Planning your 2022 Strategy to Generate More Revenue

The years 2020 and 2021 were beyond imagination for the healthcare industry. Nothing could have prepared them for the huge hit to the economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the start of a new year, here is a chance for medical billing providers to rethink and improve on their strategies for better revenue in 2022.

With the constant changes and the recent pandemic, the healthcare system always provides new challenges to patients and providers. Here are some tips to help you plan your strategy to generate more revenue in 2022.

Build a Strong Team

If you’re hiring, select the right people! The staff should be able to run the office while taking care of the patients. Your company should also be able to communicate well and maintain a good and stress-free working culture for the staff. Training staff is also essential. e.g., A training about the major change in 2021 about replacing Medicare physician fee schedule. It will be changing fee schedules and reimbursements in the future.

Maintain a Simple Collection Process

While the pandemic and the lockdown have brought in a shift to telephonic or virtual discussions, it has become more critical to maintain an easy process for you and your patients. Let’s start by checking the below points –

Make sure to inform patients about what they can expect and make them aware of their responsibilities in terms of paperwork and payments, especially when the rules change. You may also provide them with informative pamphlets or helpful information on your website.

Gather the correct patient information. Also, update and verify changes in the address or contact information of a patient.

Your staff needs to be trained to answer patient queries about co-pay, and patients also need to be reminded why it is important. Patients also need to be informed about which payment options are acceptable and if payment plans are available. You can also stand out by giving them various channels to communicate with you.

Collect your payments upfront to avoid the burden of paperwork and reminders later. Keep a thorough check on the overdue bills and send the letters on time in case of reminder letters.

Handle Claims properly

Quite a few claims are denied because of errors or non-adherence to the new updates. Only with correct medical billing and coding and adherence to the guidelines given by insurance companies; claims can go through without hassles. With the rejection and re-submission of claims, it can take a long time for providers to receive the payment for their services. Keep a check on these below common errors to avoid denials and increase your revenue –

Provide correct patient/provider/insurance details like name, policy number, address, date of birth, contact information, electronic payer ID, etc.

Duplicate billing should not happen. Verify if a case has already been claimed correctly.

Providers need to check each detail and follow up on each claim filed.

Rejected claims are the ones that haven’t been processed because of errors, and these can be corrected and re-submitted. Denied claims are the ones that the insurance companies have deemed unpayable because of a contract violation or some notable errors. Rejected claims must be kept track of and re-submitted to get the payments in time. Understand the reasons for the denials and be aware not to repeat them.

Reduce Billing and Coding Errors

While the medical billing industry has shifted to ICD-10 from ICD-9, ICD-11 may soon come into use from January 2022. The transition to ICD-10 brought in more than 140,000 new codes and procedures, so will the next transition. New codes have and will be added in 2022 for procedures and tests of detecting or treating COVID-19. Hence, all providers will need to be updated and train their staff accordingly.

Different procedures are explained using ICD-1—CM, HCPCS Level II, or CPT classification systems. Upcoding means adding or exchanging codes for costly procedures, and Undercoding means omitting or exchanging codes for not very costly procedures; these factors can also affect the claims.

Providers also need to use the correct modifiers as it plays a crucial role in getting a full or reduced reimbursement or even denial.

Improve 

Track the accounts receivable that are pending to get a better collection. Track each figure quarterly and compare it with the last year's numbers for timely analysis of new procedures.

Also, keep track of problematic accounts for potential challenges in the future. For example, late payments, frequent changes in contact details, or frequent declined payments are some of the very common giveaways for such problematic accounts.

2022 will bring in increased automation that can save your time with online scheduling or automated appointment reminders. Also, there will be an increase in the use of Artificial Intelligence which will help increase the productivity of professionals.

Keeping updated with all the new rules and policies can help you significantly improve your revenue in 2022.

Outsourcing

All these struggles can be easily managed by outsourcing medical billing and coding services. But how?

• These companies are aware of all the current trends, guidelines, or billing and coding standards required to be met in the billing industry. They will adhere to each and save your money and time with successful claims.
• They have dedicated specialists with the expertise to take care of the correct submission and re-submission in cases of denied claims. Also, they take lesser time, and the process is handled quicker than providers.
• When the billing troubles have been handed over, you can get sufficient time to focus on your patients.

24/7 Medical Billing Services can help simplify the whole process, ensure accuracy, and dedicate their team of experts to generate more revenue for you in 2022.

Read more: Medical Billing Services In 2022 – Changes To Expect