Five Important Tips to change your HME billing process

Increased revenue can only be guaranteed by extremely professional DME/HME facilities and billing workflow. With errors and mistakes in the DME/HME billing, the claims processing process is hampered, and hence the Accounts Receivable (AR) collections have a significant effect on overall healthy cash inflows.

So, what are the best practices for optimizing AR days in DME facilities?

Here are 5 easy but efficient guidelines to modify your DME/HME billing process and performance:

Insurance coverage verification:

This is critical to guarantee that when DME and HME providers are paid, the patient's insurance policy is thoroughly checked and the equipments are covered by the Medicare or the insurance. If this is not the case, then this could result in payment delays and resubmissions, which could be expensive in the long run.

Experienced staff

The HME billing staff needs to be highly qualified and should have profound knowledge about all the various rules and complex guidelines necessary for claims submission. The frequent healthcare changes can seriously impact the RCM processes and the DME/HME services can see a sudden drop in the reimbursement rates. Hence, a skilled worker, who is aware of all such updated regulations, can prevent this.

Stringent Coding

Coders should be familiar with coding, predominantly when it comes to DME/HME billing services. A minor error in a claim code, such as a transposed number, or even entering an obsolete modifier, can affect a discarded or refused claim, resulting in a loss of timely reimbursement.

Effective Claims Management process:

Another effective and important step for a smooth DME/HME billing workflow is to follow up. It is an open secret that numerous many DME/HME services lose out close to 7% of the reimbursements due to rejections. This ineffective claims management method is costly to any medical practice's RCM.

According to an American Medical Association report, medical offices spend approximately $14,600 per year on resolving rejected claims through phone calls, troubleshooting or appeals.

Advanced Technology

Automation of electronic health records (EHR), Fast track enhanced Practice Management systems, better tracking, and warning systems will all help to make the claims process a much more effective and productive mechanism for increasing A/R collections.

Recently there is also some software present in the market

· Brightree

· Kareo

· OPIE

· Fastrack

All this software provides an extensive reliable operational arm and makes the complex DME/HME billing process much proficient and minimizes the chances of any errors.

Due to the inherent nature of DME facilities and billing, the process can be time-consuming. All you require to do is to have the methodical approach and follow these above guidelines. The DME/HME billing services can be made further reliable, permitting you to incorporate a much more successful AR collections process. The concluding part is to make sure that your reimbursements continue to flow in order to maintain a steady and profitable Revenue Cycle Process.