This is truly extraordinary how something as simple can have a hold in such a profound level of specialty. This can contribute to the field of medicine in a very important manner. Orthopedics is the medical level of discipline that works on the surgery that is connected with the conditions of the musculoskeletal system like bones, tendons, joints, and ligaments. An important process for orthopedic practitioners is to work with orthopedic medical billing.
The orthopedic medical billing services are significantly convoluted process and this needs a deep understanding of the medical coding. With the ever-changing scenery of healthcare, being up-to-date with the current and latest practices of billing and knowing the trends of the industry is very important. There can be a failure in making follow-ups of the regulations of the billing and coding and there can be submission of resultant of the financial losses and inaccurate claims. Making the partnership with an orthopedic medical coding company can support the physicians to have the adherence and connect with the guidelines of making sure about the medical coding and streamlining the process of billing. This will also help increase in the revenue and reduce the denials of the claims. There is a need for a deep understanding of orthopedic billing and the various aspects of coding and this can work more effectively in claim submission.
All medical billing can work on the 4Ps of the process and they are providers, Patients, policymakers, and Payors.
What is orthopedic medical billing?
The documents of the orthopedic medical billing are added with all those services that are being performed for the patient’s visit. This is important to make sure that all aspects of the orthopedics billing process are done correctly with the maximum level of reimbursements and they are:-
- Evaluation of the insurance ability of the patient
- Making the entry of demographics of the patients
- Coding of the services and Documentation and the performed procedures
- Timely submission of claims
- Reprocessing the claim denials
Orthopedic billing process: an overview of the common mistakes
Failure to verify the Insurance
In the initial stage, you can be able to make sure about the patient’s insurance eligibility and that also should be verified. This will reduce the financial risks and will lead to a smooth level of processing of the claims process and a high level of reimbursements. Many orthopedic practices and specialists fail to have proper verification of the coverage of the patient and this results in claim denials and can make powerful bills for the patients.
Incorrect Entry for the Demographics
Each portion of the demographic data of the patient should be entered correctly during the billing process of the orthopedic service. Any small error like the incorrect date of birth or the misspelling, can result in an automatic level of denial from different insurance companies.
Incorrect level of Documentation
The most important segment of orthopedic billing is documentation about each of the services and the work processes that have been done. The missing reports, incomplete notes, and incorrect level of coding can result in claim denials.
In particular, orthopedic billing has a refinement level of the system of regulations and codes and they should be used in the insurance of the maximum level of reimbursements. The correct level of CPT, ICD, and modified level of codes should be used in the overall system.
Examples of average errors in orthopedic coding include:
Unbundling. This is added to the coding of the parts of a system and this can be done individually for a single code. Like, the three segments of the knees (lateral, medial, and suprapatellar) should carry a unique code, and all the procedures that have been done in that part should be added to the code.
Fracture care: in the process of fracture care the prepared and prefabricated casts are generally given to the Q codes for the strapping and casting. Nevertheless, the Q codes should be reserved for the casts that are braces and custom-made casts. The prefabricated casts should also work on the use of the L codes.
Strategies: How can The mistakes Be Avoided?
Some of the processes that can be avoided for the process of not creating any mistake is
- Being diligent about the verification and tests of the coverage of the insurance.
- Making sure that the information of the patient is correct that has been collected
- Staying on the high level of changes of the guidelines of the orthopedic billing and coding
- Doing following with the claims denials
- Submitting the claims properly
The making of avoidance of billing mistakes is crucial for the long existence and health of the orthopedic practice. The knowledgeable team should work on the DOES and DONTS for the orthopedic billing and this can be the way to follow up on the practice.
The Importance of Ensuring the Conformity With Regulations and Coding
All of the information in the documents of the claims can be thoroughly investigated and checked to make sure that you are meeting the rules that have been prepared by HIPPA or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Department of Health and Human Services, American Medical Association or AMA and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services or CMS and many other of the insurance companies in orthopedic medical billing. Thus, this will be important to have the verification of all relevant needs and there should be a check the guidelines are met before the claims are being submitted. If your claims do not match with all of the regulations this can make sure about the penalties and fines for your practices. The compliant level of coding leads to a fact process of work and few levels of denials.
How to be an Orthopedic Billing Expert?
The orthopedic medical billing services can have various challenges and the people who are not experts can have to face some of the complexities. They can face the denials of the claims and this can result in financial stress for the orthopedic practice. The orthopedic billing consultants should understand the unique challenges of the staff and they should work on billing and coding.
There are some benefits of beginning the orthopedic billing experts and their work process like
- Lowering the rate of denial
- Increase in the rate of reimbursement
- Quick level of submission of claims
- Having Compliance with the regulatory changes
- Having an efficient level of revenue cycle
- Keeping the reports of Financial KPIs
- Giving more time to all of your staff to make them all focus on the care of patients.
Conclusion
Where an orthopedic billing process can bring challenges like denied or delayed claims, inaccuracy in the billing, and improper level of registration of patients, various processes can be used to reduce such practices.
Nevertheless, the ultimate level of the best approach is based on the outsourcing process. By working on this one can collect the pack of benefits. This can be added with the streamlining of the billing process, the minimization of coding errors, and having a maximum of the work efficiency.
