Salary Ranges for those in the Medical Billing Industry
Monday, June 8th, 2009Typically when you are visiting the doctor for a routine visit, you only think about what you see when you go. You often think of the receptionist checking you in for your appointment, the nurses that ask all the preliminary questions, and obviously the doctor that you see. But there is so much more that goes into that one visit than what meets the eye. Behind each and every doctor’s office stands a medical billing company that takes care of charging each patient and collecting their money from the patients and more importantly from the insurance companies involved.
It is vital that each diagnosis and procedure is accurately coded to ensure proper payment. It is this coding that communicates to the insurance company exactly what the doctor has done for the patient. The coding also indicates the reason why a procedure was performed. If a diagnosis or procedure is entered incorrectly, the insurance company will not pay the claim. The medical billing companies must then review the file to find if there is a mistake in coding. If the coding is accurate, they must then confer with the doctor to ensure that the diagnosis and procedures given are correct for that patient. This leads to an increase in the time it takes for the physician to be paid and for the patient to receive a final bill. In addition, the patient may receive an incorrect bill if the claim is erroneously denied. This can lead to frustration for the patient and doctor.
Completing insurance paperwork is time-consuming and sometimes confusing. Each diagnosis and procedure must be assigned a proper code for the insurance company to pay the claim. An assistant in a doctor’s office may not have the proper training to complete this paperwork. The doctor does not receive any of this training in medical school. Outsourcing this work allows staff to focus on patients, scheduling and managing files. In addition, a person only working on claims does not have these distractions. They become familiar with the insurance company’s policies and procedures.
The next reason to use a medical billing service is very important to the medical professionals’ bottom line. Uncollected medical fees can force good doctors to go out of business and close medical clinics that are needed in our neighborhoods. Billing companies can act as collection agencies using all the legal means at their disposal to collect fees from reluctant debtors. The money they collect from late payers may make the difference in keeping a clinic or hospital in the black.