Medical Account Solutions » Comparing medical billing companies

Lets Hire America First.

Bill Baylis — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:00:18 +0000

About a year ago MAS wrote a blog post Forget Outsourcing, Try Rural Sourcing. MAS Agrees! about the value of “Rural Sourcing” and the need to keep jobs in the US instead of sending them overseas.

And today… jobs are still the big topic for all of us. In last week’s address to Congress and the country, President Obama laid out his plan for creating jobs. He stated the plan’s core goal: “The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working.”

The speech made me think of Linda McMahon’s quote on how jobs are created, “It’s very simple how you create jobs. An entrepreneur takes risk. He or she believes that they create a good or service that is sold for more than it costs to create it. If an entrepreneur thinks he can do that he creates a job.”

The heart and soul of the economy is small business. If you want to put Americans to work, it seems like a no brainer to begin with small businesses and entrepreneurs of America! We are standing ready to do whatever it takes to get the job done and start pumping some confidence back into the economy. Confident business owners hire.

Some companies may still have a need to send jobs overseas, but with the amount of people looking for work, MAS thinks it makes sense to hire people right here at home.

Small businesses can be creative in their hiring by focusing on their core expertise and outsourcing other job functions to entrepreneurs and consultants.

We use outsourcing to simplify things and be leaner and it’s been very effective for us. We hire out in key fields like IT, Accounting/CFO and other services for pennies on the dollar–with better results. This lets us focus on what we’re good at–is medical billing and collections.Trusting our expert consultants has paid off for us.

The biggest win of all is that it’s freed us up to hire people to build our core business and create more local jobs for Americans.

So how can outsourcing to experts help you streamline your business and help boost the economy at the same time?

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Have You Heard About the New Medicare Plan that’s Got Hospitals Upset?

Webmaster — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 13:23:27 +0000

A recent NY Times article by Robert Spears entitled “Medicare Plan for Payments Irks Hospitals” talks about upcoming changes to the way Medicare pays out to hospitals based on performance.

As stated in the article “for the first time in its history, Medicare will soon track spending on millions of individual beneficiaries, reward hospitals that hold down costs and penalize those whose patients prove most expensive.”

It’s another take on pay for performance which can leave hospitals responsible for the cost of care rendered not only by them, but also by any doctors the patient sees after they leave the hospital.

We’d love to know what you think about this plan to “pay 4 performance”. Leave us a comment after you’ve read the article.

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Are You Still Working on Your SMART Goals?

Webmaster — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:25:27 +0000

When we wrote our blog Are You Setting SMART Goals for Your Medical Billing Office in 2011? we asked if you had set your goals for 2011 and gave you some guidelines for setting SMART goals that are (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Timely).

We had no idea that it would be one of our most popular blogs, but we think we figured out why.

Most of us start the year off with the best of intentions. We set goals and create lists of all the things we intend to do, but somewhere along February, we fall off and forget what we planned.

So we’re checking in with you to see how you’re doing. We want to expand this beyond the medical billing profession and ask ALL of our business readers to let us know you you’re doing.

Have you taken a look at your profitability to see where your best leads and sales are coming from?
Are you doing what you can to improve the collection rates of your receivables?
Do you stay current with changes in your industry. (For us we’re learning constantly about ICD-10 and ACOs) What’s the buzz in your industry?
How are you doing at streamlining and reducing waste?
Have you given Outsourcing a thought?
What goals can you check off your list?

We’re celebrating our 25th year so we’re turning things upside down and answering these questions ourselves. How about you? Chime in and let us know how you’re doing on your SMART goals!

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MAS Wonders if ACOs are Already in Jeopardy?

Webmaster — Mon, 16 May 2011 14:24:37 +0000

In the world of healthcare, ACOs or Accountable Care Organization have only recently been creating a huge buzz. Are they already in jeopardy?

ACO’s may already be at risk, due to recent budget cutting measures passed by the House of Representatives that would restructure Medicare and Medicaid. If the Ryan budget is fully passed, it will likely start the countdown to the end of Accountable Care Organizations, which were created under the Obamacare law.

Currently Medicare is a “fee for service system” where healthcare providers are paid for each service rendered. At it’s current rate of reimbursement government spending on Medicare increases 7.2 percent each year and is projected to consume every dollar produced in the United States in only a few years. To try and prevent this, the Ryan budget begins a slow transition away from the current fee for service system to a voucher program that would allow seniors to buy private insurance free of charge.

This move is expected to save billions of dollars in Medicare spending and will guarantee coverage for seniors who otherwise will find themselves exposed when the program runs out of money, while still leaving coverage for those currently on Medicare or nearing retirement unchanged.

As ACOs are currently structured, providers in ACOs receive a portion of every dollar they are able to save Medicare in the form of a bonus. Under the proposed plan however Medicare would only be buying insurance for people not paying doctors directly, removing the main draw of an ACO for doctors and hospitals ultimately rendering ACOs a thing of the past.

So are ACOs almost a thing of the past before they even become reality? Chime in and let us know what think–post a comment below or on our Facebook page.

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Two Sides of HealthCare Reform. Business vs Obamacare?

Bill Baylis — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:31:54 +0000

I love to see healthcare take a page from business, so the other day I was feeling pretty good after I read a post from Becker’s Hospital Review written by Rachel Fields entitled New Jersey Hospitals Advertise Wait Times to Draw Patient.

The post talks about how several New Jersey hospitals are touting low wait times in an effort to attract patients to their Emergency Departments, according to a Wall Street Journal report (how entrepreneurial !!)

It reads Bayonne (N.J.) Medical Center recently unveiled two billboards in Jersey City that advertise the hospital’s emergency room wait times. The billboards are updated with current wait times several times a day. While Christ Hospital in Jersey City plans to display its wait times on its website.

I am proud of these healthcare institutions for acting on the need in the market to better serve patients (i.e. customers) by streamlining their ED operations, then creating a product to market in an advertising campaign. I am sure a smart phone application is on the way!

Well to the contrary, I had to go and read Branwen Jeffreys’ blog in the BBC health news Kings Fund: Waiting times in England at three-year high. The King’s Fund is an English charity that seeks to understand how the health system in England can be improved. The Kings Fund statistics for February show 15% of patients waited over 18 weeks for treatment, the longest time since April 2008. It argues the shift is due to the financial pressures on the NHS.

So now, I am wondering if Obamacare could stifle the competitive spirit. And could long wait times become a trend in the U.S one day?

Kings Fund chief economist Professor John Appleby said the health service was now operating in a different climate.

“In the past the two things that kept waiting down were targets and extra money. Managers got sacked for not meeting targets. And of course in the future there won’t be the same amount of extra money.”

The official waiting figures are only part of the picture. As the BBC recently found, some parts of the NHS in England have introduced new restrictions on treatment or put routine operations on hold for several months. None of this appears in the statistics as it occurs before the clock starts.

For me this is the frustration of healthcare reform, there is still not enough firm information out there to get our arms around to understand what direction we need to focus on. What I do believe is that solid business ideals are going to make it shine!

I just hope there won’t be too many rules around it to prevent it from doing what is intended to do. Cut costs and deliver excellence in healthcare. What’s your take?

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Can ACO’s make healthcare accountable for all?

Bill Baylis — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:44:11 +0000

Check out a NJ Spotlight blog written by Lilo Stainton, “Bill Would Expand “Accountable” HealthCare in New Jersey”. I believe this is a great example of how an Accountable Care Organization’s (ACO) could even out the playing field for all financial demographics.

The post talks about how an uninsured woman“Betty” with over 400-plus visits to a Trenton area hospitals during 2010 and battling health issues and drug addiction, was able to get back on her feet again. Thanks to the help of a group of doctors in a NJ ACO, Betty is much healthier today.

In her blog, Stainton wrote “she’s been off the streets for six months; she’s struggling to stay clean; and she has only visited the emergency room a handful of times this year. Thanks to a coalition of doctors, nurses and specialists that make up the Trenton Health Team, Betty and others like her have seen real improvements in their health. And if early indicators hold true, the bill for their treatment could be cut nearly in half”.

I always under stood how the ACO model could work in terms of streamlining services and costs savings. But for me, this example shows how an uninsured woman was able to gain access to a team of doctors focused on healing her personal and health issues. Whether or not this is an exception to the rule is something we should study more as the ACO debate rolls on.

As stated “The ACO model — which plays a prominent role in the federal health care reform effort now being developed — is centered on improving treatment of chronic conditions, like diabetes and high blood pressure, reducing emergency room visits and hospitalizations, and coordinating patient care among all providers in a geographic region, like Camden or Trenton. It is technology-dependent, requiring good healthcare data to identify the patients and communities most in need, as well as electronic patient records immediately accessible to all doctors and hospitals treating a patient.”

The article goes on to answer many questions and providing educating facts on ACO’s. You can read more by clicking here “Bill Would Expand “Accountable” HealthCare in New Jersey”

What are your thoughts is this the future healthcare?

Is big business looking to cash in on ACO and healthcare reform? Check out this post from the latest FierceHealthcare News Brief...

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Letting Go to Grow

Bill Baylis — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 15:00:57 +0000

Recently I heard someone say that when you’re building a team, in order to grow you have to learn to let go.

Many of us when we start our businesses are used to doing everything by ourselves. We get scared of letting go and delegating to others. Because we’re afraid that things won’t be done right and that our customers are gonna be the ones to suffer.

Doctor’s are no different. Some doctors run their medical offices this way. They are almost too involved in the administrative things and aspects of running their practice and it gets in the way of patient. They are concerned about outsourcing their medical billing or other administrative tasks.

Other doctors, especially those in multi doctor practices hire staff in house to manage the administrative things, but it’s still hard for them to let go and their staff to get overwhelmed with things like following up with patient billing, the back and forth with insurance companies. These time consuming activities–especially those for medical billing–can make it harder to focus on the core functions of their practice–patient care.

But the truth is if we don’t learn to delegate and get the support we need it’s going to be hard for us to grow. So learn to let go and outsource the things that are taking up too much time for your practice.

Outsourcing to me Bill Baylis and my company MAS to manage your accounts and receivables and medical billing will make it easier for you and your staff to focus on the more important aspects of your practice—your patients.

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Outsourcing: Is it all or nothing? Or is it just Medical Billing?

Bill Baylis — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 14:43:15 +0000

Our recent blog Outsourcing – the Art of Delegation kicked up some debate.

For most of its 24 years in the healthcare field, MAS has focused most of our talents working with hospital and clinics. When MAS decided it was time to lend our talent and expand our client base toward doctor groups and individual practitioners, we knew that there we some misconceptions about outsourcing. We knew we would have to help to change the culture of what outsourcing really does.

At MAS we consider ourselves a “medical billing company”. Medical billing companies do much more then offer the choice of keeping your billing staff in-house or sending your accounts receivable out. Hospitals have been using medical billing agencies since the 1970′s. They have learned to use each agency to complement their own expertise and weaknesses.

For instance, hospitals have reversed the trend of outsourcing all of their in-patient billing so they can put a concentrated effort on receivables by putting their best and brightest to streamline and maximize that part of the A/R.

It’s a good policy because it puts them in control of their own destiny. They can directly manage the bread and butter of how a hospital will pay their payroll and important bills. However, most hospitals are smart enough to know they can’t do it all. For some hospitals, it’s best to send their no-fault billing to a qualified billing company because of the legal knowledge neededd to get these claims paid.

Companies like MAS are looking to change the face of outsourcing to let doctors and doctor groups know that its not all or nothing! We are here to help grow your business.

When you learn to properly delegate the areas that you aren’t strong in, you can focus on your strengths and leverage your team where they can produce the best results for you!

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Its Open Season. Obamacare Starts Today.

Bill Baylis — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 19:47:58 +0000

As reported by Chelsey Levingston in the blog Health Care Reforms Passed Start Today : Provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed by Congress March 23, also known as the health care reform law, go in effect today, Thursday, Sept. 23.

The provisions now effective are:

• Expansion of the dependent age up to 26 years. Until now, dependents were no longer covered by their parents’ or guardians’ insurance after 19 years of age, or if in college, after 23 years.

• No annual or lifetime dollar limits to amount of money spent on health services.

• No denying coverage to children under 19 years of age for preexisting conditions.

• Coverage for all preventative services with no co-pays.

This is according to Kelly McGivern, president and chief executive officer of the Ohio Association of Health Plans, who also said the new rules are expected to increase costs of insurance premiums 5 percent

Are you confused? “I have been in healthcare for 25 years and I am just not sure what it all means.” But I am looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and working through it.

See our popular blog: (first posted August 8, 2010) below as a reminder of what we might be on for.

When it comes to wading the waters of the “New Health Care System“, to quote Chief Brody from the movies JAWS “You’re gonna need a bigger boat!”

Check out Congressman Brady’s New Health Care Chart below. If there was ever a time to hire a Medical Billing company like Medical Account Solutions, it’s right about now!

I’m sure you’ll agree that when you’re face to face with a big shark, it’s no time to go ” Rogue”. Don’t try to do it alone. MAS stands ready to help you navigate your way to firm footing in these uncertain waters.

Let MAS handle the details so your health care organization can stay afloat, because if you don’t move quickly, this “shark” will swallow you whole.

Congressman Brady Introduces “Your New Health Care System” Chart

July, 28, 2010 — nicedeb

Last year, TX Congressman, Kevin Brady’s Health Care Bill Chart was a viral sensation. Today, he unveiled a special visual project highlighting how out of control the expansion of the federal government has become: Please visit the permalink for Congressman, Kevin Brady’s blog.

“

A little sunshine goes a long way”.

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Outsourcing: The Art of Delegation

Bill Baylis — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:20:15 +0000

Time management experts all agree that one of the most important skills needed to manage the non renewing resource of time, is to master the art of delegation.

In order to improve your medical office’s productivity it’s important to learn how to delegate those skills that aren’t your area of expertise. That way you can focus on your core business-seeing patients.

In my opinion the medical offices who successfully delegate or outsource their medical billing are more productive and profitable. These offices are also more profitable because by outsourcing their medical billing to a company like MAS,they are able to benefit from our expertise as profit recovery specialists.

So now you’re thinking “trust someone else to bill my patients?” I ask “Why Not?”

When you “delegate” your medical billing and profit recovery needs to MAS, you are a part of the process all the way.

You always have access to your information, you know where your billing is at all times and because we make sure we understand your specific practice—everything is customized to you. The key is that you won’t be spending your time to do it, we’ll take care of it for you.

Mastering the art of outsourcing or delegation will help you streamline your business and save time and money.

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