An Essential Guide to the REVEX Bolt-on Services

Nowadays, growing and managing a successful SNF, home health, or hospice organization requires you to automate and streamline activities across the business. And your financial practices are no exception.

Financial process automation can improve your team’s efficiency, provide you access to critical managerial information, and increase your profitability. That’s why so many organizations have relied on our REVEX AR automation software. Automating your AR management with REVEX provides your organization with the real-time, interactive AR data you need to manage and grow a successful organization.

If you’re new to REVEX, learn more about how your team can experience a more innovative way to manage your AR in our previous blog.

Suppose your organization has been leveraging the power of REVEX for a while. In that case, you already know that the efficiency, simplified workflows, and accelerated collections available with REVEX are top-notch. But are you aware that REVEX offers 4 bolt-on services that can help you enhance your REVEX software experience?

Take your team’s efficiency to the next level with our essential guide to the 4 REVEX bolt-on services.

Essential Guide to the REVEX Bolt-on Services

REVEX provides your organization with the efficiencies of outsourced AR data management with the level of support that fits your needs. Whether you are using REVEX as a standalone AR tracking system or taking advantage of our investigation support or denial management, our 4 bolt-on services are always available. And, you can pick and choose which services you need.

Let’s take a deeper dive into the REVEX bolt-on services.

Text Statements to Patients

Expedite your patient’s collection, gain greater access to the financially responsible party, and improve your patient’s experience.

That may seem too good to be true, but with our text statements services, we send your patient statements directly to patients (or their financially responsible party) via text message. Statement notifications sent via text message allow the financially responsible party easy access to issuing payment without waiting on an email or paper statement. This on-demand service can help resolve open balances more quickly and improve the patient and family’s experience.

On-Demand Billers

Were you in need of medical billing staff…yesterday?

Our on-demand medical billers provide exclusive access to professional billers with experience in revenue cycle processes when and where you need them. Both providers and billing groups can utilize this service to scale their teams without investing in hiring internal staff or making costly contracts with other medical billing vendors.

Private Pay Collections

Collect more from your private pay accounts.

Turning over private pay accounts to a collection agency after it has become apparent that you’re not making any progress may help you recover around 14% of the accounts. With our private pay collections service, we help providers close at least 16.4%, if not more, of their private accounts. All while offering exceptional customer service focused on building and supporting a long-lasting relationship.

RAC Audit Denial Management

Prevent recoupments based on medical necessity.

Gain unrestricted access to our RAC audit professionals, who will carefully review the post-payment audits and coordinate a response for any missing information required for a response. Plus, they will track the progress of the audit to ensure the provider wins their appeal.

No matter what level of service your facility may require, you can expect that REVEX and our team of experts will support you. Start automating your AR or learn more about our bolt-on services by visiting mcarevex.com.

REVEX – AR Management Software

REVEX is a revolutionary AR management platform designed to help skilled nursing facilities and hospice and home health organizations streamline the management of their AR tracking process. By combining the control of in-house medical billers and the efficiency of outsourcing data processing, REVEX provides you with the real-time, interactive AR automation you need to manage and grow a successful organization.

Professional medical billers designed REVEX with extensive experience managing SNF, home health, and hospice AR. Our intuitive program provides a fresh approach to AR management software, allowing you to create streamlined workflows for your medical billers and insightful dashboards in minutes.

We begin by extracting your accounts receivable data from your patient management system and securely post it to our HIPAA-compliant portal. From our secured portal, you and your medical billers can access information and reporting that allows you to provide consistency and transparency in all you do.

Free up your medical billers to focus on more meaningful responsibilities and streamline your AR management by incorporating REVEX into your medical billing process.

The Value of REVEX

The key to a financially successful healthcare organization is efficient, automated AR management. REVEX helps remove any obstacles that prevent timely cash collections while enabling better communication and visibility your leaders need to monitor the organization.

With automated AR management and our optional bolt-on services, REVEX helps improve your cash flow, efficiency, transparency, and more.

Improve Cash Flow.

Increase cash and decrease days in AR with automatic daily claims updates and next step instructions on all denied claims

Boost Efficiency.

Sort AR by claim status, date of service, payor, amount, and urgency to manage, prioritize, and delegate accounts to specific billers.

Increase Transparency.

Know the status of any claim at any time with real-time notes and claim status updates accessible via our cloud-based servers.

MCA – Expert Help for Difficult Claims

Our unique combination of highly-skilled billers, long-standing SNF, hospice, and home health billing experience, and our dedicated support team makes MCA a reliable partner to help support your most complicated claims. When you leverage REVEX to help automate your AR management, the experts at MCA are just a click away. Free up your medical billers to focus on more meaningful responsibilities by incorporating REVEX into your AR management process.

Together, we can pave a better financial future for your facility.

Drop us a note or call us at 866-609-5880 to learn more about how MCA can help your SNF, hospice, or home health organization automate your AR management process. Plus, ask how you can use REVEX for free!

About MCA Medical Billing Solutions

MCA is a full-service revenue cycle management company dedicated to helping skilled nursing, home health, and hospice facilities advance their revenue cycle management. We provide claims creation, submission, and follow-up to Medicare, Medicaid, and all commercial insurers.

When choosing MCA, you can expect experienced business insight, skilled billing intelligence, data extraction and management, and cloud-based documentation. MCA is here to help you streamline your revenue cycle process to produce consistent, high-quality outcomes.

Does it feel like your SNF’s aging AR is unmanageable or trending that way? Do you feel like your team is working harder and receiving lower reimbursement?

Unfortunately, SNF aging AR collection is not getting any easier. There are changing government guidelines, increased numbers of residents requiring specialized care, and low reimbursement rates.

On top of that, there is a good chance that after you’ve cared for your residents and their families, the billing process won’t go as smoothly as you’d like. Unless you have direct oversight of every step in your collections process. But who has the time and energy for that?!

So, it’s understandable that your aging AR has gotten out of hand. Or your days in AR are creeping up.

But, there is some good news!

You can improve your AR collections and decrease your AR management costs! You can improve your reimbursement by streamlining your processes and putting a team of skilled medical billers to work. Bonus, you can recapture revenue that you previously had to write off.

SNF Aging AR Collections

Many SNFs get stuck untangling their AR aging report or are too busy to work on their aging accounts. They reach for the most straightforward solution…writing off their aging AR.

With a strategic plan and support from an experienced medical billing company, you can get your aging AR cleaned up. Many SNFs will see an injection of cash and decrease days in AR in as little as 30 days.

Discover How MCA Can Help

Outsourcing support to clean up your aging AR can provide you with the peace of mind that your business office is running like a well-oiled machine. When outsourcing your aging AR management to MCA, our skilled medical billers will review your AR and provide solutions to streamline your processes and improve reimbursement.

By selecting MCA to manage your aging accounts receivable, you can expect:

A Methodical Evaluation of Your Current AR

When MCA takes on your aging AR collections, our first step is to complete a systematic review of your unresolved claims and a complete AR analysis. We work to identify every recoverable claim so that we can get to work on it.

And we mean every claim! Our goal is to find the most opportunities for reimbursement possible. Whether from high-dollar medical claims or more minor claims, they all add up for our customers.

A Prioritized Plan to Optimize Recovery

MCA’s highly skilled medical billers establish a prioritized plan to ensure that we optimize your potential recovery from your aging AR. We ensure that all qualified claims are corrected and scheduled to pay before they reach “Timely Filing Limits”.

Our proprietary AR management software, REVEX, allows us to manage, prioritize and delegate accounts to optimize your recovery. We can prioritize your AR by claim status, date of service, payor, and amount of urgency to ensure collection on all possible accounts.

Successful Claims Correction and Resubmission

Our dedicated billers work to ensure that every claim is reviewed, corrected, and resubmitted when necessary. And we help to identify the reasons that may have caused your errors so that you can eliminate them in the future.

But, we don’t stop there! After making any necessary corrections or clarifications, we work to appeal those claims with the insurance company or government payor to ensure revenue recovery.

Aging AR Collections is One of Our Specialties

It’s a well-known fact that the longer a bill goes unpaid, the less likely you’ll be able to recover any revenue from it. Outstanding claims lead to a tremendous amount of lost revenue every year.

MCA’s dedicated team of skilled medical billers are exceptional at collecting on what others may consider uncollectible. But, rather than giving up on your aging AR, our team can help you take immediate action towards identifying, investigating, and resolving your unpaid claims.

With help from MCA, you can stop stressing about your aging AR. You can decrease your write-offs and positively impact your SNF’s bottom line.

Save Time and Increase Efficiency

You’ll no longer need to reactively chase outstanding payments and utilize valuable team members to manage your aging AR. Instead, you’ll be able to follow a streamlined plan that allows you to save time and increase the efficiency of your staff.

Recapture Earned Revenue

Increase your cash flow and instantly become more profitable with an immediate reduction in aging AR.

Receive Cleaner and More Meaningful AR Reports

No more overwhelming, unmanageable AR reports. You’ll receive a clean, action-oriented AR report that will provide meaningful data to identify trends and concerns.

Get a Proven Model That Works

Gain access to a team of experts who utilize a proven aging AR collection model that works. Don’t take our word for it. Take Chris, Diane, and Andrew, for example.

MCA helped us collect $450K in old Medicare and Managed Care claims within the first 90 days of our engagement. Allowing us to reduce our days in AR by 7 days.

Chris from Manhattan

We had $425K in old Medicare, Managed Care, and Medicaid claims, and within our first 60 days of working with MCA, we collected our outstanding payments and reduced our days in AR by 5 days.

Diane from Washington DC

Within our first 60 days of working with MCA, we collected $300K in old Medicare and Medicaid claims allowing our internal billers to focus on our current claims.

Andrew from Illinois

MCA – Expert Help to Collect On Your Aging AR

Our unique combination of highly-skilled billers, long-standing SNF billing experience, and proprietary technology makes MCA a reliable partner in recovering your aging AR.

Together, we can pave a better financial future for your skilled nursing facility.

Drop us a note or call us at 866-609-5880 to learn more about how MCA can help your skilled nursing facility clean up your aging AR.

Providing outstanding medical care is at the core of all skilled nursing facilities (SNF) missions. However, providing exceptional care for your patients is just one part of running a SNF. Your revenue cycle management (RCM) also needs to be optimized to provide the high levels of care your patients require.

Running an efficient, highly optimized RCM means that you can expedite reimbursement while keeping expenses low. Optimizing your RCM ensures that your submitted claims get paid and you can continue to provide excellent patient care.

There are many areas within the RCM process that you can evaluate for optimization opportunities. We’ll begin by exploring three simple ways (and a few other bonus ideas) that you can start optimizing your skilled nursing facility’s RCM.

3 Simple Ways SNFs Can Optimize Their RCM

Optimizing your skilled nursing RCM allows you to increase your opportunities to capture missed revenue while enhancing your patient experience. That’s why it’s so important to keep your RCM process as free from issues as possible.

Begin making your RCM processes both efficient and effective with these 3 simple tips:

1. Communication is Critical

Communication is the act of transmitting information from one person, place, or group to another. Yet, the type, clarity, quality, and regularity of communication from the front to the back of your RCM are critical.

I’m guessing you didn’t think communication would be our first suggestion. You may have thought about denial management, technology improvements, or insurance verification first. But, communication delays or roadblocks can impact your entire RCM process.

Improve your team’s communication by ensuring you have these processes in place:

Clearly define tasks and responsibilities for both individuals and groups.
Schedule regular status updates with a formal agenda available in advance.
Utilize software to track claims status, capture notes, and communicate issues.
Provide opportunities for regular feedback on what is and is not working.
Communicate in multiple formats to adapt to various communication styles.

2. Streamline Workflows

For optimal revenue cycle management, it’s essential to review workflows regularly to ensure all of your processes are working smoothly. It may seem easier to address issues as they crop up, but it is safer and more efficient to optimize your workflows preventatively.

Begin by asking yourself these questions to identify workflows that may require attention.

How can our processes be more efficient? How can we reduce waste? How can we improve our current performance levels? How can we maximize our cash flow?

In addition to regularly reviewing workflows, you may also want to consider automated workflow management tools that enable streamlined communication and information sharing.

Revenue cycle management process tools can support:

Concurrent coding, editing, and retrospective coding capabilities
High-quality data collection
Denial reasons and remedy guidance
Compliance reporting
Data security reporting

3. Benchmarking and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Medical billing KPIs allow you to monitor your revenue cycle on a consistent schedule and compare your processes to industry standards. Tracking your KPIs will equip you with regular performance information to quickly identify bottlenecks, prevent avoidable issues, and reduce delays.

It’s important to understand your financial health and the KPIs that allow you to continuously monitor days in collections, denial percentages, account balances, and more. Giving your financial leaders critical information to identify deficiencies and implement solutions to resolve issues.

There are a few KPIs that we believe every SNF should be monitoring. Learn more about these KPIs and why they are important here.

Here are a few bonus ideas

There are so many simple ways to optimize your SNF RCM that we couldn’t resist throwing in a few more ideas.

Leverage integrated technology systems.

Technology will not solve all of your optimization issues. However, leveraging information system features can help improve efficiency, streamline processes, and prepare you to face challenges.

For example, automating AR management using REVEX can help you improve your cash flow, efficiency, and transparency, allowing you to create streamlined workflows for your billers and insightful dashboards in minutes.

Don’t forget about your aging AR.

Your accounts receivable can get out of hand quickly. And, the older your AR becomes, the more difficult it is to collect. Make writing off your old AR a thing of the past with innovative ways to collect these medical claims from REVEX.

Keep your patients and their families in mind.

Understanding your patient preferences is vital. Some want everything electronically. Others would prefer a paper copy or to talk with someone over the phone. The more satisfied your patients are ultimately lead to improvements in your RCM.

Optimize Your SNF RCM With Outsourcing Support From MCA

Following these 3 simple tips to optimize your RCM will not solve all of your issues. But, they will help you move forward in a better, more efficient way. Ensuring that your submitted claims get paid faster, with fewer denials, to continue to provide excellent patient care.

Optimizing your SNF RCM by outsourcing with MCA can help you streamline your revenue cycle processes to produce consistent, high-quality outcomes. We solely help skilled nursing facilities experience the benefits of outsourcing, including decreased costs, strengthened cash flow, and reduced write-offs.

You can expect that MCA will process your claims and provide reporting the right way, the same way, every day, helping you to optimize your skilled nursing facility.

Drop us a note or call us at 866-609-5880 to learn more about how MCA can help optimize your skilled nursing facility’s RCM.

About MCA Medical Billing Solutions

MCA is a full-service revenue cycle management company dedicated to helping skilled nursing facilities advance their revenue cycle management. We provide claims creation, submission, and follow-up to Medicare, Medicaid, and all commercial insurers.

How would your Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) answer this question?

Are you meeting your financial goals?

Perhaps you’d rattle off a set of metrics you’re tracking. Or, maybe you’re not sure how to answer this question. Either way, it’s almost impossible to answer with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to this question. To adequately answer this question, you need to have an in-depth knowledge of the metrics your facility should use to measure financial success.

If your facility is outsourcing your medical billing or handling its billing in-house, it’s always important to have a good understanding of your financial health. It’s important to be able to identify where your facility is performing well and where you could make some improvements. That’s why identifying and monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) for medical billing is critical.

What is a Key Performance Indicator?

A key performance indicator (KPI) is a measurable value that indicates how well you’re achieving key business objectives. In our case, how well your medical billing and coding are performing.

KPIs can be used to track a variety of business objectives. But, the key (pun intended) to a strong KPI is that it must be measurable. The most effective KPIs provide you with data points that you can compare over time, help you to identify trends, and potential improvement opportunities.

Medical billing KPIs provide a way for you to monitor a part of your revenue cycle on a consistent schedule. Helping you determine whether you’re on target to achieve your established goals. Additionally, KPIs provide a basis for decision making, provide focus areas for operational improvements, and help you focus on what matters most.

How to Choose the Right KPIs for Your Facility

When selecting a KPI, it’s crucial to understand the metrics that are most important to your medical billing department. For example, Accounts Receivable (AR) might seem like an easy choice. But, there are more specific AR metrics that you can drill down into. Metrics that will help improve decision-making and operational management in the future.

To begin, assess the KPIs that your medical billing team is currently tracking. This will provide you with a snapshot of where you’re at. And, help clarify if the KPIs you are currently monitoring provides you enough information, are measurable, and support your operational imperatives.

Keep in mind that monitoring too many KPIs can be overwhelming. Focus on the KPIs related to the work your medical billing and coding team does. Narrowing your focus will make any opportunities for improvement clear.

5 Medical Billing KPIs Your SNF Should be Tracking

Regularly monitoring your medical billing KPIs helps ensure that your facility is collecting what’s expected. But, there are a few KPIs that every SNF (or outsourced medical billing partner) should be monitoring. The following 5 medical billing KPIs are a great place to start.

1. Collection Performance

Collection performance is a snapshot of your SNFs financial health and efficiency. Associated with days in AR, this measures how effective your SNF is at collecting all forms of reimbursement for services. This is typically the amount owed after payer contract adjustments have been made.

If a facility has a low collection rate it’s likely an indicator that there is a persistent problem gathering revenue. The facility could be struggling with revenue collection due to late filings, coding errors, bad debt, or claim underpayments.

MCA strives to have facilities reach a 90% collection rate in their first 30 days and 98% in their first 60 days from the submission date.

2. Days in AR

A SNFs accounts receivable (AR) provides insights into how long it takes to collect on balances after billing. This includes payments that have not yet been collected for both insurance reimbursements and out-of-pocket services.

Healthy days in AR metric should be between 30 and 40 days. This ensures that your operational processes are streamlined and your facility is getting paid faster. If your days in AR are greater than 40 days this could indicate billing and coding errors or process inefficiencies that need to be addressed.

3. AR Greater Than 120 Days

The percentage of AR over 120 days helps to illustrate how healthy the AR is. After 90 days, outstanding bills and claims become much more difficult to collect. And, it’s unlikely you’ll collect any AR over 120 days which will result in a write-off.

If more than 15% of your claims are spending 90 to 120 (or more) days in AR, this indicates there are inefficiencies in your billing process. Also, tracking the percentage of AR over 90 to 120 days allows your billing team to review these claims to reduce the risk of a future write-off.

4. Denial Rates

Denial rates help show how many claims are denied. Denial rates in the U.S. healthcare industry tend to range from about 6 to 13%. And a large percentage of claims denials are avoidable with medical billing and coding process improvements.

If your denial rate is right, it’s important to drill down into the reasons. For example, a high percentage of your denials come from a particular payer, there may be issues to resolve with that payer. MCA recommends that your average denial rate should be less than 5% each month.

5. Clean Claim Rate (CCR)

Clean Claim Rate (CCR) indicates the quality of claims data being collected and reported. A high CCR means decreased cost, less time in AR, and improved cash flow. A low CCR means that your staff is investing extra time in reworking and resubmitting the claim.

Claim rejections are costly and a CCR lower than 95% means your facility is losing revenue. On average, SNFs have a CCR that varies between 75% to 85%. This indicates that approximately 15 – 25% of submitted claims must be worked twice each month.

MCA – Expert Help to Improve Your SNF Billing KPIs

Identifying and monitoring KPIs for medical billing is important and a great first step. Yet, making improvements to KPIs that you are struggling with can be a challenge.

MCA is here to help! We’re skilled nursing medical billing experts and we work with clients every day to improve and monitor import KPIs. We provide regular reporting and support meetings to help ensure you are meeting and exceeding your operational metrics.

Drop us a note or give us a call at 866-609-5880 to learn more about how MCA can improve your SNF billing KPIs.

About MCA Medical Billing Solutions

When you choose MCA you can expect experienced business insight, skilled billing intelligence, data extraction and management, and cloud-based documentation. MCA is here to help you streamline your revenue cycle process to produce consistent, high-quality outcomes.

References

“Over Third of Hospital Execs Report Claim Denial Rates Nearing 10%.” 7 Jun. 2021, https://revcycleintelligence.com/news/over-third-of-hospital-execs-report-claim-denial-rates-nearing-10. Accessed 20 Apr. 2022.

How to better understand the complexities of DME billing

Efficiency is the key to success for Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs). You’re required to find innovative ways to improve your patient experience while also reducing costs.

If you are a DME provider or your facility does Durable Medical Equipment (DME) billing then you already understand the importance of efficiency. Keeping current on payor guidelines and policies and ensuring compliance for DME billing is very challenging.

Learning to maintain an efficient DME billing process and clean claims submissions can require a significant investment in highly skilled resources and time. If you don’t have an experienced DME biller, you’re likely to see a large number of rejected claims, lower reimbursement rates, decreased revenue, and increased costs.

Understanding the complexities of DME billing requires top-level coding, an efficient billing process, and constant employee education. Let’s break down some helpful tips so you can better understand the complexities of the DME billing process.

What is DME Billing?

According to HealthCare.gov, Durable Medical Equipment (DME) is “equipment and supplies ordered by a healthcare provider for everyday or extended use.” DME may include oxygen equipment, wheelchairs, crutches, blood testing strips for diabetics, or walkers to name a few. All DME requires a prescription from a licensed healthcare provider with the intent to use in the home.

DME billing is the process of submitting and receiving payment from an insurance company for a patient’s approved medical equipment.

DME vs. Medical Billing and Coding

DME billing is a complex and lengthy process that requires specialized training beyond traditional medical billing and coding. DME billers must have in-depth knowledge of various medical situations and the specialized DME that accompany them.

Below are four key differences between DME and medical billing and coding.

DME billing uses HCPCS (Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System) Level II codes. In general, medical billing only uses HCPCS Level I codes.

Modifiers are mandatory for DME billing. Modifiers determine if a claim will be denied or not. For medical billing, modifiers are optional and typically will not directly impact the claim.

There are DME codes to specify renting versus owning equipment. And, the codes are designated to specific items, not procedures.

DME reimbursement is a complex and lengthy process requiring a great deal of documentation and approvals. Whereas medical reimbursement is typically based on the revenue codes or the procedure codes.

4 Helpful Tips to Improve DME Billing

It’s quite evident that DME billing is complex. Due to its complex nature, it can take time to fully understand.

Improve your DME efficiency by following these 4 helpful tips.

1. Provide Correct Documentation

It may seem simple, but providing correct documentation is everything when billing for DMEs. If you are unsure what documentation is required, we recommend checking with the insurance company first.

Tip: HCPCS Level II codes ending in “99” require additional supporting documents when submitting the claim. When you see this code ensure that the correct paperwork is included to avoid the insurance company suspending the claim.

2. Establish Medical Necessity

For a patient to receive a DME, it must be medically necessary. Meaning that their medical record indicates that it’s a medical necessity to assist the patient in the treatment of their diagnosed medical condition.

Tip: Check a patient’s policy and Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs) to determine what needs to be included as proof of medical necessity.

3. Stay Up-to-Date On DME Billing Policies

DME payor policies change frequently. Staying up-to-date on these policies will help you to run a smooth DME billing operation.

Tip: Use the additional DME billing resources below to help stay up-to-date on DME billing policy changes.

4. Validate Insurance Coverage

Before the patient receives a DME, validate their insurance and understand what devices are covered. Validating the insurance coverage early ensures you are billing for the correct items and have the necessary documentation.

Tip: Validate your patient’s DME insurance before seeing the DME provider.

Additional DME Billing Resources

Stay current on DME billing updates and changes with these additional resources:

HCPCS Level II Coding Procedures

CMS DME Billing Equipment Center

Federal Register for DME Billing Updates

Outsourcing Your DME Billing with MCA

DME billing requires an in-depth knowledge of payor policies and procedures. Additional DME billers must understand reimbursement standards and coverage guidelines from Medicare, Medicaid, commercial, and private insurance plans.

Maintaining a DME billing process can require a significant investment in both time and money. Outsourcing your DME billing services can alleviate both financial and time constraints. Allowing you to focus on other areas of your facility.

Benefits of Outsourcing your DME Billing

Outsourcing your DME billing provides several benefits including:

Improved DME collection rates
Reduces operational costs
Decreases your days’ sales outstanding (also known as days’ in AR)
Frees up capacity to focus on other operational requirements

Your facility might benefit from DME billing services if:

You struggle to find, retain, and educate a DME biller.
You find it difficult to stay current on DME billing regulations.
You have recurrent DME billing errors including coding, insufficient documentation, or poor claims management.
Your collection rate is lower than you would like.

MCA Medical Billing Solutions may be able to help. At MCA, we have dedicated DME billing experts who partner with our clients to fulfill their DME billing needs. We can help you with all or part of your DME billing needs.

Drop us a note or give us a call at 866-609-5880 to learn more about how MCA can help you improve your DME billing.

About MCA Medical Billing Solutions

References

“Durable Medical Equipment (DME) – HealthCare.gov Glossary.” https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/durable-medical-quipment-dme/. Accessed 24 Mar. 2022.

“Durable medical equipment (DME) coverage – Medicare.gov.” https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/durable-medical-equipment-dme-coverage. Accessed 24 Mar. 2022.

Every facility strives to build a group of high-performing professionals. But, the widespread use of technology and a global pandemic have increased the demand for remote work opportunities. In fact, some estimates believe that more than 60% of American employees have the option to work virtually. And, that number is only growing.

But, building a high-performing virtual team presents unique challenges. After all, when managing a virtual team you eliminate your face-to-face interactions, interrupt your culture, and introduce new technology. All bringing new challenges for your team and your managers.

The medical billing field isn’t immune to the changing demands for remote work opportunities. In early 2020, many facilities had to migrate non-patient-facing employees into virtual opportunities. Yet, many facilities continue to use traditional management methods designed for on-site employees. Leaving employees feeling disconnected, creating inefficiencies, and impacting your bottom line.

If you’ve had the opportunity to manage a virtual team or are dipping your toe into managing virtual employees, let’s review 6 tips to help you create a high-performing virtual team.

Tips for Managing A Remote Medical Billing Team

As a manager of a virtual team, you need to ask yourself how you will continue to motivate and inspire your team when you can’t be with them all the time. How will you communicate? How will you measure productivity? How will you stay connected on an individual and team level?

These are great questions that require you to identify and implement new strategies. So, not only are you no longer face-to-face, but now you need to consider changes in employee engagement, communication, and culture.

It can feel like a lot to take on! Let’s start by reviewing 6 tips to help you develop a high-performing virtual team of medical billers.

1. Communication is Key

Communication with your team is everything! You can no longer assume that how you communicated when you were in the office will work. It’s important to enable an open dialog with your team about how they receive communication best. Do they prefer a quick text message or online chat when you need something? Do they like to have an email to refer to later? Or, do they prefer to talk through questions over the phone or in a video chat?

Plus, don’t forget about yourself. What type of communication do you want from your team? Don’t be afraid to let them know your preferred communication method as well.

2. Set Clear Performance Expectations

Having clear performance expectations for your team will help you continue to drive results. Yet, it’s more than their job description. It’s important to think through your business goals and identify the right objectives and deliverables for each member of your virtual team.

Expectations might include how and when productivity will be measured, what their working hours will be, identifying standards, and impacts for poor performance.

The key is to be very clear about your (and the business) needs. And, set actionable, measurable performance indicators.

3. Meet Regularly

Just because you can’t have in-person meetings doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have meetings. In fact, a well-run, regularly occurring meeting can help your team stay on task, align to key objectives, and stay up-to-date on changing business demands.

How often you meet depends on the needs of your team. However, just because your team is virtual doesn’t mean you need more meetings. If you would have handled a topic over email in the past, keep it in email. Instead, consider having regularly scheduled meetings with standing agenda topics. And be sure to encourage employees to ask questions and share best practices during these times together.

4. Keep Remote Employees Engaged

A noticeable downside to working remotely is that employees can feel disconnected from their company, manager, and co-workers. Creating opportunities to interact remotely can resolve this.

Try creating virtual chat rooms to enhance real-time collaboration.
Incorporate opportunities for employees to share personal updates during team meetings.
Recognize birthdays, anniversaries, or other important life events.
Create an employee recognition program and reward top performers

With a little bit of planning, employees will be able to take advantage of the many benefits of telecommuting and still feel engaged and supported by their team.

5. Utilize Technology Tools and Apps

To set your virtual team up for success they need to have high-quality, reliable technology to do their job. Also, ensure that they have access to the applications and documentation needed. This will likely require some extra support from your IT team.

Work together to develop an IT infrastructure plan that helps ensure the tools your team needs are always available. Additionally, ensure your team knows how to engage with your IT team. They’ll need to work together on troubleshooting, repairing, and maintaining any needed technology or applications.

You may also want to consider programs, tools, or platforms that can boost productivity and communication. There are several tools that can help improve communication with virtual teams. If you aren’t using one of these already, consider a few of these options:

Trello helps you plan, manage, and track projects with a great deal of flexibility.
Slack brings together multiple communication channels, documents, and more to a single point of reference.
Skype or Zoom to enable video conferencing

6. Provide Continuing Education

When your team initially becomes virtual some training will likely be required. This can include how to access files, use new applications, or establish updated policies. These initial pieces of training should focus on the changes the employee will face. As well as provide a platform to ask questions.

Ongoing training is also important. Not only to help keep your employees educated on changing job requirements but also to help educate them on new tools, upgraded programs, or business changes.

Continuing education for your medical billing staff is a great opportunity to put your new technologies to use, share knowledge amongst team members, and build team culture.

Get Expert Assistance from MCA

MCA is here to help skilled nursing facilities advance their revenue cycle management. Contact us to learn about how MCA can help support your virtual medical billing team.

Have you been considering hiring a medical billing company? With so many revenue cycle management vendors, it can be overwhelming to consider moving such an integral part of your facility to another company. But, when you partner with a professional medical billing company you gain access to key revenue cycle skills that will help ensure every patient visit gets paid accurately and on time.

With the right partner, your skilled nursing facility (SNF) can increase clean claims, grow your bottom line, and reduce your administrative costs. But, it’s critical to partner with a billing expert who understands you and your business. When looking for a medical billing company, consider how these four key revenue cycle skills can help improve your facility.

4 Skills a Medical Billing Company Can Bring to your Skilled Nursing Facility

For SNFs it’s critical to partner with professional billing experts who truly understand you and your business. The right medical billing company will understand the specific needs of your business. And, they’ll have the skills needed to make a successful partnership.

Medical billing companies can provide you with a controlled, sustainable approach to your revenue cycle management by bringing these four skills to your facility.

Coding Accuracy

It’s no secret that accurate coding is crucial to receiving appropriate reimbursement. But, with denial rates topping 20%, accurate coding is more critical than ever before. Finding a medical billing company that specializes in SNF coding is critical to your coding accuracy. SNF medical billing specialists spend all their time working with SNF codes. They commit far fewer mistakes. And, are able to correct mistakes much quicker when they do occur.

By outsourcing your medical billing, you can count on cutting down on coding mistakes and improving your reimbursement.

Compliance

One of the most challenging parts of medical billing is the constantly changing payer reimbursement policies and industry guidelines. Keeping your staff trained on these changing compliance guidelines can be costly and time-intensive.

Ensuring compliance with reimbursement policies and industry guidelines is vital for SNFs. Compliance helps you to avoid costly penalties or reimbursement delays. Medical billing companies understand the industry guidelines for your facility. Also, most medical billing companies have long-standing relationships with many major insurance providers. Making it even easier to stay up-to-date with reimbursement policies.

The medical billing company’s insurance provider relationships and investment in biller training help your facility avoid reimbursement delays or non-compliance with industry rules.

Expertise and Experience

SNF medical billing expertise and experience are everything! Medical billing companies that focus on SNFs can provide you with a team of expert billers with years of experience. The wisdom and understanding that quality medical billing companies provide the help you stay on top of the always-changing landscape of medical billing. This will lead to fewer mistakes and help keep you on time.

SNF medical billing companies also bring your practice a team of expert billers. You will no longer need to manage biller turnover or training. Your medical billing company will now be in charge of hiring and training billing staff to fill your needs. Relieving a huge administrative burden for your team.

Control

When you outsource your medical billing, you are able to focus your time on monitoring and controlling the financial activities of your facility. You’ll spend less hands-on time working on your medical billing. Instead, you will gain unprecedented transparency into your revenue cycles with enhanced reporting and communication.

A medical billing company will regularly supply you with comprehensive performance reports including accounts receivable (AR) reports, collection reports, payment trends, and clearinghouse rejection reports. These reports provide you with the much-needed revenue cycle metrics for identifying delays and payment issues. Allowing you to maintain control of your revenue cycle without having to oversee any billing staff.

Medical Billing Outsourcing

Bonus…coding accuracy, compliance, expertise and experience, and control are just four key skills that a medical billing company can bring to your facility. There are many more benefits to outsourcing than these skill sets.

When choosing to outsource your medical billing you can also expect:

Strengthened cashflow with faster claims processing
Reduced administrative responsibilities
Updated technology and electronic health record integration
Safe and secure patient data

When preparing to outsource your SNF medical billing ensure that you establish your goals, scope, and strategy. This will help ensure that your medical billing service provider can partner with you for the long term.

Try asking them these questions to ensure you pick the right fit.

What services do they provide?

How quickly can they begin processing claims?

What training does their staff receive?

What training will your staff receive?

What are their recommendations for managing your current accounts receivable?

What financial reports will be provided and how often can you expect them?

Learn more about the benefits of outsourcing your medical billing.

Trusting Your SNF Medical Billing to the Experts at MCA

MCA is a market leader for skilled nursing medical billing services. As a full-service Revenue Cycle Management company, we provide electronic claims submission to Medicare, Medicaid, and all commercial insurers. We are here to help you navigate your revenue cycle management. While also providing consistency and stability for your operations.

A Revenue Cycle Management Partner

We pride ourselves on partnering with our clients to develop a shared vision. We strive to elevate your revenue cycle management experience with outstanding customer service, communication, and the use of the latest RCM technologies.

The Right Way, The Same Way, Every Day

MCA helps you streamline your revenue cycle processes to produce consistent, high-quality outcomes. You can expect that we will process your claims and provide reporting the right way, the same way, every day.

When you choose MCA as your revenue cycle management service we handle every aspect of your claims, billing, and collections process. From submitting clean, compliant claims to following up on slow or underpayments.

We care about you as much as you care about your residents. With support from MCA, you can focus on your residents while we focus on your billing.
Learn more about the MCA services or call us at (866) 609-5880 to get started.

Skilled nursing facilities, along with all healthcare practices, rely on the productivity and accuracy of their medical billing team. Traditionally, skilled nursing facilities support their revenue cycle goals by managing an in-house medical billing team. These highly skilled individuals understand how important it is to process claims quickly and efficiently. Knowing that the failure to do so will result in unpaid claims, low collections rates, and impact their facility’s patient care.

With the rise in healthcare expenditures, many organizations are looking for opportunities to decrease costs while continuing to deliver high-quality patient care. Hiring trained medical billing staff may be a viable option for larger facilities. But, many skilled nursing facilities find that outsourcing their medical billing helps to reduce costs and improve cash flow.

5 Benefits of Medical Billing Outsourcing

In the past few years, medical billing outsourcing has grown in popularity as facilities look for new ways to improve clinical care. While also decreasing costs.

At MCA, we work with skilled nursing facilities to support them in delivering the highest quality patient care. And, we’ve had the pleasure of helping these facilities experience a number of benefits from their outsourced medical billing services. Below are five common benefits that many skilled nursing facilities experience when outsourcing their medical billing with MCA.

Decreased Coding and Billing Mistakes

At MCA, we are solely focused on medical billing for skilled nursing facilities. Our highly trained professionals focus on consistent, on-time billing. No matter how large or small your facility is. In addition, we leverage our proprietary AR automation software, REVEX. REVEX helps us to improve efficiency and provide transparency for our skilled nursing medical billers. This allows them to quickly identify and resolve any billing issues.

Strengthened Cash Flow

On average, medical billing companies improve timely collections for skilled nursing facilities by 15%. This improved collection rate is revenue in your pocket. Because medical billing is our specialty we are able to improve claims submissions, process claims faster, and issue timely payment reminders. Also, we have built relationships with many insurance companies. This allows us to reduce claim settlement timelines. All of these efficiencies equate to on-time claims collection and a strengthened cash flow for your facility.

Decreased Employee and Administrative Costs

Hiring and maintaining a billing department can be an expensive endeavor for a skilled nursing facility. You have employee salaries, benefits, training, and administrative costs that add up quickly. Not to mention the cost and time spent overseeing patient payment reminders.

Outsourcing your medical billing services allows you to decrease employee costs. And, you can reallocate administrative costs to other operational expenditures. There is no need for your employees to spend time slogging through submission paperwork, following up on payment reminders, or trying to stay up-to-date on the latest billing codes. Medical billing companies can help to cover all these tasks while reducing your costs.

Reduction in Write-Offs and Adjustments

Outsourced medical billing services review each claim, send patient reminders, handle rejections immediately, and re-bill when errors are found. In addition, these teams regularly review your old AR to ensure that all qualified claims are correct and scheduled to pay before they reach a timely filing limit. You can expect that these are standard procedures when outsourcing your medical billing. And, that the outsourced medical billing company is incredibly accurate in their work. This level of consistency and accuracy is what helps to reduce your write-offs and claims adjustments.

Maintains Compliance with Changing Regulations

Maintaining compliance with changing regulations requires regular education and training for your medical billing staff. Not staying compliant with changing regulations can come at quite a cost. You may lose out on much-needed compensation from Medicare or Medicaid, have an increase in claims denials, or experience delayed payments.

Medical billing companies keep their staff up-to-date on the changing rules and regulations of the healthcare industry. Billers are continually educated on changing rules like ICD-10 or other HIPAA regulations. All to ensure you receive the highest quality operational and billing practices. These highly trained billers and certified coders keep a watchful eye on every detail of your medical billing process. Ensuring that every aspect of your claims, billing, and collections process is compliant with all healthcare standards and regulations.

Is outsourcing your skilled nursing medical billing right for you?

Outsourcing your medical billing can have so many positive benefits for your facility. In fact, it may be one of the best actions your company takes this year. Outsourcing can improve revenue, ensure regular cash flow, and decrease costs. But this is just the start!

Medical billing companies can provide high-quality services that give your skilled nursing facility the confidence that your revenue cycle is being well managed. Allowing you to focus on what matters most – your patient care.

Still not sure that outsourcing your medical billing is right for you? We’d be happy to help you learn more about the benefits of outsourcing your medical billing services. And, we can help determine which of MCA’s revenue cycle management and AR collections services can help improve your facility the most. Drop us a note or give us a call at 866-609-5880 to begin improving your medical billing services today.

About MCA Medical Billing Solutions

MCA is a market leader for skilled nursing billing services. As a full-service Revenue Cycle Management company, we provide electronic claims submission to Medicare, Medicaid, and all commercial insurers. We are here to help you navigate your revenue cycle management. While also providing consistency and stability for your operations.

MCA provides strength, knowledge, and peace of mind for skilled nursing reimbursement. You can rest assured MCA has you covered.