Medical coding can help you maximize reimbursement, but the process can often seem both complex and confusing. However, in order to ensure that your practice thrives, maximizing reimbursements is crucial. In addition to other challenges, the changes, clarifications, and constant revisions put into place by Medicare and related organizations, you can spend a great deal of your time struggling to stay current with CMS changes, and not just for coding procedures and policies. Whether you work to handle billing yourself or you have a dedicated staff member who is an expert at coding and billing, you may find that hiring a third party professional can improve your ability to capture reimbursements.
The Benefits of Hiring a Third Party Coding Service
Working with patients covered by Medicare has placed many providers in precarious circumstances these days, so maximizing reimbursements has come to the forefront for many medical and healthcare providers. When your budget is already feeling the strain of rates that have been cut multiple times and claims that have been denied because of coding changes, you may wonder if you have the resources to pay for additional services. However, if you shift the burden of coding to a third party, your staff will be freed to provide in-house services and you will experience many important benefits, such as:
- These professionals may be well-versed in ICD 10 coding, HCC coding, chart reviews, and even prospective or retrospective risk adjustments.
- The certified coders have the opportunity to study changes made in Medicare billing, so they are constantly up-to-date with current billing and coding requirements.
- A dedicated team of professional coders can speed up the reimbursement process, bringing you the timely reimbursements that you need.
- The coders work more accurately because this is their one area of focus, and they don’t have to constantly switch their focus between regular practice responsibilities and billing responsibilities.
- Your remaining coding and billing responsibilities will be easier.
What to Expect of Third Party Coders
There are some important duties that third party coders can carry out, leaving you free to serve as a health plan provider, rather than as a billing technician. When you work with a reputable company that links you to these certified coders, you can expect:
- Some companies will match you with a third party coder who will work at your facility.
- Access to the HCC coding software that they are using
- Comprehensive, accurate retrospective chart reviews
- Verifiable use of ICD 10 diagnosis codes
- Inclusion of Part C and Part D coding
- Concurrent coding
- Risk adjustment coding
Maybe two of the most important reasons to choose a company that links healthcare providers with third party coders are:
- Access to on-going expert help when questions and concerns arise
- The use of proprietary software to complete billing and to facilitate the capture of reimbursements
As it becomes increasingly difficult to capture Medicare reimbursements, the expert help of certified coders and the right software can provide a level of financial protection for your practice. Contact HCC Coders for more information.