FQHC Billing Tips & Strategies for 2016

Maintaining the revenue of a federally qualified health center (FQHC) is far more complicated than we expect. It is mostly affected by delay in getting payment for medical services and patient billings. In order to maximize and improve the revenue from billings in FQHCs, all the concerned departments have to work professionally and efficiently.

The primary roles and objectives of a FQHC is to:

• Provide comprehensive medical services combined with a quality assurance program
• Be well equipped to serve an underserved population
• Enhance reimbursement from Medicaid and Medicare
• Bid a sliding fee scale for patients
• Have a prevailing board of directors

Therefore, FQHCs should implement effective procedures and billing policies while applying billing strategies that will help reduce costs, enhance revenue and improve the care and satisfaction of patients. To improve the medical billing process, federally qualified health centers should apply these five important strategies.

Comprehend the FQHCs Overall Revenue Cycle

Understanding your revenue’s overall cycle functions effectively and is very significant in improving the medical billing process. Billing officially begins right from the time of a patient’s appointment and ends when a specialist has attended the patient and makes the payments. All the staff members in a particular center play an important role therefore a FQHC should institute proper medical billing process channels that has the patient’s registration, payment costing and charge entry

Acquire the Right Resources 

A FQHC can acquire the correct resources by working with a qualified FQHC billing consultant that will guide you through any difficult situations and matters concerning your medical billing. There are also a number of medical billing softwares that you can use for your billing. They will make your work easier and it saves time too.

Record All Charges

Recording a day-to-day encounter form with an appointment will enhance a corresponding charge and patient attendance too. It is important to daily reconcile the total fee on the encounter forms in the reports which the running system generates. This will maximize the revenue since the health facility will be able to trace missing forms and prevent revenue loss through health center visits and nursing homes. The most preferred method that most centers use to capture charges is by using the preprinted index cards.

Share Financial Policies With Patients

A federally qualified health center should share its financial policies and billing to their patient. You can simply use a single-page document to summarize all your financial policies and should be signed by every patient and placed in their file. Especially when developed with an experienced and professional FQHC medical billing company, the policy should clarify the authorization, terms of payments, insurance information and cancelation and collection policies.

Update & Review Fee Schedules

Updating the fee schedules annually with reasonable charges will maximize billing revenue in any FQHC. Before charging any fee, it is important to first compare the fees with other Medicare or contracted fees charged by a health center billing service. Most insurance companies pay lower than the billed or contracted amount therefore, any billing lower than the contracted amount is likely to lose revenue in any health facility.

Although there are other tips and strategies to improve the medical billing process for FQHCs, these 5 strategies will be very beneficial to keep any federally qualified health center financially stable and healthy.

FQHC Billing Software: Top Platforms for Better Patient Billing

Success and reliability in the medical billing process for federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) is a must for patient retention and a solid billing platform. In order to not only achieve, but maintain a solid healthcare platform, reliable and functional medical billing software needs to be acquired.

Today, there are numerous FQHC billing software platforms available for your medical billing needs. These software systems specialize in keeping the payment process simple and straightforward with the least amount hurdles. Below are some examples of such FQHC billing software we’ve reviewed and discussed for your convenience.

NueMD Billing Software

NueMD is an extremely popular and widely used billing platform among medical practices and FQHC billing consultants alike. Its slogan is “See Patients. Get Paid.” Extremely simple to use, this FQHC billing software offers a comprehensive and complete selection of different service and functionalities for practices of all shapes and sizes.

For instance, you have the option to manage your appointment scheduling, the management of your practice itself and the billing software, your electronic health records, and other medical billing services.

NueMD sports a full feature set and many robust billing capabilities. It prioritizes accuracy and reimbursement of all your claims to make sure they’re filled out as soon as possible and reimbursed properly. It operates its own claims clearinghouse and allows you to process an unlimited number of claims.

Centricity Practice Solution 

Centricity’s billing software specializes in financial and clinical management for medical organizations and practices. Much like NueMD, a comprehensive and complete selection of functionality for your electronic medical records (EMR) and all your practice administration needs.

Centricity is developed and designed by GE Healthcare, a company that places a very broad and vague focus on several different systems that span the entire continuum of healthcare services. This specific software includes a well-developed and nicely rounded set of integrations, with compatibility for external systems throughout the entire community of healthcare. This includes medical imaging systems, medical devices, and more GE Healthcare products.

Centricity software shines in its reporting of clinical outcomes. It’s powerful and efficient reporting contribute to the critical process of benchmarking that’s important to each and every practice. As a result, those who utilize Centricity are better prepared to participate in programs of paying for performance medicine. Finally, Centricity offers powerful interoperability. It offers a program called Clinical Messenger, which provides communication within patients and the other practices involved in the patient’s care circle, creating a nice web of effort.

eClinicalWorks 

Finally, eClinicalWorks is another emerging leader in the realm of medical software solutions. The company puts customers and employees first, and has therefore built a reputable consumer base as well as software that has garnered the best reviews and most solid performance ratings, among great satisfaction and usability.

The eClinicalWorks software is certified and specialized in helping practices meet meaningful use requirements for Stage one and Stage two. It’s ICD-10 compliant and even includes and ICD-10 help and search feature to help providers find the ICD-10 codes they need with accessibility and ease. It’s available as an on-premise solution or as a hosted solution. It offers a patient portal, electronic health exchange, eClinicalMobile, P2P, and even a unified EMR and PM system.

Why Most Chiropractors are Adopting Cold Laser Therapy

Cold laser therapy is a growing process that involves the use of very low-power lasers to heal damaged body cells. Cold laser therapy works on a principle roughly similar to the process of photosynthesis in plants. The light particles or photons emitted by the laser penetrate into the skin and provide energy to the cells in the damaged area. This energy provided by photons is then converted to a useful form of energy by the cells, which enhances the natural healing ability of the body.

Several studies have been conducted in this regard and many of them have drawn out conclusive evidence that cold laser therapy works in relieving pain. As a result, many chiropractors are adopting cold laser therapy into their practice.

Chiropractic-based Laser Therapy Treatments

For the actual treatment, chiropractors mostly use handheld devices which are the size of a flashlight. This flashlight is then placed directly over the area of the body with injury for a period of 30 seconds to several minutes. The actual time depends on the severity of the injury and power of the laser used. At some chiropractic offices, bigger machines with multiple lasers are used in place of hand held flash lights.

The photons emitted from this laser have the ability to penetrate approximately 2 to 5 cm below the skin with a power of 90nw and 830nm. This extra energy enhances the natural healing process in the cells and it helps in increasing the blood flow over the injured area which results in faster repair and reduced pain.

Advancements in Chiropractic & Other Forms of Healthcare

Cold laser therapy is found to be effective in a number of conditions such as knee pain, neck pain, back pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome. It can also be applied to a number of areas down the spine, making it highly sought after by many professional chiropractors.

Cold laser therapy is being increasingly adopted by chiropractors and other healthcare professionals across the country. It is a preferred form of pain reduction as it is a non-invasive procedure. There is absolutely no need to make a surgical incision even if the injury is deep in the skin. Also, there is a no recovery time needed. So, a patient can come in for the appointment, get the therapy and then resume their work immediately.

Cold laser therapy also has the added advantage of not requiring any medications. Also, it does not have any major side effects. It is true that most of the patients require multiple sessions on a continuous basis for effective treatment. But since this is a non-invasive procedure, it takes time for the body to heal the damaged area itself.

A lot of chiropractors have taken advantage of this new process and have started offering cold laser therapy to their clients. Clients also prefer this therapy as compared to other forms of therapy as there is no recovery time and no need for medications.

For example, the Bloomington, Illinois chiropractors of Bly-Hillman Chiropractic are realizing great success with the cold laser therapy treatments. Many different clients in Bloomington, IL are experiencing greatly reduced pain and accelerated healing with the laser treatment.

Risks of Cold Laser Therapy

Even though cold laser therapy is supposed to be completely safe, it is not recommended for pregnant women as the effect is unknown. The laser should also not be used near eyes.

There are a variety of treatment options available today to patients for pain relief and pain reduction. Most of the forms of therapy involve the use of invasive procedures and heavy medication. They also usually require some recovery time. All of these require a patient to spend time away from work and their normal life.

Cold laser therapy has gained ground due to all these advantages it has over the conventional methods of pain reduction. Since the patients want it, chiropractors are increasingly adopting the use of cold laser therapy.