based billing medical software web

Medical billing is the process of submitting claims to insurance companies in order to receive payment for services rendered by a healthcare provider. The same process is used for most insurance companies, whether they are private companies or government-owned (see Medicare).

Process

The billing process begins with the office visit. After the provider based billing medical software web sees the patient, depending on the service provided and the examination, the doctor creates or updates the patient's medical record. This record contains a summary of treatment and demographic information related to the patient. Upon the first visit, the provider will usually give the patient a diagnosis (or possibly several diagnoses), in order to better coordinate and streamline his/her care.

The treatment, diagnosis, and duration of service combine to determine the procedure code that will be used to bill the insurance. The doctor then either provides this information to a medical coder or other billing specialist. From this, a billing record, either paper (usually on a standardized form called an HCFA) or electronic, is generated. This form includes the various diagnoses identified by numbers from the current ICD-9 manual.

This billing record or claim is then submitted either to a clearinghouse that acts as an intermediary for the information (this is typical for electronic billing) or directly to the insurance company.

Payment

Based on the amount negotiated by the doctor and the insurance company, the original charge is reduced. The amount that is paid by the insurance is known as an allowable. For example, although a psychiatrist may charge $80.00 for a medication management session, the insurance may only allow $50.00, so a $30 reduction would be assessed.

The insurance payment is further reduced if the patient has a copay, deductible, or a coinsurance. If the patient in the previous example had a $5.00 copay, the doctor would be paid $45 by the insurance. The doctor is then responsible for collecting the out-of-pocket expense from the patient. If the patient had a $500.00 deductible, the patient would have to pay the contracted rate of $50 ten times until the deductible was met, at which point the insurance would begin to cover a portion of the charge.

A coinsurance is a percentage of the allowed amount that the patient must pay. It is most often applied to surgical and/or diagnostic procedures. Using the above example, a coinsurance of 20% would have the patient owing $10 and the insurance company owing $40.

History

For many decades, medical billing was done almost entirely on paper. However, with the advent of computers it has become possible to efficiently manage large amounts of claims. Many software companies have arisen to provide medical billing software to this particularly lucrative segment of the market.

The billing field has been challenged in recent years due to the introduction of the HIPAA act. Due to the many restrictions that were enacted as a result of this new law, many software companies and medical offices spent thousands of dollars on new technology and were forced to redesign and rebuild their business processes and software in order to become compliant with this new act.

External links

• Medical Record Coder
  
• Medical Coding and Billing Home Page (US)
  
• Professionals in Medical Billing (US)
  
• Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (MTBC)