Improve Optometry Billing Collections In 6 Easy Steps
The growth and prosperity of an optometric practice depend on continuous revenue flow. A successful business is one that focuses on growing revenue while providing outstanding customer experiences. In healthcare, patients are customers.
It can be overwhelming to deal with Optometry Billing Collections. The hassles associated with optometry billing can often lead to errors or delays.
A provider’s practice may still suffer losses despite providing the best possible care due to the complexity and varied policies of different payers. A well-defined payment collection process can prevent this problem.
Therefore, healthcare providers should improve optometry medical billing collection in order to maintain their financial stability. Because a healthy bottom line will help keep your eye care practice on a stronger financial path.
Want To Improve Your Optometry Billing Collections?
These 6 easy steps can boost your optometry practice’s collections.
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Make Sure The Insurance Payer Has Approved The Provider
In optometric health care billing, the first step is to verify that your provider holds a license from an insurance company.
You need to ensure that you file and follow up on claims as required by the insurance plan. You should take it one step further and contact insurance payers regularly to make sure the providers are registered in the network at the time enrollment is open.
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Avoid Rejections By Using Correct Modifiers
Many optometrists use CPT® code 92133/92134 and fundus photography code CPT® 92250 for single visit billing. Note: When you do not code this correctly, Medicare can deny payment for both codes and only accept payment for the lowest reimbursement code.
There are three types or categories of five-character codes and two-character modifiers to describe any changes in a procedure and CPT® codes that are published by the American Medical Association®.
Although the NCCI revision allows the modifier to be used for OCT/GDX and fundus photography, you must be careful to use the modifier correctly otherwise this may lead to denials or rejection.
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Stay Up-To-Date With The Current Updates
To make sure you are coding your eye care claims correctly and without error, you should closely monitor the local coverage determinations (LCDs) and Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) in your area and make sure you sign up to keep up to date in the payer list.
Optometrists and their staff must be prepared for significant changes in 2021 in the coding and documentation of evaluation and management (E/M) services in optometry. You will have to choose E/M codes depending on which is more appropriate: medical decision-making or overall time, rather than patient history and physical examination of the patient.
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On-Time Settlement Of Patient Payments
Some patients’ insurance plans include copayments or deductibles. The perfect way to increase collections is to use online payment options from the patients at the time of enrollment.
Doing so will not only increase the speed of the admission process but also improve the patient experience. In this way, collecting payments at the time of enrollment makes the patient journey easier and assures timely payment to keep your practice’s revenue flowing healthily. It will also save lots of your time and effort while helping the collection process be hassle-free and more efficient.
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Know When To Bill For Regular Vision & When To Bill For Health Insurance
Many patients have insurance plans for both vision and health insurance. While the best billing practice is to choose a plan to bill based on the patient’s chief complaint and medical diagnosis, it is sometimes more difficult. It is very important to check both vision and medical plans before visiting the office.
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Create An Efficient Collection Procedure
Most optometry providers are unable to maintain the optimal financial health of their practices in the absence of a well-defined collection process.
Moreover, failure to properly collect patient information or verify addresses can lead to major losses for your practice.
For this reason, it is important to have efficient optometry billing and collection to create maximum reimbursements for your practice.
As a healthcare provider, you must collect all the important patient details. You should also train your staff for each step in order to verify the patient’s address and contact information correctly which would be helpful for you to reach them in the future.
If you collect co-pays and deductibles upfront, it will save your time and ultimately improve your optometry practice collections.
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