Recoup Lost Revenue
- By admin aapc
- In AAPC In The News
- November 18, 2008
- Comments Off on Recoup Lost Revenue
Millions of dollars in potential revenue is lost every year due to billing errors, such as under-pricing, missed charges, under-coding, and unreimbursed claims. In essence, this is like offering medical services for free.
“As much as 3 to 5 percent of annual practice revenue is lot because the practice simply did not bill for services and procedures that the physicians performed,” said National Advisory Board President Deborah Grider, CPC, CPC-H, CPC-P, CPC-E/M, CPC-I, CCS, CCS-P (Physicians Practice, November 2008).
In her article, “Billing Problems? Consider Your Charge Ticket,” Grider says the key to not letting revenue dollars slip through your fingers is to:
- Use updated charge tickets
- Employ a dedicated certified coder
- Use current coding resources
A practice needs to employ good communication skills. “The key is consistent communication between the coder, data entry, billing staff and providers,” Grider said.
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Deborah Grider is correct that huge of potential revenue annually is lost due to either coding or billing error. Coding and billing staff must take their job seriously and use current reference materials to avoid possible rejection and they need to have good communication as mentioned by Deborah. Also, encounter forms/superbill must be cross-match with patient’s medical record to ensure that all charges are captured based on the documentation in the record. I believe that staff working on the data entry and billing unit must understand the human anatomy and physiology, medical terminology as well as knowledge in ICD-9-CM to be more effective in the claim processing.