In the overall process of medical revenue cycle management (RCM), payment posting is often relegated to the “when I get around to it” list—meaning it often gets left undone. At first it may seem like an administrative detail that isn’t very important since you’ve already received payment, but that’s a short-sighted view of what is actually a very important part of medical billing, if you want to maximize revenue.
Payment posting is entering payments received into the patient accounts, but it also includes noting adjustments and write-offs and deciding whether to pursue payment on denied or rejected claims, and more. Here are five reasons payment posting is such an important part of a successful medical billing company system.
- Tracking rejected and denied claims and taking fast action: It is possible to follow up with appeals on claims without posting them, but it is much more effective to have a system in place that tracks each claim until it is paid. Payment posting is an ideal part of this tracking system because all the relevant information is right there, making it easy to take the next step, whether it is making a correction on the claim, getting more information from that patient about their insurance plan, or contacting the payer with questions.
- Identifying trends in denials and rejections: When billers are posting payments, they may find that certain payers frequently reject claims or deny payment on the basis of medical necessity not being demonstrated or some other reason. This may require contacting the payer to resolve the issue or it may just be necessary to train billing staff on additional documentation required by that payer, but getting it resolved will eliminate the holdup on future claims.
- Billing secondary payers: If there is a secondary payer, you will get that information and send them a bill. If payment posting isn’t done, chances are no one will remember that there is a secondary, and that potential revenue will be lost simply because you never asked for payment.
- Getting patient payments faster: By immediately posting payments from insurers, the balance that is the patient’s responsibility can be determined and billed. This has the advantage of getting the bill out quickly which gets payment in less time. But more importantly, it lets you bill the patient as soon as possible after their appointment, which increases the chances of the bill being paid because the more time a bill remains unpaid, the less likely it is to ever be paid.
- Discovering problems in the medical billing process: During payment posting, you may find recurring issues, such as a particular payer with a lot of unusual adjustments, or deductibles and copays not being collected at the time of the visit. By finding the source of these errors and correcting them, you can make the entire medical billing system more efficient and eliminate unnecessary revenue losses.
Over the years that Medcare MSO has been providing billing services, we’ve found that having (and using) a detailed system for claims management is critical. Dealing with issues that arise can be extremely time consuming, which is one of the main reasons outsourcing medical billing to a team of experts has proven to be such a great move for our clients.
We have a large team of experienced medical billers who are trained in our extremely effective system, so we are able to get claims submitted quickly, handle rejections and denials, and provide any additional revenue-related support our clients desire. Call us today at 800-640-6409 to find out if outsourcing your billing is right for you.
