ENT Account Management: Should You Hire a Practice Manager?

When practices and clinics are looking for new ways to improve account management, they often turn to the assistance of a healthcare consultant. It is important that your otolaryngology management, billing and coding are as streamlined and accurate as possible to avoid having delays for Medicare reimbursement and payment by insurance companies. One thing that consultants will often recommend is for the medical office or clinic to hire a practice manager.

Other terms that are used for this person can include office manager, administrator, department manager or physician practice manager, all of which can be used depending on the responsibilities and requirements of the position. For the sake of argument, we will use the term “practice manager” in this article.

What Does a Practice Manager Do?
The duties of a practice manager can vary between practices and clinics. Overseeing the department that handles otolaryngology management, billing and coding is obviously a key duty, but there are other things that they do to help improve account management. The responsibilities that your practice or clinic decides to give to the practice manager will depend on the work that needs to be done. For example, your office might need someone to work in more of a management or coordinator type capacity, while another practice might need someone that is more hands-on. The rest of this article will focus on some of the primary jobs assigned to a practice manager.

• ACCOUNTING – ENT account management is a huge responsibility. Your practice manager might actually take care of payables and receivables, take care of taxes, payroll, monthly budgets, bank deposits, reconciling bank statements, create Profit & Loss statements, and file all sorts of other paperwork and keep records that are required to ensure Medicare reimbursement and improve account management.
• HUMAN RESOURCES (HR) – Your practice manager may take care of hiring, firing, training, coaching, scheduling and maintaining personnel files for office staff. Managers may also be in charge of Worker’s Compensation injuries and resulting paperwork, staff counseling and other supportive type duties. Performing fast and accurate credentialing and re-credentialing for physicians might be another important task handled by this department as it is needed.
• EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES – Another duty might be to take care of ordering and servicing all equipment for the office, such as copy machines, computers, printers and phones. Medical equipment might also fall under the watchful eye of a practice manager, making sure that everything is inspected, serviced and maintained as required. Office supplies, break-room supplies and patient supplies could also fall under the job title of practice manager in addition to otolaryngology management, billing and coding. Bio-hazard waste, shredding services, utilities, CPAs, lab work and practice insurance are just some of the other duties that may be required to improve account management for the office as a whole.
• LEGAL – Ensuring that your ENT practice is complying with local, state and federal laws and requirements for medical equipment, office safety, disaster preparation, security and privacy, confidentiality and other universal precautions can also be the job of a medical practice manager. Ensuring that clinical staff is current on licensing, CPR certifications, as well as keeping records for the fast and accurate credentialing done in-house of by an outsourced service, is vital to the legal success of the practice or clinic. Ensuring that medical records are safely stored as required by law is a very important part of ENT account management.

Billing & Coding
Much has changed in the world of otolaryngology management, billing and coding with the implementation of ICD-10 and all of the other recent changes that have occurred in the healthcare industry as a whole. Beyond basic ENT account management, practice managers need to do everything they can to improve account management for all patients to reduce issues with Medicare reimbursement and payments from insurance companies.

Some of those duties can include:

• eligibility searches on all scheduled patients
• send out patient statements on a weekly basis
• negotiate contracts with payers and ensure they are complying with terms
• collect co-pays, co-insurance and deductibles
• stay on top of patients with healthcare savings plans and high deductibles
• coordinate with billing service if outsourcing billing and coding
• perform internal audits with healthcare consultant services
• run monthly reports to improve account management

Other Practice Management Duties
In addition to taking care of ENT account management, performing fast and accurate credentialing for physicians on staff, working to improve account management and Medicare reimbursement, ensuring that the team is well versed in ICD-10 requirements and overseeing just about every aspect of office management, there are still other duties that may fall under the responsibility of a practice manager. Those duties include marketing the practice, working to make the practice or clinic more efficient, and other day-to-day operations.

MD Pro Solutions Can Help You Improve Account Management
If you need help with your ENT account management or if you need guidance for your otolaryngology management, billing and coding to improve Medicare reimbursement, contact our team of highly trained and experienced consultants who can help you get your office or clinic on track. Whether you need training, support, outsource services or fast and accurate credentialing, MD Pro Solutions can provide the services you require. Give us a call at 508-946-1665 to get a FREE consultation or to learn more about all of the services we provide to ENT practices and clinics.