Radiology and Imaging Centers Billing Best Practices

Today's radiology practices face significant financial challenges. Over the last decade, compliance rules have changed, physician reimbursements have fallen, high-deductible health plans have become common, and the costs of employing staff to provide services, such as Radiology and Imaging Centers Billing and audits, have risen. All of these factors have reduced the operating margins of practices. In other words, it can be said that radiology practices face numerous reimbursement challenges – adding trouble to their survival. But fortunately, such practices can improve inefficiencies in various ways. As a result, practices should consider novel approaches to managing these dynamics. Let’s have a deep dive into a few of such ways: 

1. Leverage Technology for Collections

After insurance payments, there will inevitably be uncollected balances, and the practice will have to contact the patient for payment. Accounts receivable follow-up activity can be scheduled and executed automatically. The current standard for accounts receivable processing is to get the patient 30 days after the initial statement via an automated phone call. Automated outbound patient calls should be made during call center hours of operation so that the patient can be transferred directly to an agent if desired. The contact would become a 'final notice before collection' on the third cycle.

This process can be tailored to your practice's needs, pay class mix, and individual third-party payers within a paid class, but it should be well-defined and completed promptly. As a result, cash collections have increased while bad debt has decreased. As an added bonus, the automated calling system records the fact of the call, so if a patient disputes that the call was placed, the practice can quickly provide time and date documentation.

2. Avoid Backlogs in Radiology and Imaging Centers Billing

Many radiologists juggle multiple patient care priorities as they work in health systems and radiology clinics. When you add billing administrative tasks to their list of responsibilities, they frequently require assistance to cope, resulting in piled-up medical billing tasks and delayed reimbursements.

They can stay current on billing and achieve better financial outcomes by turning to specialized medical billing companies while significantly reducing total costs to manage medical billing processes. Nowadays, reimbursement rates are declining while employee costs are rising; radiology clinics and health systems need help to achieve and maintain profitability. You can rely on the radiology billing and coding outsourcing option to improve your financial performance, as the third parties have a robust global delivery model and specific expertise in radiology billing.

3. Other Practices

• Monitor Medical Necessity

It is critical to ensure that all radiology exams are medically necessary and meet insurance companies criteria. This will aid in the avoidance of denied claims and the reduction of time spent on appeals.

• Keep Dictation Needs Up to Date

Ensure that all dictation requirements are current and accurate. This includes making certain that all exam titles and templates are correct.

• Examining the Templates and Exam Titles

Review the templates and exam titles used for billing on a regular basis. This will aid in ensuring that they remain accurate and up to date.

Timely Claims Reimbursement!

The financial stability of radiology and imaging centers is inextricably linked to timely medical billing and reimbursement. Thereby, hiring medical billing companies would greatly assist healthcare practices in increasing their revenue. An experienced medical billing company such as 24/7 Medical Billing Services can provide hospitals and imaging centers with accurate radiology billing services. 

A professional billing service provider enables radiology practices and imaging centers to submit error-free medical bills within the time frame specified, avoiding the possibility of claim denial or rejection. They would not only be able to maximize their reimbursement and revenue but also save the time and effort required to perform in-house medical radiology billing procedures.

Read more: Five Ways To Increase Your Radiology Practice Collections