5 Questions To Ask a Medical Billing Service in 2015 http://goo.gl/lN9Vj3

1. 5 Questions To Ask a Medical Billing
Service in 2015
© CureMD Healthcare

2. Medical Billing Services 2015
• Providers are straining to meet the stringent
requirements of ICD-10, Meaningful Use Stage 2,
PQRS and other programs, in order to avoid
government penalties and earn more revenue
• To do so while dealing with time and resource
constraints, many may turn to medical billing
companies to assist them

3. Medical Billing Services 2015
• To manage this influx of providers and meet
government requirements, medical billing companies
will need to “up their game”
• Those who are unable to do so will be forced out of
business; you must ensure that your practice doesn’t
gamble on the wrong option

4. Medical Billing Services 2015
• For providers, practices or physicians on the fence,
this presentation will guide you through the process
of determining the safest medical billing option for
your practice in 2015
• Is your billing company ready for ICD-10?
Any billing vendor not ready for the ICD-10 code
updates (which come into effect on October 1,
2015), will mean that any practice billing via them
will not get paid for services provided after that date

5. Medical Billing Services 2015
• Moreover, if the medical billing company does not
have a clear ICD-10 conversion plan for your practice;
you need to cross such vendors off your list, or
switch your current vendor in the case of existing
users
• The plan should include tools such as code mapping,
and both internal and external testing in the month
leading up to the October deadline

6. Medical Billing Services 2015
• Do they have comprehensive safety and security
protocols?
The previous year witnessed several health IT-related
security breaches. Even if your practice is sufficiently
protected, these security efforts will be for naught if
patient information leaks out via your billing company
• A billing company that lacks adequate protection from
external threats such as data hackers could
compromise invaluable patient data

7. Medical Billing Services 2015
• The billing company whose services you use in 2015
must provide you with a detailed description of their
security measures, and must be backed by
credentials (such as HIPAA certification)
• This will ensure that your data is used in the safest
possible way
• Their systems must also have solid emergency and
backup plans

8. Medical Billing Services 2015
• Can their staff handle your billing?
• Next, you must inquire about the employee to client
ratio of the Medical Billing Company
• Therefore, even if their staff is competent, they are
more probable to fail to mismanagement issues as
their client base grows (which we are expecting to
occur in 2015)

9. Medical Billing Services 2015
• Do they have specialists?
• Apart from an adequate employee base, the
company must have specialists for different billing
processes such as negotiating with insurance
carriers, basic data entry, insurance verification and
coding
• The billing company should assign a dedicated
account manager – a go-to-guy for billing queries –
exclusively for your practice

10. Medical Billing Services 2015
• Are their systems integrated?
• You must inquire as to the systems being used by
your potential medical billing service company and if
they integrate with your Electronic Health Record
(EHR) system
• Numerous EHR vendors provide medical billing
services in addition to their solutions; and you could
select your EHR vendor as your medical biller,
provided that they meet the aforementioned criteria

11. Medical Billing Services 2015
• This year is a make-or-break period for medical
billing service companies. That is why it extremely
important to ask these questions right now to ensure
that your medical billing service company is in the
industry for the long-run
• If not, switch to a more reliable, future-oriented
billing option before October 2015

12. Read more on blog.curemd.com
• To read more on this topic, visit:
• http://blog.curemd.com/5-questions-to-ask-a-
medical-billing-service-in-2015/

13. CureMD Healthcare
120 Broadway, , New York, NY 10271
Ph: 212.509.6200
www.curemd.com
Thank you!