For many healthcare practices, billing can be both time consuming and overwhelming.
At Credentialing.com, we provide a full-service revenue cycle management (medical billing) solution. Let us handle the claims submission, payment processes with insurance companies for you!
Listed below are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the billing process. Take some time and review the information below. Or, simply call us at 1-855-664-5154 or chat with us using the link below with your specific questions, and we’ll be happy to answer.
It varies very widely from 1.9% - 5.9% depending on the type of service, complexity and average collections / size of practice, number of providers, coding requirements, manual vs automated work, software fees, per claim collections etc.
A surgery center collecting over 1-2 million dollars will be billed around 2% where as a therapist collecting around 5k-10k per month is billed at 5-6%. We do charge a monthly minimum of $199 for all low volume providers. A clinic practice collecting 50k a month is billed around 4.5%.
ABOVE MENTIONED RATES VARY VERY WIDELY. One main factor to take into consideration is the per claim collections. The higher this number, the lower the percent cost will be.
To get a better quote, we need the following.
Average total collections per month from insured patients?
Average no of claims per month?
What is your specialty?
Number of providers (NPIs)?
Number of facilities (TAX IDs)?
For existing practices, what is the current process for billing?
What EMR do you use currently OR plan to use?
Do you currently have billing software? If so, what is the name of billing software?
Will we take your patient billing calls or your front office does?
Do you need patient statements to be mailed out by us?
Do you need VOBs?
Do you need Utilization management services?
Individual NPI (Type I) is your National Provider Identifier and each provider is required to have one in order to submit claims. This individual NPI is linked to the group that claims are submitted under. If you’re a sole proprietor (not billing under a TAX ID/EIN) you will also use this to represent your group. It is the equivalent of your SSN number when it comes to billing. This will typically be the first thing you obtain when you’re getting ready to start working in the medical field. It’s an online application process and pretty straightforward.
Group NPI (Type II) also referred to as an organizational National Provider Identifier or technically as a Type II NPI. Your type I NPI is for the individual while your Type II is for your TAX ID or for locations under your tax id. If you have multiple offices, you’ll have one Type II NPI that serves as your primary billing NPI then you’ll have additional NPIs for each location. Your individual NPI is listed on the claim form along with this Group NPI. Each provider is linked to the tax id and the group NPI during the credentialing process. You can find Type II NPIs under 32a and 33a on a standard 1500 claim form. Your Type II NPI must be applied for once you have your tax id and/or location.
Primary Source Verification or Provider Credentialing is done by companies who will use the information from CAQH to open the process. During this process, a credentialing specilaist verifies all of the information in CAQH or on the application and analyzes it for mismatched information or gaps in information. They determine if accurate information has been provided. Once all information has been verified, the application works its way through a variety of meetings for approval. Once approved, the application can then be sent to the contracting department for a contract to be created and sent to the provider for signature.
Insurance Contracting is exactly what it sounds like. The contracting department drafts a contract specific to the specialty and region the provider works in. The provider reviews and signs or reviews and requests modification until the contract is satisfactory to both parties. Medicare and Medicaid have their contract incorporated into the application process. However, Medicaid and Medicare advantage or managed care plans do need to contract your organization.
Fee Schedule (Allowed Amount) is included in your contract with the insurance company (except for Medicare & Medicaid). May also be called “eligible expense,” “payment allowance,” or “negotiated rate.” These fee schedules state what the insurance company is willing to pay for services performed at your practice (allowed amount). If the allowed amount is $100 for a 99203, the insurance company is saying that this is what you should be paid. It doesn’t mean that the $100 will come from the insurer as most patients will have a coinsurance amount equal to 10-30%. This would mean that the insurance company would be $70-$90 and the patient would be responsible for the remaining balance also called "Balance Billing". It’s important to load your fee schedules into your billing system so you can catch when payers are underpaying based on their contract. Medicare publishes a new fee schedule each year which includes all of the updated payment amounts for all CPT codes.
Real-time claim adjudication is to process the claim upfront instead of waiting for the insurance company to pay you for your services (20-40 days) then sending the patient a bill for their remaining balance, this allows you to actually process the bill for services at the “point of service” before the patient leaves the office. A fully adjudicated response is returned from the Payer, detailing the total charge submitted, allowable charges, as well as patient’s responsibility at the time of the service offering real time claim processing and payment. If the patient has a $1000 deductible and only $500 has been met, there’s no reason to wait to get paid. You should charge the patient at the time of the visit for the services rendered. Many billing systems and clearinghouses have this function but you need to know what your allowable rate is for the service being rendered. Therefore, you need your fee schedule. The first step is setting up our IT infrastructure and communication channels with specific payers which are offering this service. The communication setup is not much of an obstacle since RTA uses the same electronic data interchange (EDI) channels as submitting Eligibility requests for some vendors. Specific RTA communication can be done through insurance web link or a B2B software setup
Medicare pays a standard 80% of their allowed amount and the patient is responsible for the coinsurance amount of 20%. Medicare also has a deductible which must be met before any payments are made which is typically around $300. When a patient has secondary insurance, that patient is paying to have the 20% covered by another insurance company. This could be Humana, BCBS, UHC, Medicaid or numerous other plans. When a patient has secondary insurance, the primary payer (Medicare) pays the 80% and forwards the claim to the secondary insurer in most cases. The secondary payer then sends you a check for the balance. When a patient has Medicaid, it’s unlikely that you’ll receive anything for the 20% coinsurance as 80% of the Medicare allowable is more than what the Medicaid pays.
Medicare Secondary Payer or MSP refers to Medicare Benefits when Medicare is not the primary insurance. Medicare requires all health care providers to know how to determine when Medicare is the primary or secondary insurance for their Medicare patients. Medicare is primary when the patient is:
Linking happens when a provider is credentialed, but does not have an individual contract. They are linked to a Tax ID that does have a contract. The linking process occurs after credentialing and typically takes around 30-45 days.
Loaded- This occurs after a provider has been linked to a Tax ID or a contract has been signed and sent to the payer for counter signature. This process typically takes 30-45 days to complete. Once this process is completed, the payer typically issues a letter or an email with the provider’s effective date and provider ID number (if issued). This is the last step before being able to bill.
Demographic updates is slightly different than the standard credentialing because it is used to update the information for a provider or organization that is already credentialed. These changes take around 30 days to complete dependent upon the payor and their workload.
Retroactive Billing is an option with certain payers depending on the situation. It’s primarily used for Medicare and Medicaid when you are opening or starting work before the credentialing is complete. It allows you to hold the claims and submit to the insurance company once everything is approved. You need to be sure that you understand how to qualify for retroactive billing as changes each year and it’s not as simple as it used to be.
EDI (Electronic data interchange) is like the highway between your billing system and the insurance company. It’s the communication channel by which your billing system communicates claim data to the various payers
Clearinghouse- If EDI is the highway, your clearinghouse is the vehicle used to drive down the road. Your clearinghouse is connected to the billing system and is actually responsible for sending the claims to the insurance companies. Most clearinghouses will also receive the electronic remits (electronic EOBs) and send these to your billing system so the payments can be posted to the patient’s account. Examples of clearinghouses include Navicure, Gateway, Emdeon, Availity etc.
EDI Enrollment occurs when you are setting up a new billing system/EHR or clearinghouse. Each clearinghouse has a unique submitter and receiver ID (for submitting claims and receiving remits) which must be linked to your tax id. You have to complete the EDI enrollment process in order to submit claims through your clearinghouse. A single entity can have multiple submitter IDs but can only have one receiving ID per PTAN for Medicare. Our Acier HBS specilaist should help walk you through this process.
ERA or Electronic remittance advice is a digital EOB (explanation of benefits) that shows what the insurance company paid (or didn’t pay) and all the claim details. Many billing systems can automatically post these ERAs to the patient’s account.
EFT (Electronic funds transfer) is the preferred method of payment for many insurance companies and the required form of payment for Medicare. Medicare requires you to complete form CMS-588 when enrolling in Medicare which details how you would like to be paid.
