Doctors balance their desire to provide healthcare with the financial realities of running a business. Medical offices search for solutions that allow them to maximize their profits to create a stable financial situation so they can continue to provide care in the future. Many of them are going electronic with medical practice software to streamline their operations and save money.
Patient Financial Information
The patient is ultimately responsible for any charges incurred. Having information on a patient's insurance plan is a key part of the patient's profile. However that information needs to be current and correct.
Medical practice software allows the office to verify a patient's insurance eligibility quickly with every visit. If the patient has changed plans, accidentally provided the wrong identification number, lost coverage or isn't eligible for some other reason the office needs to know to correct the information or bill the patient rather than spending time billing insurance that is no longer valid.
If the patient is responsible for payment, the office uses medical billing software to print a statement for the patient ready as soon as the session is over. The physician enters encounter information into the EMR system and by the time the patient reaches reception, the statement is printed and ready.
Insurance Filing
The medical practice software automatically creates insurance claims. These claims can then be verified by the software, which checks that all information is complete and correct, and that the diagnosis and procedure codes are present. Any missing or inaccurate data may cause the claim to be delayed for clarification or denied. The software minimizes the chance of delayed payment.
Once the claim is complete most of the larger private and government payers accept electronic claim submissions. Electronic claims are sent and processed faster so medical providers receive their payments faster. It allows them to request any disallowed amounts, deductibles or copayments from the patients as soon as the claims are filed. For payers that don't accept electronic submission, clean and clear statements are printed for mailed submission.
Handling of Payments
Insurance is a major part of a doctor office's income, but processing the EOBs and remittance information takes hours. Insurance companies often send electronic EOBs. These are processed by the medical practice software, posting to office accounts in a fraction of the time manual entry could.
Many medical practice software applications integrate with business financial software such as QuickBooks. They transfer accounting entries directly into the software without needing to enter each one manually or deal with clumsy export/import operations. The chance of data entry error is eliminated and the office books are always updated with the latest payment data.
With inexpensive medical practice software solutions available, medical offices are converting to efficient electronic billing and posting systems at a rapid pace.
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