Accounts Receivable|Payments - Articles

Find-A-Code offers fees and pricing for just about everything, this article will address two of some of the most common payment systems with CMS. (OPPS) -Outpatient Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment System. (MPFS)- Medicare Physician Fee Schedule The Fees section on each code page is determined on the type of services...

For Medicare purposes, an Ambulatory Surgical Center Resources (ASC) is a distinct entity that operates exclusively to furnish surgical services to patients who do not require hospitalization and in which the expected duration of services does not exceed 24 hours following admission. ASC payment groups determine the amount that...

One of the easiest things a practice can do to increase collections makes it easier for patients to pay by whatever method they have available at the time of the visit, says Christine Taxin Adjunct Professor at NYU Dental School and Owner of Links2Success.biz.

The net collection ratio is a calculation that shows the practice how much money they are collecting of the money, which they could have collected after insurance adjustments. It is an excellent measure of how well the practice is doing in collecting accounts receivable.

Do you routinely balance bill your patients? Do you send the statement as soon as you hear from insurance or do you wait until the end of the month? Balance billing your patients is essential for several reasons. First, it increases your revenue. It may not seem like a lot of money, but the...

One of the issues surrounding implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that impacts physician billing and payment and hasn’t gotten a lot of attention is what happens when a patient buys an insurance plan under the exchange, but then stops paying the premium. The answer may end up...

The Medicare deductible for Part B services will not change in 2014, remaining at $147 for the second straight year. The premium for beneficiaries will also remain unchanged at a base rate of $104.90, continuing the slowest five-year period of premium growth in Medicare Part B history, according to...

Previously, each Part B office had their own requirements regarding charging Medicare patients for missed appointments. TRICARE (TriWest Healthcare Alliance) regulations required providers to establish office practice policies regarding "no show" fees and required beneficiaries to sign an...

Increasing cash flow through the use of a modern, third-party collection agency is a must for practice survival. With states reducing government funding and third-party payers reducing allowables, more and more dollars are being transferred to patient responsibility. Practices now must trim...

Do you get a lot of emails and some you need to keep, some delete? Or maybe you have some documents in your drawer you reference once in a while but you have nowhere else to keep them but in your drawer or pinned on your walls? If you use Outlook Express at work, it's pretty much the same as...

Yes, if you are still printing out your AR, it can seem a bit over whelming. But cutting your AR into sections will give you more goals to reach for, and a better feeling as you get each section done. Yes, that word done. Something that is hard to say each month. For your insurance...

Call me crazy, but it is always exciting to me when I assist a practice in getting reimbursed on unpaid or delinquent claims. Claims that were denied, viewed as uncollectable, past filing deadline, or a multitude of other reasons. I even have a little dance that I do! Why not? We need to get...

I am asked alot or read alot where people want to get into medical billing. Some have gone to school and some haven't. Either way, there is more to it than just saying, I want to do that. I've been in this field for over 15 yrs and still learn something new every day. I even learn something I...

One of the most common sources of denials in physician practices is "patient not eligible for this date of service." The patient presents with an insurance card, the office copies the card, and stores the information. The practice provides service, and perhaps collects a copay, and then...

Woodcock & Associates has provided a diagnostic tool for you to download. Click the Resources link above to get the PDF file.

Practices should monitor their days in accounts receivable monthly and compare their days with the average days of other practices by specialty. Days in Receivables Outstanding: A/R/(last 3 months of gross charges/90) = Days in A/R Example: 3 months of charges= $927,009; A/R = 567,828 Average...

Run your aging report every month in summary and in detail by payer class. A good goal is to have less than 20% of your total accounts receivable 120 days or older. Practices with great accounts receivable policies and procedures can have a lower percentage than this. Remember, young is good in...

Accounts Receivable benchmark data includes a measurement of the gross collection rate, the net or adjusted collection ratio, an aging report, or an aged trial balance and the total days in accounts receivable outstanding. It is critical for physician practices to measure and track this data on a monthly basis and to compare that data with national standards.

The gross collection ratio is shockingly low for many practices. Physicians do not understand why they collect only 20, 40, 60 or 80 cents on the dollar. The percentage of collections based on the gross charges varies significantly by practice and specialty. It is influenced by a number of...