Outside billing dept

I do the coding for our office, and we have an outside billing department who has access to our EMR / Billing software to process claims and post payments only. They have been changing a lot of information in the CPT®, ICD, Facility and insurance databases. The changes they have made were never told to me, and as I was coding claims there were errors on virtually every claim, I don't belive they should be permitted. One billing company I spoke to said that is absolutely NOT permitted, and yet the company we use is insisting that they MUST have access to do reports. - Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

re: Outside billing dept

Lock their employees out of the databases via user security permissions, or shop around.

re: Outside billing dept

YoungBlood, Thank you. I did delete their access, though they're trying to tell me that they need access to run year end reports.

re: Outside billing dept

You can run the reports, and forward copies to your service for data analysis.

re: Outside billing dept

I work for an outside billing agency. We key everything just as it sent to us. If something doesn't look right, we call and confer with the doctor before changing any coding. The CPT® and dx codes in the medical office and the billing office should always match. The billing company shouldn't be making any changes without conferring with you. No one in the billing office saw or treated the patient and sure isn't qualified to determine treatment or diagnosis. It might be time for a new billing company. I can send information if you're interested. :)

re: Outside billing dept

I am an outside medical biller. I am not quite sure why you would give access to an outside company to use your software. An outside billing agent should have their own software and they should be sending you reports of their activity.
Again, I don't know all the facts, but it seems very unprofessional to me. To reiterate another comment, the biller did not treat the patient and should not be changing anything without the doctors permission. If your clinical records do not match what was billed, it could be easily interpreted as insurance fraud.
Definitely time for a change!