Why is it important to have frequent Practice Audits?

It is very important for doctors to conduct audits at their medical practice. This will not only help in improving patient care to a great extent but also help review the practice and identify problem areas.

Audit is basically a critical and systematic analysis of the practice. It is a great way of confirming if the management is consistent with the said guidelines or not. There are several criteria that need to be considered when conducting an audit. For instance, there needs to be a topic for the audit that should related to an area of the practice that needs improvement. The practice must have enough resources to complete the audit and ensure that other aspects of the practice don’t get jeopardized due to it. There has to be a generated standard on the basis of which the current performance of the practice will be measured. Once the outcome has been collected, it needs to be documented and discussed in order to create an appropriate action plan.

It really helps to conduct an internal audit of your practice. However, you need to have objective and dedicated resources for the same. You will also need a dedicated team that will be conducting internal audits for your practice on a periodic or ongoing basis. This will allow your organization to adapt better to its processes and improve accuracy. But according to the industry experts, every practice should also have an independent, external audit also performed annually for more accurate, unbiased data.

There are benefits of getting an external audit conducted for your practice. External auditors will be immune to the conflicts of interest that may or may not otherwise compromise the internal auditors. If you have experienced external auditors working for you, they will know where to look for issues such as, up-coding of bills that may be missed by less objective eyes. Also, there are chances the recommendations of internal auditors will go unheeded even if they find problems in the procedures and policies but the feedback of external auditors will be always be taken seriously.

It is necessary that medical billing audits are done on a regular basis so that the organization gets objective information about billing inaccuracies. A well-executed, objective audit will act as a crucial element in the compliance program as well, helping your practice maximize your medical billing and boost profits.