Family practice medical service involves various field of medicine. Medical biller working for family practice should have complete knowledge of procedure codes and diagnosis that are used by medical physicians. This ensures that insurance companies are billing correctly and physicians are receiving maximum reimbursement for the service that they are rendering.
Coders must have a firm grasp on standard primary care coding as family practice keeps on facing various problems. You require an updated CPT manual to make the coders and providers aware of revised, deleted and new codes. For the billing part, there are few mistakes that should be completely avoided by physicians with family practice billing. Let’s see what these mistakes are that physicians are likely to perform while billing.
INACCURACIES DURING FORM FILLING
This mistake is likely to happen when physicians have a plenty of things to perform in a single day. A minor mistake can result in claim denial and refilling the claim. Family physicians are occupied in putting regular patient at ease and they forget to fill minor details properly and check whether diagnosis code are corresponding to the performed procedure. In order to avoid this you need to follow basic checklist and assign a staff member to double check all the information to avoid any kind of inaccuracy that can result in claim denial.
TURNING BLIND EYE TO PATIENT’S INSURANCE
Many time a claim gets rejected when family physicians turn blind eye toward the insurance policy of their known patients. They take those patients for granted as they have earlier verified their insurance and thinks that they have the same insurance plan which they use to have when they had paid their first visit. Few reason behind claim denials results from termination of patient’s coverage or the patient may not be eligible for a render service because of the insurance plan they have opted for. Don’t neglect the verification part, even if the patient is known to you.
UNDER BILLING
Most of the family physicians are not even aware of the billing rules that Non-Physician Practitioners perform. Along with this ignorance, the visit regulations that family physicians skips to bill can cost much. There are chance that both these factors compiled together amounts for 85% of the total charge. Improper coding because of not updating codes on regular basis or coding in a wrong way can result in billing errors.
NEGLIGENT AUDIT
The chart audit helps in tracking all different parts that are included in making a claim. Often with family physicians test and procedures get cancelled and the forms gets ahead with that information . When services are separately billed instead of under a single charge and conducting carless charge audits can result in costing practice dearly.
Physicians need to avoid the above discussed mistakes in order to get reimbursed properly for the services that they are rendering for years. You can even opt for a medical coding and billing company that can help you in maintaining revenue cycle and flourishing friendly relations with your patients.
