Tips for Making the Switch to a New ENT Medical Billing System
There comes a time in every practice when an evaluation needs to be performed to determine whether the current medical billing system is providing all of the services and support that is needed or if something new is required. Making the transition from one system to another can seem overwhelming. However, if you work with trusted healthcare consulting services, such as MD Pro Solutions, to improve your overall account management, it doesn’t have to be a stressful situation. Whether you are doing your own in-house billing and coding or if you decide to outsource ENT billing to spend some time education and training your staff, it is important to work with a service that you can trust to get the job done right.
Step One: Create a Plan
You will need to work with the new medical billing system provider or your healthcare consulting services to establish a plan of action. The plan should outline what needs to be done and who is responsible for doing it. Some programs will already have a plan of action written out for you to use as your guide, while others prefer to create a custom solution for each new client, based on their needs and unique situation. Anything you can do before the switch is made to get everything organized and under control will help to create a smooth transition.
Step Two: Recredentialing
One step that many offices overlook is to recredential the providers with all of the accepted insurance carriers. It can take up to 90-days for some carriers to update their records, so you need to get started as soon as possible. MD Pro Solutions offers credentialing and recredentialing services that can reduce the waiting time considerably. Make sure to ask about these services when you start discussing your options for improving account management by switching your medical billing system.
Step Three: Old Account Receivables
In most cases, your practice will likely have some old account receivables that will need to be cleaned up to be integrated into the new system. Some companies don’t like to take over accounts that were processed by other billers, due to mistakes, missing information, poor documentation, and other common issues. Work with your healthcare consulting services to make sure all of these old account receivables are taken care of before the transition. In fact, consider the option to outsource ENT billing during the transition while your billing department staff is being retrained with the new medical billing system.
Step Four: Pick a Date
Regardless of how you take care of old account receivables, make sure to set a date for the transition and stick with it. That way, the healthcare consulting services or old biller can take care of any old accounts, while the new system can take care any new or current accounts. This will keep everything separated by date and make everything easier for reimbursements and accounting as things move forward with the transition.
Step Five: Ongoing Account Management
Expect there to be some hiccups in the new medical billing system when you first get started. If you do in-house billing, your staff may take awhile to get familiar with the new program. If you outsource ENT billing, make sure that the healthcare consulting services that you work with are familiar with the new program. That can really help make the switch go a lot easier for everyone involved. It will also ensure that the workflow coming out of your office will be as accurate and efficient as possible. This can reduce mistakes, miscommunications, and errors caused by the transition.
Contact MD Pro Solutions
If you are interested in working with a team of professional consultants, educators and support providers to take advantage of healthcare consulting services for your practice or clinic, make sure to contact MD Pro Solutions. Our technicians are highly trained and experienced in account management and medical billing system services for Otolaryngology or Ear, Nose and Throat specialty clients. Give us a call at 508-946-1665 and speak with one of our friendly customer service agents. Call today and learn more about all of the services that we provide, including options to outsource ENT billing or get expedited credentialing and recredentialing services.