Nobody wants denied claims. It adds up more of your time and resources to sort everything out and most importantly, slows down your cash flow. One or two erroneous claims maybe few for now but these may add up pretty quickly — and before you know it, a large issue
You’re losing lots of money on your practice and you don’t even know it.
How could you not be aware of thousands of dollars being lost, you say? Surely that kind of money can’t just disappear without you knowing.
The answer: bad habits. Bad coding and billing habits to be exact. A lot of physical therapists fall victim to these habits without their knowledge, and it’s not totally their fault. Most of them have been misinformed or got used to a certain system that they didn’t know has long been outdated.
It’s time to break those bad habits and get your practice the profits it deserves!
Habit 1: Forgetting Assessment and Management Time
There are several components that make up your service time: patient assessment and preparation (Pre-Time), performing the procedure (Intra-Time), and lastly, documentation and discharge (Post-Time). One financially deadly habit that PTs make is forgetting to include all of these components into their assessment and management time.
It’s inevitable for practices to come across patients with insurance payment problems every now and again. These can range from patients simply being confused about why they have to co-pay or don’t understand their explanation of benefits statement; to irate patients who refuse to pay or withhold payment that was mistakenly sent to them by their insurance company. When these situations arise, it’s important for your staff to know how to handle them properly as their actions or inaction can affect how the entire practice will be viewed. They also directly affect how efficiently your practice will get paid and consequently, your bottom line.
So how should you deal with patients in these types of situations?
It’s a fact that a large part of a practice’s revenue comes from successfully processed claims. And it’s also a fact that even one small error in the processing of these claims can mean immediate rejection or denial, and the loss of revenue.
These facts are the reason why it is absolutely critical that claims be filed free of errors. In an office that handles numerous claims daily however, it can be difficult to keep track of every single detail in each claim. Knowing the most common errors committed when filing a claim can remedy this. By taking note of the most common errors or having a checklist of these nearby when filing, you can make sure to avoid most, if not all rejections or denials.
It’s a fact that a large part of a practice’s revenue comes from successfully processed claims. And it’s also a fact that even one small error in the processing of these claims can mean immediate rejection or denial, and the loss of revenue.
It’s now the middle of the year. How are your revenue cycles doing so far?
If you’re shrugging your shoulders or letting out a loaded sigh, chances are your revenue cycles aren’t flowing as smoothly as they should be, and we know the biggest reason why: claim denials and delays.
As much as you’d like to keep your cash moving, there always seems to be a snag when it comes to claims. For some unfortunate physical therapists, waiting for reimbursements can even take up to five months! That’s more of a sinkhole than a cycle, and you need to get out of there fast.
The first step to getting out of that revenue rut is to recognize the biggest causes of claim denials and delays. Only by knowing and understanding these causes can you avoid them and consequently make sure that your revenue cycles keep turning in the right pace.
Due to the complexities of medical billing and coding there are several ways in which your practice could be losing money.
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