom line?

3. Your Patients Will Be Happier

Depending on the reason for their visit, patients can be nervous or anxious about their visit even before they set foot in your medical practice. This is especially true for our Ambulatory Surgical Centers and Advanced Imaging/Radiology clients.

When you outsource the time-consuming office tasks, your medical team is able to really focus on your patients and improve your patients’ experience by having more time to answering all questions and keeping them comfortable. When your patients are happy with their experience, you are able to see a faster return on billing collections and you will receive more positive patient feedback since your focus in on the patient and the quality of care you are providing is at the optimal level.

Discover how our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions can help your medical practice.

Isn’t it time you give-away the paperwork so that you can get back to why you got into the medical field in the first place? Allow our team to handle your medical billing processes so that you can provide the quality care you desire for your patients!

Merem Healthcare Solutions, in Birmingham, AL, offers services for every step in a practice’s revenue cycle management. We can start from the beginning from credentialing and end with payment posting once an account has been satisfied. We offer a wide range of solutions which include auditing, billing, coding, consulting, credentialing, payment posting, practice management, and pre-collections training. Check us out on our website or on social media.

Feel free to call us to see how we can help you run your practice like a well-oiled machine. Call MEREM Healthcare Solutions today at (205) 329-7519.

The post Benefits of outsourcing your medical billing processes appeared first on MEREM Health.

• When was the last time we reviewed our process or improved our technology?
• How accurate is our documentation?
• Can we improve

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions wants you to know how to be as prepared as possible in case your medical practice finds itself in the middle of a CMS audit this year. One of the best ways to avoid a CMS audit is to be prepared at all times, the best way to do so is by conducting internal audits within your medical practice.

When Was the Last Time You Reviewed Your Process?

Every medical practice has its own unique operations “process.” Is your process working for your medical practice as it should? Internal audits can be helpful in identifying areas of improvement such as your practice management software/technology and can highlight challenges within each step of your revenue cycle from documentation and coding, to billing and collections.

Technology is always changing to provide improved accuracy, especially when it comes to medical billing. If your medical practice is still using technology from years ago, then you may face a higher chance of errors in addition to your team being limited in their ability to work as effectively and efficiently as possible thorough streamlined pms processes.

Conducting an internal audit can allow you to see if the time has come to update your medical practice’s “process,” also known as “technology.”

An internal audit can also prevent revenue loss from occurring, as it can point to where issues are happening so that you can identify areas to focus on improving. For example, if your practice is facing a signifacant amount of claim denials due to coding mistakes, it might be better to consider outsourcing your medical billing and coding to a team of experts that have the experience,and ongoing training for coding within your specialty —like us!

If it has been a while since your last internal audit, you might want to conduct one sooner rather than later.

How Accurate Is Your Documentation?

When it comes to a patient health record, there is absolutely no room for error. Not only can it cause harm to the patient, it can also cause your medical practice harm and possible fines if caught while undergoing a CMS audit.

There should be no discrepancies whatsoever when comparing medical information, such as health records, which should be filled out properly throughout the entire process. Every detail is key.

MEREM Healthcare Solutions Is Here to Help!

A lot of concerns that we’ve discussed with potential clients particularly come from Pain Management physicians because they are a high risk for audits and they want to make sure everything is being coded and billed correctly and ethically to keep them off the grid from auditors.

As we explained earlier, one of the best ways to avoid a CMS audit is to be prepared at all times, which includes conducting your own audits within your medical practice. If you are noticing your medical practice is losing money or you do not have 100-percent faith in your team’s coding accuracy, it may be time for an internal audit! We can help you.

At MEREM Healthcare Solutions, you can feel confident that our knowledgeable and experienced team provides the coding accuracy your medical practice needs in order to keep insurance claims correct and get your medical practice paid for services provided.

Discover how our team at MEREM Healthcare Solutions in Birmingham, AL, can help your medical practice avoid and/or prepare for a CMS audit.

Merem Healthcare Solutions offers services for every step in a practice’s revenue cycle management. We can start from the beginning from credentialing and end with payment posting once an account has been satisfied. We offer a wide range of solutions which include auditing, billing, coding, consulting, credentialing, payment posting, practice management, and pre-collections training. Check us out on our website or feel free to call us to see how. Our customized healthcare solutions can help you run your practice like a well-oiled machine – (205) 329-7519.

The post How Can Your Practice Avoid An Audit? appeared first on MEREM Health.

If there is one thing we understand at MEREM Healthcare Solutions, it ‘s practice profitability. We’ve been working to improve the revenue cycle for orthopedic doctors a long time, and we want to share some of the revenue cycle setbacks they’ve overcome.

We know from experience that so much income goes overlooked and undiscovered when it comes to medical billing and coding. However, there could be other revenue cycle components going on too.

When MEREM Healthcare Solutions was founded, we began by working with orthopedic healthcare executives as a solution to their on-going billing and coding problems. We’ve been working with orthopedic doctors and specialty health care clinics, and we have identified three obstacles that have helped them increase revenue and improve their practice performance over the years.

Bottom line: We want you to have a more profitable orthopedic practice and we can help you do that.

Could Your Orthopedic Practice Be Losing  Revenue?

Here are three common reasons why orthopedic practices lose money and 3 simple solutions that MEREM Health offers to make practices more profitable.

Reason 1.

High Volume Doesn’t Always Translate to Higher Revenue

We’ve learned that orthopedic surgeons are trained to think that the more surgeries they perform and the more patients they see, the more money they earn; however, this isn’t always true.

It is all about your RVUs. It is hard to keep the practice running on hammer toes or debridements.

• What if you are just missing out on RVUs due to your dictations?
• What does your payer mix look like? If all of your surgeries are being performed on Medicaid patients or a commercial payer with lower reimbursements than your revenue is sure to be lower than expected.

Solution: It is important to have certified coders experienced in Orthopedics reviewing each and every op report and office visit note.

At MEREM Healthcare Solutions, all of our coding staff are certified by the AAPC with years of Orthopedic experience. Many have been recognized for their specialty coding expertise through AAPC specialty certifications including COSC (Orthopedic Surgery). Additionally, we have a staff of practice consultants that can help you review your payer mix through a Revenue Cycle Audit and offer unique solutions for your orthopedic practice to maximize your time in the OR and in the clinic.

Reason 2.

Claims Consistently Denied Due to Inaccuracy

Billing is directly tied to your profitability. Income needs to consistently flow into the practice, which means your coding needs to be correct.

When there are mistakes in the billing and coding processes it could hold up claims for a long period of time. Even the best medical coders can make mistakes and, if they are overwhelmed, much can go overlooked.

Solution: Perform audits on a regular basis. When was your last coding audit?

Medical auditing can provide areas of improvement for your coding staff. Even well-trained staff can make mistakes. An audit can recognize under coding, bad unbundling habits, and code overuse. Once a coding audit is complete, your medical coding staff will then be able to bill appropriately for documented procedures.

Interested in A FREE tool to help you improve your current revenue process. Whether you currently handle your billing and coding in-house or outsource to another company, MEREM Healthcare Solutions can provide you with an unbiased industry comparison and revenue cycle audit report to assist physicians and practice managers with improving their practice performance.

Reason 3.

Inefficiency Due to Performing Too Many Procedures Outside of Your Specialty

More patients don’t always equate to more profits as we have already determined. If you’re performing surgeries you don’t specialize in, you’re likely to be much less inefficient with your time. This is where ultra-specialization comes into play.

Solution: Focus specifically on doing and being known for the procedures you are best at and refer out or perhaps join-in with other surgeons who specialize in other procedures.

Also, as you become more profitable and your practice grows, MEREM Healthcare Solutions can also help with credentialing any new provider enrollments with payors in your network and hospital privileging. Medical Credentialing is one area of the revenue cycle process where mistakes can cost your practice 10’s of thousands of dollars just by overlooking one letter or notice. Common credentialing errors cause scheduling delays, fluctuation in the revenue cycle, and much more. It’s important to take the appropriate amount of time necessary for credentialing, instead of waiting a month before a new physician arrives.

Let Us Handle Your Billing and Coding Needs

The day-to-day operation of running a busy orthopedic practice comes with many different challenges:

• Keeping up with appointments,
• Creating a reliable staff,
• And monitoring the expenses of running your practice.

We can take at least one thing off of your long-running list of day-to-day concerns AND make sure your practice remains profitable. Our team of professional coders and billers have the exact experience you need and we happen to specialize in orthopedics and surgery. Call MEREM Health today for a quote (205) 329-7519 or contact us to request a consultation.

MEREM Healthcare Solutions provides exceptional medical billing, coding and credentialing services to orthopedic surgeons and sports medicine physicians, hospitals, and outpatient centers. Take advantage of our coding expertise today!

Schedule Your Free Revenue Cycle Audit Today!

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