How to Choose the Correct Chiropractic Billing Software

One important step in finding the perfect chiropractic billing software program to fit your needs is to take a look at your existing computer equipment. With system needs changing on a virtually daily basis, it is necessary that the software program you choose be compatible with your hardware.

You also have the option of upgrading your system if it is not currently compatible with the software option you choose.

Giving a rough estimate, there are approximately 30 different vendors that deal in chiropractic billing software. Prices can range from a couple hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. While cost is certainly a consideration, assuring that you get the best quality software to meet your needs should be the primary consideration. Many new chiropractors, fresh out-of-school may decide to go with a discount software solution in order to save costs. Experts in the field suggest that skimping on costs in the beginning can cause a huge headache in the future. It is often a lot of trouble and work to change over systems; not to mention that your files will temporarily be on hold while the change occurs. A good word of advice is to thoroughly examine your needs and then choose the appropriate chiropractic billing software program for your practice base your decision on need, not cost.

Chiropractic billing software can be a godsend for many practices. Not only will you save valuable space from limiting your need for paper files, your office staff will also be able to retrieve important medical information in a virtual instant. Most offices claim that the best aspect of the electronic billing software is the ability to instantly file insurance claims. This is an excellent way to reduce the cost of office staff and postage. Many of these billing software programs also have a built-in clearinghouse feature to enable the business manager to track and locate any outstanding claims.

Those using some of the more advanced chiropractic billing software programs are able to perform a wide variety of tasks that, in the past, could have taken hours or even days. Some programs allow the administrator to submit claims on a patient to multiple insurance companies. Other programs make billing less complicated when dealing with HCFA, Workers Compensation and Medicare: these programs have the necessary forms built into the program and are easily accessed. It is obvious that there is a plethora of variances in software; the key is to know what you need in a program and search for one that closely resembles your needs.

Chiropractic Software provides detailed information on chiropractic billing and office management software, as well as detailed chiropractic software product comparisons. For more information go to http://www.e-chiropracticsoftware.com and/or visit our affiliate site at http://www.original-content.net

Medical Billing Software – New Features to Look for in Your In Your Next System

New features can benefit you with a more efficient practice, lower costs, and increased cash flow.

Medical Billing Software and Physician’s Practice Management Systems are the best tools you can use to improve the financial well being of your practice. Using one can help you to gain full control over your finances, and grow your business. Cutting-edge medical billing technology can significantly reduce time and costs spent processing claims. Not only will you have a better grasp of the health of your practice, you can watch your receivables increase and your payables decrease.

In the past couple of years, new features have began to emerge to increase your operational efficiency. Spurred on by the HIPAA regulations mandating electronic file transfer standards such as X12, and the growth and maturing of the internet, new features are now available to help your business.

Recent advancements include:

1. instant access from anywhere, even away from the office
2. manage multiple offices and functions from one database
3. enhanced scanning - electronically file all claims; even those needing supporting documentation attached.
4. rules engines to identify errors before submitting the claim
5. increased security to comply with new HIPAA standards
6. electronic patient statements
7. electronic remittance advice

Stay Connected

With the maturing of the internet, new technology supporting the ASP (Application Service Providers) architecture allows access to your data including data entry from anywhere with a internet connection. This flexibility is a true benefit to multi-office practices and billing services. Multiple offices can now share the same database without the need for specialized networking or wide area networks. The cost savings in communication expenses alone can be enormous. Billing services can benefit by allowing limited access to their clients. This can instill a higher level of comfort for the client. This access can allow give a billing service a competitive advantage by providing value added services such as scheduling, super bill printing, and patient lookup.

Built in Efficiencies

Leveraging newer technology such as EOB and insurance card scanning, electronic patient statements, and electronic remittance can cut time spent on billing chores by up to 30%. This can allow more time for focus on patients and collections.

Reduced paper handling

Newer systems provide insurance payer rules so that users can immediately identify and correct claim errors that would delay payment of claims. Some systems will submit all your claims on your behalf including paper claims. Carriers can respond immediately so you get faster payouts, most within 14 days. Practice Management Systems can also reduce staff workload by outsourcing the print and mail functions of processing patient claims and statements.

When supporting documentation is needed in order for a claim to be paid, some systems can attach scanned letters of medical necessity, accident reports, referral authorizations, worker’s compensation documents, and most importantly EOBs. This eliminates the need to photocopy paperwork and perform chart pulls later if there are any questions on the claims.

Increased Security:

When using the internet, many users are concerned about security. A well established vendor addresses these concerns on multiple levels. Just like banking at an ATM, all data is encrypted during transmission and is protected by a user name and password. Furthermore, with most ASP vendors, all data and servers are backed up by expert IT staff at the data center. Many ASp vendors offer redundant HIPAA-compliant servers, with backups in different locations to ensure data recovery in case of disaster.

Conclusion

What is becoming standard in ASP-based medical billing software is subscription style pricing, and low upfront cost which cover implementation and professional fees.

If your business is looking to upgrade the medical billing software, examine the new features listed to see if they will offer you cost savings and increased efficiency. If so, insist on the new features in your next system. The cost savings can easily justify the upgrade.

Lori Anderson is an independent consultant with LAtech working with AntekHealthware on their DAQbilling Medical Billing Software and LabDAQ Laboratory Information System projects.

Electronic Medical Billing Software - Client-Server Versus Application Service Provider (ASP)

Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and digital billing systems offer substantial clinical care, financial, practice workflow, and compliance benefits to doctors, insurance companies, and patients. But half of medical practices that purchase EMR software fail to successfully implement it.

Rapid development is a salient feature of this technology market: eighteen news items published by technology vendors of electronic medical record and billing systems were listed in May 2006 alone on BillingWiki/Technology. The eighteen news items split seven-to-eleven between web-based Application Service Provider (ASP) solutions and Client Server (CS)-based technologies. Upon briefly reviewing key factors defining each technology, we compare them along two criteria, namely implementation success likelihood and costs.

Client Server Architecture

CS model has been around since the early eighties of the twentieth century. Its architecture includes a central server deployed at the doctor’s office and multiple client stations to allow the users to interact with the application. The central server typically runs the database and some of the application logic, while the client stations perform much of the processing locally.

Such distributed processing architecture facilitates relatively high application performance, minimizing waiting time. The downside of CS architecture is that it requires the practice owner to establish necessary infrastructure upfront and to continuously manage it down the road. The infrastructure includes a central server, client terminals, and local network connecting the computers. The management tasks include installation, configuration, backups, restores, and periodic upgrades.

Therefore, a typical CS charge model involves upfront investment in infrastructure and application license and subsequent monthly support costs as well as significant time spent on completing the required tasks and maintaining the knowledge level required for successful operation of hardware and software.

To justify an investment, CS solution vendors offer traditional five-year return on investment (ROI) analysis. Such analysis compares EMR benefits derived from reduced office workload, clerical and clinical errors, improved coding, and faster cash flow, to infrastructure ownership costs.

The pitfall of this approach is that it ignores both technical and financial aspects of technology aging. Technically, Moore's law of digital technology development tells us that chip density doubles every 18 months. Therefore, computer hardware and technology developed on it becomes obsolete every 36 months. Can you justify an investment using five-year horizon in a technology, which might become outdated in three years?

Financially, investments make sense in goods that appreciate in value. Otherwise, renting business-necessary equipment or software often offers the double-pronged advantage of both freeing up cash flow and tax deductible business expense.

Application Service Provider Architecture

ASP model was introduced just before the turn of the new century. It is based on leveraging Internet. ASP architecture places the database server at the vendor’s site instead of the doctor’s office and allocates the majority of application logic to the server, reducing the amount of code needed to run the client. Such an approach allows the users to interact with the application directly via Internet browser, entirely eliminating the need for local office infrastructure and its management. The vendor manages all of the technology centrally and for all offices, including compliance, disaster recovery, installation, upgrades, backups, and restores.

The ability to configure systems and train and support personnel without ever visiting the practice sites, provides one of the most cost-effective EMR solutions. Deployed remotely over the Internet, ASP methodology avoids time-intensive, on-site disruptions. Online training allows physicians and staff to schedule for convenience, further minimizing practice disruption.

Obviously, ASP model creates major economies of scale eliminating the need for local IT staff. Typical charge model of modern Vericle-like solutions consists of monthly access fees and avoids investment in and ownership of associated infrastructure.

Yuval Lirov, PhD, author of "Practicing Profitability - Network Effect for Revenue Cycle Control in Healthcare Clinic and Chiropractic Office: Scheduling, SOAP Notes, Care Plans, Coding, Billing, Collections, and Audit Risk" (Affinity Billing) and "Mission Critical Systems Management" (Prentice Hall), inventor of patents in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Security, and CEO of Vericle.net - Distributed Billing and Practice Management Technologies. Yuval invites you to register to the next webinar on audit risk at BillingPrecision.com

4 Step Denial Management To Improve Performance Of Electronic Medical Billing Software And Service

Partial denials cause the average medical practice lose as much as 11% of its revenue. Denial management is difficult because of complexity of denial causes, payer variety, and claim volume. Systematic denial management requires measurement, early claim validation, comprehensive monitoring, and custom appeal process tracking.

In a high-volume clinic, the only practical way to manage denials is to use computer technology and follow a four-step procedure:

 

1. Prevent mistakes during claim submission. This can be accomplished with a built-in claim validation procedure including payer-specific tests. Such tests ("pre-submission scrubbing") compare every claim with Correct Coding Initiative (CCI) regulations, diligently review modifiers used to differentiate between procedures on the same claim, and compare charged amount with allowed amount according to previous experience or contract to avoid undercharging.

    

    

2. Identify underpayments. Underpayment identification involves comparison of payment with allowed amount, identification of zero-paid items, and evaluation of payment timeliness. The results of this stage should be displayed in a comprehensive underpayment report sorted by payer, provider, claim identification, and the amount of underpayment.

    

    

3. Appeal denials. Appeal management includes appeal prioritization, preparation of arguments and documentation, tracking, and escalation. Note that CCI spells out bundling standards but the number of standard interpretations grows in step with number of payers. Therefore, CCI provides justification basis for an appeal and every appeal must be argued on its own merits, including medical notes. Denial appeal process is typically managed with a custom process tracking system, such as TrackLogix.

    

    

4. Measure denial rates. "You cannot manage what you do not measure." By measuring denial rates and observing payment trends, you can see if your process requires modifications.

    

    

 

Denial risk is not uniform across all claims. Certain classes of claims run significantly higher denial risk, depending on claim complexity, temporary constraints, and payer idiosyncrasies:

 

1. Claim complexity
   1. Modifiers
   2. Multiple line items

    

    

2. Temporary constraints
   1. Patient Constraint, e.g., claim submission during global periods
   2. Payer Constraint, e.g., claim submission timing proximity to fiscal year start
   3. Procedure Constraint, e.g., experimental services

    

    

3. Payer idiosyncrasies
   1. Bundled services
   2. Disputed medical necessity

    

    

 

First, for complex claims, most payers pay full amount for one line item but only a percentage of the remaining items. This payment approach creates two opportunities for underpayment:

 

1. The order of paid items
2. Payment percentage of remaining items

    

    

 

Next, temporary constraints often cause payment errors because misapplication of constraints. For instance, claims submitted during the global period for services unrelated to global period are often denied. Similar mistakes may occur at the start of the fiscal year because of misapplication of rules for deductibles or outdated fee schedules.

Finally, payers often vary in their interpretations of Correct Coding Initiative (CCI) bundling rules or coverage of certain services. Developing sensitivity to such idiosyncrasies is key for full and timely payments.

Powerful Vericle-like technology helps manage denial appeals nationwide and stay current until complete problem resolution. Every time one billing problem is solved, the newly gained knowledge is encoded for recycling. Sharing billing expertise in a central billing knowledge base expedites future problem resolution.

Yuval Lirov, PhD, author of "Practicing Profitability - Network Effect for Revenue Cycle Control in Healthcare Clinic and Chiropractic Office: Scheduling, SOAP Care Plans, Coding, Billing, Collections, and Audit Risk" (Affinity Billing) and "Mission Critical Systems Management" (Prentice Hall), inventor of patents in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Security, and CEO of Vericle.net - Distributed Billing and Practice Management Technologies. Yuval invites you to register to the next webinar on audit risk at BillingPrecision.com.

Chiropractic Office Billing Software Precision Index Improves 3.3% in June - PHCS Replaces BCBS MI

PHCS replaced Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan on the Chiropractic Office Billing Software Precision Index (BPI). Overall, June 2007 BPI climbed 3.3%, bringing the index from 18.1 up to 14.8, almost 3% above the national average of 17.7%. Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan dropped from its lead position down to the 8th place. June BPI replaced eight BPI participants on the list of top ten performers. BPI guides chiropractic office managers and helps the development of both chiropractic billing software and billing performance standards.

BPI = 14.8 means that the average of ten top performing payers working with Billing Precision clients have 14.8% of Accounts Receivable beyond 120 days. BPI is a key billing performance characteristic, as it is a proxy of the claims that are never paid. Obviously, the lower is the index the better is billing performance. The table below also lists the top ten performing payers and their relative index as recorded in the Billing Precision's system.

 

• Billing Precision Index 14.8
• PHCS 0.3
• Qual Care 0.9
• Atlantic Administrators 1.2
• HereIU Welfare 8.2
• Unicare 9.6
• Principal Life Insurance 10.6
• CBSA 12.4
• Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan 13.6 (down from 3.2 in May)
• Blue Cross Blue Shield Illinois 15.9 (up from 16 in May)
• Medicare Illinois 30.4

 

May BPI dropped eight participants since May:

 

• GHI 11.5
• Humana 11.8
• Blue Cross Blue Shield Colorado 12.3
• Medicaid Pennsylvania 15.1
• Assurant Health 15.4
• United Health Care 22.6
• Medicare New Jersey 20
• Cigna 24.1

   

   

 

Although BCBS IL improved its index by 0.1%, its ranking dropped from seventh place in May down to ninth in June.

BCBS MI lowered its index from 3.2 in May and April down to 13.6 in June, dropping down to the 8th place in BPI.

June BPI added eight new participants since May:

 

• PHCS 0.3
• Qual Care 0.9
• Atlantic Administrators 1.2
• HereIU Welfare 8.2
• Unicare 9.6
• Principal Life Insurance 10.6
• CBSA 12.4
• Medicare Illinois 30.4

 

Coverage

BPI is rule-based, i.e., payer participation in the index is defined by dynamically rules at the time of computation and not by a static listing of specific payers. Therefore, any specific payer may start or discontinue participation in the index, dependent on satisfaction of rule's conditions.

Current selection of payers for participation in the BPI is based on fifty top-volume providers across all United States that have received Billing Precision services for more than six months and have more than two hundred claims in their current Accounts Receivable.

Update Cycle

BillingPrecision.com updates BPI on a monthly basis.

Volume Weighting

BPI is volume weighted, which is important to accommodate future growth of provided information, index combinations, and sensitivity across multiple indices.

Information Provided

BPI computes the percent of Accounts Receivable beyond 120 days. Note that national average across all medical specialties of percent of accounts receivable beyond 120 days is 17.7%.

Summary

Chiropractic Office Billing Software Performance Index helps the development of both chiropractic office billing software and billing performance standards. Chiropractic office managers can use the index to benchmark their billing performance and guide its improvement over time. Rule-based index definition allows for automated inclusion and exclusion of payers in the index based on payer attributes, such as numbers of processed claims, accounts receivable distribution, certain mix of CPT codes, or patient demographics.

Yuval Lirov, PhD, author of "Practicing Profitability - Network Effect for Revenue Cycle Control in Healthcare Clinic and Chiropractic Office: Scheduling, SOAP  Care Plans, Coding, Billing, Collections, and Audit Risk" (Affinity Billing) and "Mission Critical Systems Management" (Prentice Hall), inventor of patents in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Security, and CEO of Vericle.net - Distributed Billing and Practice Management Technologies. Yuval invites you to register to the next webinar on audit risk at BillingPrecision.com.

How To Choose The Right Billing Software For Your Small Business

If you own or manage a small business, you know how much time can be spent chasing down paper invoices, purchase orders and sales reports. It can be a real nightmare! That is where billing software comes in. It allows you to record all your customers, sales, invoices, inventory, suppliers (and more) in a PC-based system that is easy to use.

Deciding that you need to invest in good quality billing software is not hard. The tricky part can be choosing the right software package for your requirements. There are dozens of systems on the market claiming to be the holy grail of all your business problems, but choosing the wrong one can cost you valuable time and money.

Here's a simple checklist of 11 things to look for when purchasing billing software for your small business:

1) Customer records

This is the core element of any billing system. What sort of information do you need to record about your customers? There's the obvious things like address, phone, fax, mobile, email and web address. But what about marketing-related information like "how did the customer find out about your business?", and "standard discounts" for key clients.

2) Multiple contacts & Communication history

If many of your clients are businesses with multiple contacts, can you record individual contact details for each person? Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising, and statistics show that one of the most important factors in customer satisfaction is good customer service. Have you thought about keeping a log of all communication with your customers? It can be extremely helpful for improving internal communication within your business, and results in a more personalised service for your clients.

3) Multiple shipments

Obviously your billing software will need to create sales orders - that's a gimme. But do you need to record employee-related information, like who the "salesperson" was? What about flexible dispatch options, like multiple shipments per sales order?

4) Search facility

There's no point recording all this really useful information if there's no easy way to get to it. Check that the search facility is flexible and easy to use. What criteria can you search by? Here are a couple useful fields you may want to use: customer phone number, customer address, order date, dispatch date and dispatch consignment number.

5) Tax & regional support

Are you able to change the tax rates on an order line basis? What about currency formatting? If you and your clients are in Europe, then there's no point using billing software that can only handle US dollars.

6) Reporting

Producing accurate reports in seconds is something you no longer have to dream about. In fact it is a necessity in today's competitive market. Ensure your billing software can calculate information on sales based on date, salesperson and customer type. If you operate a B2B business, another key performance indicator may be dispatch totals, based on date, and employee. But one important thing to remember about software... you can only get out what you put in. So if you are looking for a specific report, make sure that information is being recorded by your billing software package.

7) Backup

I've seen first-hand how devastating a hardware failure can be. Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of data can be destroyed in seconds... if you do not have a backup procedure in place. Ensure you select a billing software package that has a built-in backup utility or works with your current backup system.

8) Online help & support

If you're a new computer user, then you'll definitely need a software package that has a comprehensive online and easy-to-use help system. Also check out what direct technical support is available through the vendor. Some software companies charge very high fees for personal support, so ensure you include this in your budget.

9) Budget

How much are you going to spend? That really depends on the complexity of the software package you are looking for. Smaller software packages can be found under US$100, and larger more complex packages can cost well over US$3000. Take a look at the number of customers you have, the number of sales orders you process, and choose a solution that fits your business.

10) Customisations

If you purchase an off-the-shelf billing software package, you may require minor customisations to suit your unique business processes and industry. Some software vendors offer customisations at quite reasonable prices. But ensure you include this cost in your budget.

11) Other features

What else do you want from you billing software? If you deal with fixed price products, you may need a comprehensive inventory management system allowing you to purchase stock, manage inventory levels and supplier relations. Some quality software packages also include a useful follow-up diary, allowing you to keep track of tasks and assign them to other staff members.

When choosing a billing software package for your business, make sure you check that it offers everything your business needs. And then the only thing you'll have to worry about is what to do with all your newly found spare time!

Josh Bender is an experienced database developer and qualified software engineer. He helps small-to-medium businesses streamline processes and improve efficiency using reliable and proven software solutions. Take a free test drive of 'InstantSalesTracker', easy-to-use billing software: http://www.InstantSalesTracker.com

Most Popular Electronic Medical Billing Software

In the last few years there has been an increase in pressure in the medical profession. Many people do not have medical insurance to pay their medical bills and this has resulted in medical offices having less money for hiring employees. Because of this, many doctor’s offices have started using third-party electronic medical billers to help improve their cash flow.

Other offices are purchasing electronic medical billing software so they can upgrade their own billing system. Being fully automated helps to cut down on office personnel and is more efficient than the former billing practices. The medical billing software comes with options such as printing the bill with late charges or just showing the number of days the bill is late. There are several software companies which provide billing software; you just need to know what features you need to fulfill your office requirements.

Sage Software: This company offers a billing software package which can be customized to suit the needs of the company. There is a section provided for address changes or to announce an upcoming event. It also has a feature to provide collection letters or letters reminding someone of their appointment time.

Collaborate MD: This software offers medical billing which uses the Internet for its day to day operations. The small monthly fee is affordable and the company always performs back-ups each day. This insures that you will not lose all of the valuable data which is stored in the system. With the click of the mouse you can view the reports needed to tell you what is going on with your business. This frees up time for the office staff since they do not have to spend hours running reports.

Medical ProClaim: This is a powerful program which is windows based and provides top notch medical claims processing. There is more than one version to choose from including medical practice, anesthesia, and dental. The low price for this software with its extensive features can help the medical practice office save a lot of time and money.

Choice Medical Billing Service: This is an outside medical billing firm that charges a percentage of the paid medical claims. Their goal is to provide a dependable billing service that has a high rate of success. They are not paid unless their clients get paid which can help reduce the costs of repeat billing. They offer a 100% guarantee that you will be satisfied with their service.

No matter what route you choose to take, electronic billing can help speed up the process of billing claims. You can choose software which is installed on your office computer which requires very little input from the staff. This software also compiles the reports needed for accounting so your staff has more time to perform other duties. This software is usually fairly inexpensive and provides updated versions for a nominal fee.

By choosing an outside firm or individual to do your billing you will be able to employee less staff and cut the costs of everyday operations. By having fewer employees you will not have to pay the salary or the benefits which are associated with each employee.

Kelly Hunter writes for http://www.electronic-medical-billing-guide.com for Electronic Medical Billing and has several years experience in research and writing.