Why do I have a balance?  The golden question every physician office staff member dreads beginning January 1st.  Unfortunately, your patients are not usually savvy on what the nuts and bolts of their contract is, and they are frustrated.  They thought their plan was good, but now they have a bill. Make sure you staff is ready and able to explain these key terms to your patients when they have questions! 

• Deductible - The deductible is the amount the patient has to pay for covered services before the insurance plan pays.  Some insurance plans will apply an office visit to the deductible, others won't. Family plans typically have an individual and family deductible. 
• Copay & Coinsurance - These are both the portion the patient will be responsible for after their deductible has been met.  Copays are a set, flat fee. Coinsurance is a set percentage that the patient will pay. 
• Max Out Of Pocket - This is the limit of what a patient will pay for covered services within a plan year.  Again, on family plans there may be an individual max and family max. 

Keep in mind, your staff will not know the details of your patients plan, nor should they be expected to!  Just being able to explain these key terms and why they show a balance will help the patient understand why they owe money and help them become better insurance plan shoppers!

If you are ready to empower your staff to dig into understanding patient responsibility, the importance of collecting it up front and learning to be comfortable asking for payment, give us a call or send an email - we are ready to help you get your staff confident and empowered!

Next week I'll be hitting the road with EZClaim to attend the AMBA (American Medical Billers Association) 2019 National Conference!  This will be a great opportunity for me to gather information on some hot topics!

I'll be working the vendor booth for EZClaim - doing some demo's of this outstanding product.  In between I'll be attending sessions on the following topics - Billing for Acupuncture and Chiropractic Care, Building a Successful Billing Company, The Importance of Auditng, Clearinghouse Failure and Submission Riswks, Value Added Services that Practices Should Consider, and Copy, Paste & Cloning: Rules vs. Opinion.

This will be a great opportunity to connect with peers - and I can't wait to see who we meet this time!  If you or your biller are planning on attending look for me at the EZClaim booth!

I've always liked numbers.  Starting out in accounting in the automotive industry I enjoyed my work, but didn't have a real passion for automotive piece prices.  After having the opportunity to stay home to raise children, I found an interest in anatomy and decided to learn about medical billing.  I enrolled with Ross Medical Education Center and found billing and coding to be the perfect fit for my interest with numbers and understanding more about the human body.  Coding encouraged my curiosity and I would often find myself researching medical diagnoses and procedures because I just wanted to know more!  Once school was done I went into my first billing job posting payments, and had my eyes opened to the reality of how many layers there are to not just billing, but full revenue cycle management.  I was shocked, but eager to learn as much as possible.  Soon I moved into a supervisory role and mastered the "back side" of billing (payment posting, follow up, patient collections).  The next role I found myself in allowed me to work with smaller provider offices and learn the full cycle of a claim.  In addition, I found myself working with provider offices to make their work flow more efficient.  At the same time I was busy working on obtaining more education and certifications through AAPC.  After working for some time as an auditor and consultant I landed a role with a software company and dug into learning as much as possible about integrations and electronic claim processing.  While I love this challenge and role, I needed to be back to helping providers.  I truly have a passion for helping providers create effective processes, collect the revenue they have deserved by educating on relevant documentation and compliance guidelines.  I am here to offer insight to the providers that help their patients every day.  

Today is our first day active and motivated to support our clients!
Thank you for visiting. 
I look forward to working with you.