3

Medical Billing Question and Answer

We are receiving lot of question from our users and  we have tried to answer as much as possible in coming days. If you have any additional information on this question and answer then use the comments sections to register your view. We will add the question or quiz whenever we have time and keep on watch this session.




Medical billing process and concept question


 Difference between inclusive and bundled
AS far as I know both are same. Different insurance use different terms.

Difference between authorization and pre-authorization in medical billing?
Both are same however pre-authorization is the one we need to get before providing the service

Difference between 11 & 12 place of service
11 - office (Provider location) visit and 12 - Patient home

Difference between appeal limit and filing limit+medical billing
Filing limit is first time filing and appeal limit is time frame to appeal the claim after denial or low payment.

Difference between billed amount and allowed amount
Difference between fee and allowable in anesthesia billing
Billed amount - What provider billed the insurance.
Allowed amount - What the insurance agree to pay

Difference between claim rejection and denial+medical billing

We can use both word for same meaning. However rejection can't be appeal and denial can be appeal.

Difference between medicare part a and part b
If we need to say in one word
Part A covers hospital and facility billing
Part b covers provider billing

Difference between co 16 and co 50
CO - 16 - Lack of information - check additional denial
CO - 50 - check the CPT and DX combination.

Difference between write off and adjustments in medical billing
Both are same.


Difference between claim and remittance
Claim - Form to use file the information and send it to insurance CMS 1500
Remittance - EOB


Billing question

can a insurance company deny a medical claim due to missing cpt modifier
Ans :Yes they can.

Solution: We need to file appropriate modifier to get paid.
 
can you use a v04.81 as a primary dx for 99213
Ans : No.

Note : It should be used for vaccination and inoculation.
 
can the hospital bill 99213 pos 23
Ans : No.

Note : Place of service 23 could bill only in Emergency room – Hospital.

Can 99213 be billed with 96372 

Ans : No. It will not be paid.
Solution : We have to file with 20553 or any other injection code along with modifier 25 for 99213
Note : 90772 changed to 96372 for 2009

Can 99213 and 99223 billed together

Ans: Two E&M Can not be bill together.

Solution: If the two codes billed, then we need to Write/off for the unpaid CPT. Consultations, critical care, procedures, diagnostic services, and any other non-E/M service cannot be billed as shared visits. Which E/M services can be billed as a shared visit? Most common: New patient visits, established patient visits (follow-up visits), initial hospital visits, subsequent hospital visits, prolonged services, emergency department E/M services.

Can 99291 be billed on a UB 04
Ans : Yes. You can billed on UB 04 form
Solution : UB04 form should be use for facility code 14, 24......

If critical care codes 99291 and 99292 services billed in conjunction with admit type 1. Hospitals are required to use HCPCS code 99291 to report outpatient encounters in which critical care services are furnished. The hospital is required to use HCPCS code 99291 in place of, but not in addition to, a code for a medical visit or for an emergency department service.

Can I bill both CPT codes 85025 and CPT code 36415

Ans : No.

Note : If you have billed CPT 36415 with 85025 they will not be separately reimbursed.


Can 99395 be reimbursed

Ans : 99395 will not be separately reimbursed when submitted with CPT 90772. If the Preventative Maintenance code is billed in any other combination if E&M codes, it will not be payable.

Note :99395 when used for EPSDT services, will be reimbursed at 60% of the Medicare non-facility rate when the recipient is agae 21 or older.
99395 when used not for EPSDT, will be reimbursed at 74% of the Medicare non-facility rate when the recipeint is age 21 or older.

Insurance denial question and answer

Can we bill the patient for a denied pre-existing condition claim

Ans : Yes. But make sure that the patient has secondary coverage; we need to send the entire bill to secondary along with the primary denial. Some carriers may be pay and some may not at that time you can bill the patient.

Note : Pre-existing condition refers to the terms and conditions entered in to between the carrier and the patients/subscribers before the beginning of the contract.  The rejection will usually say that the claim is being denied due to the pre-existing condition.  It would not specify what exactly; the condition is.  So carrier needs to be called to find out the pre-existing condition. Preexisting condition may be for anything.


Claim denial types
There is no particular type in denial however below are the common reason
Claim might be denied for incorrect coding information.
Claim might be denied for incorrect provider information.
Claim might be denied for incorrect coverage information
Claim might be denied for lack of information

 Claim denials by managed care organization plague long-term care providers
Should be file the claim to patient HMO plan


Claim denials for maximum unites per visit
Check your units of the CPT

Claim denied as inclusive with the primary procedure
Some service covered with primary procedure, Hence we needs to taken write off the claim balance after primary CPT paid. However there is chance with resubmit the inclusive procedure with modifier.


Claim denied as services not provided or authorized by designated
File the claim along with appropriate authorization#. If we don’t have authorization# sometimes we can appeal the claim along with necessary medical document.

Claim denied because of incorrect medical coding
Should be file the claim with correct diagnosis (Dx) and CPT

Claim denied because this injury is the liability of the no-fault carrier.
Should be file the claim to patient auto-insurance.

Claim denied by medicaid because primary insurance changed
File the claim to patient primary insurance. If we don’t have patient primary insurance details needs to call the patient and get the insurance information.

Claim denied by medicare for code co-16 what do i do to get this paid?
      We will receive this denial if we have filed the claim with insufficient information. This code co-16 must have additional denials information that informs us what kind of information is missing with claim.


Claim denied due to pre-existing condition
Patient needs to update the medical (medical history) document to insurance and provider also update the medical document to insurance.

Claim denied for CLIA certification#
Should be file the claim with clia certification number. We must file the lab code with clia number.

Claim denied for coordination of benefits
Patient needs to update the COB information to insurance. If patient has more than one insurance, patient need to call the insurance and inform that which insurance is primary and secondary for patient. Patient only can update the COB information to insurance.

Claim denied for maximum benefits reached

File the claim to secondary along with denied EOB. If patient do not have another insurance we can bill the patient.


Claim denied for valid referral

Should be file the claim with valid referral. If we do not have valid referral number, we can request the same from referring doctor and refile the claim with valid referral.


Claim denied no billing code.
Kindly call the insurance and get the reason behind the denials and get the correct CPT

Denied benefits is not covered by the patient's plan.

 We can bill the patient.

Denied insurance claims due to invalid CPT code
     Should be file the claim with valid CPT. For example medicare and HMO plans (Humana, freedom health, AVMED, universal, wellcare, Polk county, PUP,) does not cover the consultation code (99241 to 99245 and 99251 to 99255).

Claim denied reason dates of service over one year from process date are not payable.
    Should be file the claim with in timely filing limit. If you received the denial even filed the claim with in TFL we can appeal the claim with TFL proof. All insurances has separate filing limit.


Claim denial codes and what action needs to be taken
Each denied claim should have valid reason behind the claim denial and needs to take appropriate action from the denials


Claim denial vs claim rejection
Claim denied by insurance and claim rejected by clearing house OR EDI department

Claim denials bundling inclusive
Needs to differentiate the service by using appropriate modifier and Dx else taken write-off the claim balance

 Claim denied primary paid in full
Need to write-off the claim balance.

7 comments:

Chitra said...

Please help me in getting the claim status for no fault claims

Denial reasons & the questions to be asked with the adjustor

Rajesh said...

Can we bill intial evalution and therapy services on a same day to medicaid?

KELLI M said...

2 QUESTIONS 1) BESIDES NU WHAT OTHER MODIFIER WOULD A WORK COMP CO BE LOOKING FOR RE A DME CODE OF E0942? 1) IF ANYONE IS BILLING RANGE OF MOTION & MANUAL MUSCLE TESTING WHAT APPROACH IS BEING USED TO GET PAID FOR BOTH?

Anonymous said...

Which CPT code should you bill for if the encounter form holds a 99212office visit and a 93005 ECG? 99212 pays more according to OPPS.

Anonymous said...

i need guidance on correcting denial remark code co8.

Anonymous said...

Can you bill a 99214 for cupping, or any acupuncture services? Or is a 99214 just to be billed as an office visit and not used for services a medical plan that does not cover....

Anonymous said...

If I billed a 90801 in June 2011 when can I bill it again?

Medical Billing

What is the overall Billing process?

The physician doesn’t get paid for his services immediately after they are rendered. Majority of the patients have insurance coverage and details of such coverage are provided to the physician before treatment. It is the responsibility of the physician to submit claims to the insurance company and get paid for his services. Submitting Claims and getting paid is a lengthy process and involves a lot of rules and regulatory systems and is very complicated. The physician needs to adhere to all these rules before submitting claims. This is the concept of Medical Billing. Sometimes the physician cannot provide his entire attention to this activity. He entrusts this activity to Billing Companies. This is a process of the physician providing rights to Billing Companies to bill Medical Insurance claims in order to save his time energy, and money.

After the provider renders services to the patient, the billing company will submit bills to the insurance company/ payer, using the insurance information that was last provided, as well as information about the reason for the examination, and the exact type of procedure performed.

Medical coding is the process of converting Medical terms to numeric code and it required Medical knowledge skills.

Medical billing is the process of submitting the claims and get paid behalf of provider.

I have listed the important process in Medical Billing. Each process is very important.


1. Insurance verification.

2. Demo and Charge entry process.

3. Claim submission.

4. Payment posting.

5. Action on denials or Denial management or Account receivables.


Insurance verification

Process started from here and usually front desk people are doing this process. Its a process of verifying the patients insurance details by calling insurance or through online verification. If this department works well, we could resolve more problem. We have to do this even before patient appointment.

Demo and Charge entry process

Demographic entry is nothing but capturing all the information of patients. It should be error free.

Charge-entry is one of the key departments in Medical Billing. Key department?? Yes, that's true. It is the keying-in department in Medical Billing. After receiving the super bills from the Doctor's office, it gets passed through the coding department, and then comes to the charge-entry department.


A Charge-entry person also has one other vital role to perform. That is, to look-up the codes entered in the claim, and to assign the relevant charges for those codes.

Claim submission Process

The next step after demographics and charge entry is claim generation. Claims may be paper claims or electronic claims. There are various types of forms for paper claims. The most widely used form is Health Care Finance Admin-1500 designed by the Health Care Financing Administration.

Electronic transmission of claims is the modern way of sending claims with less paper work. The most common means of transmission are through internet . The claim information is directly loaded into the insurance company's computer system or to the clearing house.


Payment Posting Process

Once the claims reach the carriers and they complete processing, they issue a check and prepare an Explanation of Benefits . The checks and the Explanation of Benefits would be sent to the pay-to address with the carrier or in the Health Care Finance Administrators.


In this processing we have accounted the money into the account as per the Explanation of Benefits. Now a days we are using Electronic payment posting also.

Action on denials or Denial management or Account Receivables

This is a most important function in the process flow of data. Unless this is taken care of, insurance balance will only be on an upward trend.

Problem in Medical Billing

•Inaccurate or lack of coding

• Incomplete claims

• Lack of supporting documentation

• Poor communication with the payer

• Not billing for services rendered

* Not being follow up AR balance claims


The person who is doing this process will be called Medical billing specialist.

Who is Medical Billing Specialist.

Medical billing Specialist is the one who is handling the below process and having well knowledge in each and every process.

* Insurance verification process

* Patient demographic and charge entry process.

* Submitting the claims by electronic as well as paper method. Tracking various claim submission report.

* Payments posting process for insurance as well as patient.

* Denial management.

* Insurance followup management.

* Insurance appeal process.

* Handling patient billing inquiries.

* Patient statement process.

* Preparing monthly reports such as revenue report and account receivable report and as per the provider requirement.

Medical Billing Specialists are in charge of reviewing patient charts and documents. They prepare and review all medical insurance claims based on the rules and regulations of insurance companies. Medical Billing Specialists also review insurance communications, payment and rejection notices to properly track all claims and payments.


Medical Billing specialist Professional

If a person is computer literate he is a fit enough candidate to take up the profession of medical billing and medical coding. However he will need to be trained and be aware of a lot of new information before he can start working effectively. He has to learn about the medical billing software and must be familiar with and master the various commands used while working with it.


Who are medical coders and how is it related to medical billing? Medical billing is a sub specialty of medical coding. Medical coding is the first step in the billing process. All patient records are maintained using the ICD-9 index system so that it is compliant with the federal rules.

A medical Biller’s most important skill includes filling up of the various medical forms correctly without any mistakes what so ever. All information required should be complete without any mistake at all. And the work will be include the following

Patient demographic entry

Insurance enrollment

Charge entry

Insurance verification

Billing and reconciling of accounts

Payment posting

Insurance authorization

Medical coding

Scheduling and rescheduling

Account receivable follow-ups and collections

Is it worth taking a medical billing program?

Usually don't spend too much cost on Medical billing program because the program will not do anything with real experience. What you learn from these kind of program will not be going to match with when you are working in the real environment. Hence just use as the start kind of program and get the real time experience even in small salary and later you can come up with more demanding one.


Problem of In House Processing of Medical Claims

Medical claims are generally very complex and have long extended details. While processing medical claims, one has to be highly critical and do efficient follow-up in order to get results. The process requires a lot of time and effort. And even after all this, there can be cases where files get lost or a small error can ruin the entire lot and everything has to be re-submitted again. Usually practice staff can be held up with lot of current work rather than submitting the claim and resubmitting the corrected claim hence it will lead to time delay on payment flow and it will affect all the relationship with in the practice. Even cost wise is also not effective when compare to outsourcing.

Advantage of Medical Billing Outsource

Medical Billing Company helps you in managing all your billing requirements proficiently. By choosing right medical billing company, you can get benefit such as improved financial strength.

Medical Billing task is very tedious and time consuming. However, billing must require more accuracy and special attention to strengthen the financial condition of clinical or hospital. You can do this task at own or assign to clinical staff but you have to be pleased with low patients satisfaction. Medical billing company can help you in supportive task. By efficient medical service, you will get highly satisfied patients.

A Medical Billing service can improve the efficiency of your billing system, reduce denials, cut down operating costs, boost reimbursements and save valuable time that can be devoted to patient care. These services are better equipped to adapt to continuously changing billing codes and industry requirements.


* Prince is low compare to doing it in house

* Dedicated Highly Skilled Professionals

* No need to maintain the hardware . Ability to perform Medical Billing remotely, using the software of your choice

* Usually Maximum reimbursements and fewer denials

* Accuracy is high when compare

* Faster transaction


Question need to ask when Medical Billing Outsourcing

1. Check with their referral and how long they are doing this business.

2. Are they HIPAA compliance

3. Where they are doing their work. If possible just visit there.

4. Data security.

5. Compare the price with others.

6. what are the reports they will provide

7. Your specialty wise question

8. Their software skills.


Services and process involved in Medical Billing

* Coding ( CPT, ICD-9, and HCPCS)

* Patient Demographics Entry

* Charge Entry – All specialties

* Payment Posting (Manual and Electronic)

* Payment Reconciliation

* Denials/rejections analysis, re-billing

* Accounts Receivable Follow-up

* Systemic A/R projects, re-billing

* Collection Agency Reporting

* Refunds


Medical Billing Salary Range

Depending on the education qualification, the hourly rate varies from $12-$15. Another most important factor that affects billing pay is how long someone has worked in the field. Medical specialist with experience of 1 year earns around $12 per hour. Those who have more experience in billing earn up to $16 per hour. However, the geographic location also plays a role in pay scale. For instance, areas where cost of living is high, the pay will be more. Billers who work in New York City, Houston, Chicago and California are able to pull a good amount of salary. Work locations such as hospital, billing company or private practice will also affect the salary. Since there are lots of factors which affect the salary of billing, it is really not easy to predict the pay scale. Studies have shown that 50% of people earned around $35,000-$45,000 annually.


Most of the medical Billers are paid hourly, rather than annually. While Biller who is experienced can earn around $40,000 a year as an independent contractor working from home, a billing and coding specialist who runs his own firm can earn $100,000 a year. However, people who are searching for home based job should be very careful. There is lots of fraud going on in this field. These spammers charge hundred to thousand dollars and in exchange they claim they will help to get a placement in billing. They also promise that medical billing job can earn a substantial amount of money and no experience required. But in reality, those who paid to get a job end up with no job, no money. Billing is a very competitive field, so without experience or training in medical billing field, it is almost impossible to get a job.

Selecting Medical Billing Software - 10 things to consider

1. The first step is to evaluate your needs. And when evaluating different systems look for a package that goes one step ahead of billing. Choose a medical practice management system MPP. This will handle considerably more that just medical billing.

2. Determine whether the system handles electronic transmission of claims, direct billing for patients, co-pays, co-insurance, and expenses not covered by insurance.

3. Weigh the pros and cons of different medical billing systems and ask to see a system in operations. Always check out the references yourself.

4. Look for a medical billing management system that is user friendly. When a vendor demonstrates get your office staff to be present. This way you will be able to check how the software functions. Any software must be easy to use to be productive. The system should be fool proof.

5. Ask whether the medical billing software is a traditional system, one that will work on your office computers or an application service provider system (ASP), one that will process data at the software company’s data center.

6. Always get quotes from at least three medical billing software providers.

7. Ask whether they are offering an evaluation period or trial. This will enable you to know in actuality whether the system works or not.

8. Find out about training your office people, up-gradation of system, and whether the software is compatible with your office computer systems

.9. Find out whether the system will handle appointment scheduling, maintenance of records and so on apart from electronic medical records, SOAP notes, and billing. Choose a system that is comprehensive.

10. An ideal Medical Billing software system must include aspects like payment posting, reconciliation; follow up, secondary submission, and patient billing.Choose a transparent billing system that enhances your office efficiency. Install a system that you can use not one that will lead to frustration and problems.Medical billing systems must free your time and that of your office staff not make you run in circles. Choose a system with care.

Disclaimer

All the contents and articles are based on our experience and our knowledge in Medical billing. All the information are educational purpose and we are not guarantee of accuracy of information. Before implement anything do your own research. All our contents are protected by copyright laws and guidelines.
If you feel some of our contents are misused please mail me at medicalbilling4u@gmail.com. We will response ASAP.