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The EMR Billing Specialists

Do EHR’s really help Physicians take the Back-Seat ?

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An Electronic Health Record (EHR) is quite arguably the single most expensive investment a physician is ever going to make. An increasing number of medical practices are taking the electronic route. Implementing an EHR is just one small step towards a more streamlined medical practice. It is not a magic vehicle that can help you reach your goals faster. But focus and constant effort can help you reach there.

Geared up for Change  !

An EHR can revolutionize your workflow. It leads to greater operational efficiency and helps different departments, specialists and healthcare facilities to access and share data effortlessly. But the huge change that it can bring to your practice may not always be for the better. The shift can unsettle your existing revenue management system.

It is imperative for physicians to upgrade their revenue cycle and better optimize its functions to support the new entrant into the office. The most critical components of the revenue management system such as claims submissions, insurance verification and front-end processes need to be reworked to work in a new environment.

Are all your Claims Clean ?

Yes, an EHR greatly automates your workflow process and helps in maintaining accurate medical information. But quite disturbingly there have been several hospitals that have been warned for misusing an ehr to create falsely inflated claims. The lack of clarity in CMS guidelines is cited as one reason for physicians to make billing errors.

But the major reason could be that physicians are still learning the ropes of working with a new system.

Better Patient Communication and Care…

This is a debate that has been raging in Linkedin, Facebook and near the water cooler for the past few months. Can an EMR or EHR system truly help the doctor to spend more time with patients? It does help save on time and effort but whether an ehr can help in better communication, is still being debated about.

EHR’s certainly a Quantum Leap into a Better Future !

EHR’s are a huge, collective step forward for the healthcare industry. It is certainly going to light the way ahead and be a catalyst of change. But EHR’s cannot in themselves create a more profitable or efficient medical practice. The other important parts of the puzzle such as revenue cycle management services , patient communication and everything in-between needs to be fitted together to create a pretty picture !

 

How can Multispecialty Hospitals Tackle the Challenges Ahead?

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A busy multispecialty hospital resembles a war-zone. The audit issues, billing hassles and operational pitfalls faced by multispecialty hospital are more difficult to manage than the challenges thrown at single specialty hospitals. Office managers of multispecialty hospitals feel that they’ve bitten off more than they can chew. Keeping in line with almost unfair demands and regulations can be a nightmare.

 

Frequent Audits give Sleepless Nights  !

Facing billing audits can scare the daylights out of physicians. CMS has placed the onus on healthcare providers to create and maintain evidence based precise billing information. In a large scale set up the costs and infrastructure needed to maintain accurate medical documentation belongs to the realm of wistful dreams.

The billing regulations for each specialty, varies and a little slip-up can lead to the hospital being booked for fraud and abuse. But this not the only roadblock multispecialty hospitals face.

 Zeroing in on a Compensation Formula that works for Everyone…

Well, coming up with a compensation formula that makes everyone happy can be an uphill climb. Multispecialty hospitals have on board, specialists from different medical specialties, surgeons and imaging technicians. To come up with a compensation formula that is fair and in compliance with all regulatory controls, in today’s tough healthcare climate is almost next to impossible. It requires enormous amount of time and understanding to whip up a solution that makes everybody smile.

Is it the Best time to become a part of Multispecialty Groups ?

Surprisingly yes! According to the Great American Physician Survey an increasing number of physicians prefer employment than to start a practice of their own. This attitude shift is attributed to the responsibilities a medical practice owner is likely to face.

Working with Off Shore Firms…

Outsourcing medical billing needs is one way of ensuring profits and operational ease in a multispecialty set up. Hiring, training and monitoring large team of billing and coding professionals can only add up to expenses. To scale down on the efforts and money spent on the everyday workflow of a hospital, outsourcing is the preferred choice.

It will give doctors more time on their hands to fix a workable compensation formula, keep regular tabs on their workflow and keep abreast with changing guidelines and reforms. As most medical billing companies work round the clock the response time for additional documentation requests is swifter and being swift is best way to handle the challenges ahead for multispecialty hospitals.