Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

First determine if a prospective or retrospective audit is best. Medical offices that don't conduct regular internal chart audits are asking for trouble, because internal audits are a key tool in helping you improve your billing accuracy and increase your overall profitability. Further, internal audits can reduce billing mistakes that may result in a payer audit. Internal chart audits provide practices with a snapshot of documentation, coding and billing accuracy. They allow you to identify areas where practice inefficiencies may be delaying payment or allowing for missed charges. Chart audits also help you keep your practice in line with CMS and private payer documentation and coding guidelines. Another plus: Regular auditing shows you how your practice would fare against an outside audit. Internal audits will uncover your areas of deficiency and then your practice can actively correct the errors and discrepancies. Consequences: Without regular auditing, you could be making regular [...]