ENT Practice: What to Look for in Healthcare Consulting Firm

A lot of practices and clinics that specialize in otolaryngology are looking to hire a healthcare consulting firm to help them ensure that their billing coding and management is up to par. Hospital consultants who specialize in the Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) field can help you with things like Medicare reimbursement, proper billing and coding procedures, ICD-10 preparation and other compliance issues. Having an in-house compliance officer would be an ideal situation to reduce the number of rejected claims due to coding errors and to make sure that Medicare reimbursement occurs without delay.

Hiring a healthcare consulting firm does not mean outsourcing your entire billing department. When you hire clinic or hospital consultants to come in and review your current procedures, you can gain valuable insight into the daily operations of your billing, coding and management so you can evaluate whether or not training and education are needed. Hiring a consultant can be overwhelming, but there are a few things to look for when you are considering your options that will help you to hire the best possible provider available.

Are They Qualified?
There are a lot of healthcare consulting firm options available in the medical field, but they aren’t all qualified to help you with your Medicare reimbursement and billing issues at your ENT practice. It pays to hire practice, clinic and hospital consultants that specialize in your specialty. Look for a firm that works directly with other otolaryngology practices to ensure that they have the knowledge and experience to tackle your specific needs.

In addition to working with your specialty, make sure that the healthcare consulting firm is properly certified and credentialed. This will help to ensure that the consultants have the knowledge necessary to perform the duties that you are hiring them to do and that they have an established standard of professionalism within the industry. Proper certification will also help you know the level of training and experience that they have with billing, coding and management so their services can be effectively applied to your practice.

Don’t be afraid to ask any hospital consultants that you consider for referrals. Any professional company worth its salt will be happy to turn over a list of other physicians, clinics and hospitals that they work with so you can speak with them about their experience. Make sure to actually call and speak with other practice owners to find out how the healthcare consulting firm has performed for them, especially in areas such as Medicare reimbursement and other issues that are important to your success.

What Do They Do?
It is important to find out what exactly the healthcare consulting firm will do for your practice. When it comes to compliance issues, ICD-10 training, as well as an overall billing, coding and management training or support, it is important to know what type of education or testing will be provided, whether any auditing or analysis will be performed and what standards they will use as practice and hospital consultants to evaluate your needs.

When interviewing potential consultants, make sure to ask questions about what you can expect, what records will be reviewed, what portions of your billing coding and management will be analyzed, how much training will be provided and what type of support or follow up will be made available after the fact. If the healthcare consulting firm is experienced and knowledgeable in the area of otolaryngology, chances are they will be able to offer you specific points on what they will be doing and how it will help your practice.

Being able to work side-by-side and over the phone with these practice and hospital consultants will be an important contributor to the overall success of the endeavor. Making sure that you have a good rapport with the consultants that you will be working with directly is also key. Professionalism, organization and respect through returning phone calls, answering emails and taking the time to respond to questions is the mark of a trusted and valuable healthcare consulting firm.

MD Pro Solutions: A Healthcare Consulting Firm for ENT Practices
There are many advantages associated with hiring a professional healthcare consulting firm like MD Pro Solutions to evaluate and improve your medical billing coding and management at your Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) practice or clinic. Our goal is to help you to make improvements that will enhance your administrative departments to boost revenue and give you more time with your patients. We will work with you to suggest tools and methods that can be employed to upgrade your system and prepare your practice for the coming ICD-10 changes. Our team will work directly with your staff to improve account receivables management and Medicare reimbursement through training, education and continued support.

To find out more about our services, including the ability to keep your current provider or medical billing software without being pressured to make a change, contact MD Pro Solutions direct. Our team will develop a custom program for you that will improve your medical billing skills, increase revenues and reduce stress in your billing coding and management. Give us a call at 508-946-1665 to get a confidential evaluation of your medical billing department.