For most medical practitioners, their job is about providing the best care possible to their patients and studying and researching to find better treatments for diseases. However, there is another part of a medical practitioner’s job which might be as time-consuming as the others, but it is equally important:
Thankfully, with the advent of technology, medical professionals no more have to devote hours to sort out the paperwork. This is where medical billing technology comes to the rescue and automates all the processes through software. This results in fewer human errors in the paperwork and more time for the doctors to spend on their practice.
What is medical billing software made for?
Medical billing software is an application run on the computer that helps in automating the entire process of medical billing. To understand medical billing software better, it is important that you understand its features and all the purposes it serves. Let’s have a look.
- You should be able to pre-register the patients
When you want to ensure that you are doing the right billing, it is important to have all the patients registered. Your medical billing software should have all the information pertaining to your pre-registered patients. When you have to fill in details of every new patient manually, collect data, and perform all the administrative tasks, there is a lot of room for errors. But with medical billing software, this problem should be solved. Also, with the help of a friendly interface, you can check the medical benefits as well as the insurance eligibility of a patient easily. - Claim management should become easy
Managing the claims will include all the paperwork involving the treatments, diagnosis, and the medications given to a patient. With the number of patients with each having a different medical insurance company, managing the claims can get overwhelming. But with medical billing software, this should become easy. Once you have the software implemented, it will let the insurance company, the patient, and your office be synchronized while the medical claims are in process. - Managing accounts and finances
Managing finances and the accounts can be another challenging task that you need support for. With good medical billing software, you can streamline the tasks and get a lot of load off your back. Payroll, bills payable, payments due, online payment of bills, and a lot more can be done with the help of medical billing software. However, you will have to segregate how you manage all the employee-related data and all the accountings for the patient. - Should take care of the collections and billing
With medical billing software at your disposal, you can have the hard copies as well as the electronic copies of all the data. This way you can be aware of what the patients owe for their healthcare and how much the insurance company will be covering. Your medical billing software will take care of all the processing, updates, coding, and all miscellaneous expenses. Additionally, the software will also keep following up with the patients and keep reminding them to clear their dues. It will also manage the collections and the refusals to pay, as and when needed. - Should store all the records of patients
The software is a great way to have all your patient-related data stored in one place, like an archive. The software can serve as a centralized location, which you can visit digitally whenever patient-related information is required. The information can be anything from their medical history to their medications. - The software should help with scheduling
In addition to keeping all the patient records secure, it is also important that the medical billing software is capable of processing the visit requirements of the patients. It should be able to process when a patient has to visit, what appointments they have, and when should they be revisiting. You can easily do this by keeping records of the patients along with the billing details in the same interface that is easily accessible. - It should be on par with all the legalities
In case you are not up-to-date with the latest medical laws, there are chances that you might slip somewhere and land yourself in legal trouble. With medical billing software, you can be sure that your data is getting recorded safely and is in compliance with the HIPAA standards. - Should allow business smartness
When you have a good medical billing software implemented, it means you should not more have to worry about the history of patients, financial reports, or practice report. With good software, you should be able to get the basic reporting done and also get some customized reports.
Tips to pick the best medical billing software
When you are picking a medical billing software, you should be looking at increasing efficiency and, thus, increase the cash flow in the business. But, to ensure this, you must pick the best medical billing software. Remember that there are several providers in the market. But you need to go for the one that meets all your requirements. To do that, there are certain tips that you need to keep in mind while picking the software for your medical business. The important ones you must remember are
- Check the history of the provider
This will play a crucial role in the decision. You must research a bit to know how long the provider has been in the market. This will be an important factor to measure their credibility. A company with a good history and track record should be your pick. This is for a simple reason that the longer the provider has been in the market, the better the product it will deliver. - Read reviews
When you go online, you can come across a lot of fake reviews about a product or a company. There are many vendors who do this for better sales. But to make sure that you get the correct reviews, look for products that have been evaluated by medical professionals. By this, you will be making sure that you are not falling for a marketing gimmick. - Check for expertise in ICD-10
Look for how much proficiency the software vendor has with the International Classification of Disease Code - Version 10. This will help you pick the best software since not all medical billing software vendors will have an efficient number of employees who can work with ICD-10. If you go for software that is maintained by a team of less-efficient workers, it might prove to be a hurdle in smooth functioning and will defeat the purpose. - Determine ease with special practices
If you are into the general medical practice, you might not face any concerns regarding billings. But if you have any specialty practices, you might want to talk to your software provider beforehand about your requirements. You would want to make sure that the software works efficiently with your field of specialty or sub-specialty, too. Even if you are currently into general practice, one day you might want to expand and venture into specialties. That is when you might want to have the medical billing software that meets all your requirements. So, thinking this through before investing is important. - Count the number of staffers
The number of employees at the software vendor’s firm is also an important factor that you must not overlook. Go for a provider that has employed a varied range of workers. This would mean that the software has been developed under experts who are completely well-versed with their subject matter. - Check on the customer support
After-sales support is something that you need keep in mind. How responsive the vendor is will tell you a lot about how quickly they will be able to fix your problems or answer your questions regarding the software once you have purchased it. You should go for a provider that charges a fee for customer service. With this, you can be sure that you are in safe hands. - Determine the annual charges
How much will the annual charges be? Will there be any discounts in case the business brings in large volumes? Will the current fee structure change? These are some of the questions that you need to ask before buying a medical billing software.
Benefits of using medical billing software
It simplifies the paperwork, and that is the most important benefit that you can get out of a medical billing software. But other than this, there are certain additional benefits that you can enjoy with such software. Here are some of them listed:
- Automation
With the help of a medical billing software, you can automate a lot of tasks, which could have taken a lot of your time if done manually. Having a software do all the invoices and take care of all the claims is one of the most significant things that make you an advanced medical practitioner. - Low office cost
The amount you would be investing in a medical billing software might seem to be high at first. But when you compare it with the cost that you would have to bear for hiring an employee to do those tasks, you would understand that getting a medical billing software is a wiser and more cost-effective decision. After all, when you get an employee, you will be paying their monthly salary, a part of their social security, their insurance cost, and a lot of other expenses.
Best billing software to consider
When you go out to purchase a medical billing software, it is highly likely that you will be bombarded with a lot of options. So, knowing which ones to pick and which ones to pass on. A good medical billing software should be able to meet all the requirements of your practice. So, here are some good options you can choose from:
- AdvancedMD
This is an outsourced solution that operates on the Cloud. You will not have to sign any long-term contracts; this provider offers a lot of flexibility in terms of managing the software. One of the most spectacular features of AdvancedMD is that it allows you to delegate and manage the services. You can involve your own team as well as the AdvancedMD’s team for management. If you get help from the AdvancedMD team, they will even pitch in their suggestions on how to improve financial performance. You also need not worry about the scalability of the software since AdvancedMD can keep with the pace of growth of your practice. The interface of the software is extensive. Therefore, it could require a certain level of training to become well-versed with the interface. - DrChrono
Just like AdvancedMD, you can easily outsource all billing systems or keep it managed by an in-house team. DrChrono is a great option for those who might not be sure if they need a service for full revenue cycle management. One of the most impressive features of drchrono is that it can ensure that the same codes are being used for the bills across all procedures. The pricing of the service can vary based on how many patients you cater to. But you do not have to bear any initial training cost, unlike in the case with AdvancedMD. - Human Medical
This is a Cloud-based application that will not only serve as a billing management service but also give you a complete solution for your revenue cycle management. With Human Medical, you can get coding to ICD-10, which means you do not have to spend much time doing the administrative work. The billing process by the Human Medical is thorough since it uses a combination of human guidance and software intelligence. This means that you can be absolutely sure that your bills are error-free since you can spot any problems with the bills easily and correct them before making the entry.
