Tips on How to Streamline Medical Billing for Maximum Efficiency

Running a medical clinic or doctor’s office requires a substantial amount of effort, even with a capable team. In addition to tending to patients, the staff must handle a variety of duties such as ordering supplies, verifying expiry dates, ushering patients to their rooms, responding to phone calls, and giving injections.

Large medical organizations, such as hospital networks, do not have to worry as much about ABA billing as they have departments that deal with such matters. Running a smaller clinic or a private doctor’s office is different, as you cannot hire a team on full-time salaries only to deal with patient billing and authorizations.

If you are a doctor and do not wish to take on the burden yourself or have your staff take it on, you may want to contemplate other options.

Below are the best ways to streamline medical billing for maximum efficiency at your clinic.

Leverage an All-In-One Solution

The best way to modernize your billing and other workflows is by using an all-in-one software to handle these tasks. Medical practices can use electronic health record systems that incorporate nearly all the features you need when providing patient services.

The best EHR programs allow you to create electronic patient charts while including features such as prescription management, referral submissions, lab orders, and much more. You can also run patient insurance through the system to check if they are valid and compatible with your clinic.

Rather than having your staff work on authorizations and billing on hard copies, they can do so electronically. When all this information ties in using one system, you will have an easier time completing tasks, managing patient medical records, and ensuring no errors occur.

Monitor Insurance Developments

A significant issue for any medical practice in the United States is keeping up with insurance changes. The private insurance landscape in the country is constantly changing, while many states also adjust their low-income offerings.

Such changes can significantly impact patient authorizations, as specific vaccines, medications, doctor’s visits, lab tests, or imaging tests may no longer be covered. Your staff may assume that a test that has never required authorization is approved for a patient, but a change to the rules since the start of the year may mean that prior authorization is necessary.

Connect Front and Back-Office Workflows

Another way you can boost the way that your office is functioning is by ensuring there is no disconnect between your front office and back office. Many clinics, even smaller ones, have a policy of having one or two staff members at the front while other staff handle the back office work.

For example, your practice may have a PSR at the front who checks patients in and helps them schedule appointments. You may also have medical assistants who handle the back office duties, including processing patient referrals, authorizations, labs, and prescriptions.

Even though your staff members may have distinct roles, they are often individual links within the same chain. If a PSR collects incorrect information, it may result in the medical assistant making a mistake when filling out a prior authorization form.

When there are open communication channels between your clinic’s front and back offices, you can better avoid such mishaps. Everyone at the clinic should consider themselves part of one team.

Seek Outside Assistance

One of the most effective ways to better manage ABA billing in 2023 is by leveraging outside help. Suppose you are running a private doctor’s office that only has two or three providers and a modest staff, in that case, you may not have the capability to handle patient billing and prior authorizations flawlessly.

Rather than trying to improve processes alone, hire outside help to ensure that patient care is not delayed. Small doctor’s offices do not have to hire a full-time staff member to handle these tasks, as they can seek assistance from medical billing specialists.

Such companies can provide services at a fixed rate, calculated monthly or annually, alleviating the burden on your staff. You can hand off all the related work to the outside company, or you can split up the work depending on the difficulty.

Getting help from a third party is the best way to provide your patients with the timely billing and authorization services they require while limiting expenses.