Medical Account Solutions » Improve cash flow

Don’t you agree that Pay 4 Performance Just Makes Dollars and Cents?

Webmaster — Mon, 09 May 2011 13:28:12 +0000

Can you imagine paying someone for a job not done? Unfortunately sometimes when we hire employees, consultants or service professionals we end up paying them for a job half done. We feel obligated to honor contracts even if we don’t agree with the quality of the work performed.

We know that’s a tough pill to swallow. That’s why at MAS we believe strongly that clients shouldn’t pay unless we deliver. That’s the reasoning behind our Pay 4 Performance guarantee- we don’t get paid unless our clients get paid.

If you like the sound of it, click here to learn more about our Pay 4 Performance program.

Even if you’re not one of our medical billing clients, it might give you food for thought the next time you enter into a service contract!

Don’t forget to comment on this post or on our Facebook page to let us know what you think!

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ACOs-Accountable Care Organizations Part 1- The Pros for Them

Webmaster — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:45:24 +0000

I recently announced that I’d be starting a blog series on ACOs-Accountable Care Organizations. Here’s the first part of the blog series presenting an argument for ACOs.

Accountable Care Organizations are a new concept intended to save Medicare dollars provided for in HealthCare Reform. Spokesmen for the Obama administration say these new forms of providing healthcare will be able to save untold amounts in Medicare spending by reducing waste and unnecessary procedures ordered by doctors performing defensive medicine.

The blog post Accountable Care Organizations, Explained by Jenny Gold gives a pretty good overview of ACOs.

In it, she outlines ACOs as simply networks of hospitals and doctors that agree to manage all the medical needs of at least 5,000 Medicare patients for at least three years. Doctors and hospitals participating in Accountable Care Organizations will be paid through a fee for service system similar to traditional Medicare billing. The major difference between an ACO and traditional Medicare lies in the fact that these doctors and hospitals will receive bonuses from Medicare funds if they are able to keep costs down. This will partly be done by sharing services within the ACO according to members of the administration. Since this difference is largely behind the scenes, patients may not even know they are a part of an Accountable Care Organization.

Even though doctors will be incentivized to keep costs low, these doctors will also need to maintain certain standards of care “as the Secretary [of Health and Human Services] shall determine,” in order to keep their contracts. Further, despite the fact that bonuses will be paid, proponents of ACOs argue that there will still be aggregate savings in the long term.

Among these proponents, the Obama administration’s Health and Human Services department insists this payment of bonuses to doctors and hospitals for reduced billing to Medicare will incentivize doctors to keep their patients healthy by practicing preventative medicine rather than only treating patients when they are already sick. According to the administration, this will save money.

So what do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please be sure to comment and share this post with others. Stay tuned, the next blog will focus on the argument against ACOs.

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Bill Baylis is a Basso on Business Guest Blogger: Do You Outsource? Here’s 3 Core Reasons Why You Should Consider It

Webmaster — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:02:16 +0000

Bill Baylis is a guest blogger for Rob Basso of Basso on Business. Below is an introduction to the post. Please click through to read the full post and to add your comments and thoughts.

As a decision maker in today’s business climate, it’s more important than ever to know your options for success. One such option is outsourcing. Whether it’s outsourcing a single specific task, such as collecting on an overdue account, or outsourcing your entire accounts receivable function, the possibilities are endless!

To help you determine whether or not outsourcing may be for you, here are 3 core reasons for consideration:

Click here to visit the Basso on Business site and read the full article.

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Bill Baylis talks about the state of Medical Billing and Outsourcing

Webmaster — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 15:38:35 +0000

In a short video, Medical Account Solutions President, Bill Baylis talks about the state of medical billing on Friday , January 7th at the Health and Business Alliance. The HBA meets at The Holliswood Hospital 87-37 Palermo Street Holliswood, Queens, NY. For more information, call Bill Baylis at 516-348-7282 or visit the HBA website at http://www.hbametro.org/

Bill recommends that hospitals focus on doing what they do best, and let others—experts—take care of the rest! Click here now to watch the video on the front page of the MAS website!

A special thanks to the HBA for all of their support!!

About MAS: Is there a certain area in your medical billing process which is slowing you down or eating into profits? You no longer have to let an unmet billing need undermine your strength and efficiency. With its team of talented medical billing experts, Medical Account Solutions (MAS) can help your healthcare organization identify and focus on your unique problem and fill the void to keep your billing processes running smoothly.

MAS is Proud to Announce the Launch of our Newsletter Your Medical Billing Office News Information is key and at MAS, we're proud to do...
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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Are You Setting SMART Goals for Your Medical Billing Office in 2011?

Bill Baylis — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:00:22 +0000

Have you set your goals yet for 2011? Are you setting SMART goals for your medical billing office in 2011? It’s not enough to just go through the daily routine and react to a crisis when it occurs. If you want to maximize your opportunities for success this year, you must set goals that you can track, measure and reach in 2011!

Every medical billing office (and person) should have goals, and, the beginning of the year is the best time to establish them. Productivity experts recommend setting SMART goals.

SMART goals are:

Specific

Measurable

Actionable

Realistic

Timely

So what should you include as some of your practice’s SMART goals? Here are a few things to consider:

Analyze the profitability of your medical billing. Need help? Get the MAS Profitability Calculator now.
Maximize your profitability and receivables. Check out these quick steps to get started.
Stay current with changes that will affect your practice like ICD-10 (more to come from MAS on this)
Find ways to streamline your medical billing and maximize receivables. Click here to learn more on how .
Explore and implement ways to improve your Accounts Receivable Management. Click here for more ideas.

Have a few suggestions of your own? Let us know what items have made your SMART goals list for 2011.

Happy New Year!

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Maximize your profitability and receivables-a few quick steps

Webmaster — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 16:30:29 +0000

Often, when I am reviewing a client’s medical receivable, I notice revenue lost simply because steps were not taken on the front-end that are necessary to secure payment and maximize collections. In some cases, if a few initial steps are not taken on the front-end, there is nothing a biller can do to get a claim paid…the ship has sailed. Fortunately, these mistakes can be avoided by following a few simple steps:

Make sure to collect a patient’s copay prior to their visit–this may seem obvious or perhaps “no big deal”, however, some insurer’s payment is the copay alone and no further reimbursement will be made. Failure to secure this cash upfront could mean that you will not see another dime for this visit.
Check to make sure a patient is truly eligible with their insurer. Some patients may not even be aware that their coverage has been canceled, others may try to be seen without insurance. It is too late to collect payment once the patient is out of the office.
Check to see if an authorization is necessary for this patient’s visit. Insurers are routinely making policy changes that you may not have realized; all it takes is a quick phone call to be certain.
Get a copy of the patient’s insurance card, front and back. This is your insurance to make sure there weren’t any keystroke errors during intake, or, to be certain that there isn’t a different phone number for a patient’s particular policy.
Check prior visits to be certain there are no outstanding balances due. Perhaps the patient owes coinsurance or a deductible has been applied to your visit. A patient is more likely to pay their bill when they are standing in front of you, as opposed to when they receive a bill in the mail.

You might think that these steps are all obvious, however, I assure you they are not. Furthermore, one may not realize these are necessary steps, unless you are familiar with the billing process. Your front-end staff is not only there as a smiling face to greet patients, they should also be looked upon as a conduit between the patient and the biller. If steps taken during intake are done haphazardly, your bottomline will be affected. Share these with all members of your staff, so that you can feel confident that you are maximizing your collections.

It’s also important for you to keep an eye on unpaid claims and make sure that your medical billing is as profitable as it should be. If you’re not sure where to start, I suggest using the MAS Profitability Calculator to make sure your office isn’t losing money. Just sign up for the your complimentary copy of the MAS Profitability Calculator from the home page of the MAS site now*.

*We respect your privacy and will NEVER rent or sell your personal information… Ever!

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Get the MAS Profitability Calculator

Bill Baylis — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:37:50 +0000

We’ve had some discussion and outright debate about value of outsourcing and making the decision to keep your billing staff in-house or sending your accounts receivable out.

Now MAS makes it easier to know how profitable your medical billing practice is!

We know that a lot of 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.

At MAS we understand that many doctors and hospitals are on the fence and that the truth is that they are not sure if outsourcing will actually result in increased profits.

To help answer that question, MAS has developed a complimentary Profitability Calculator so you can have concrete proof that using MAS to manage your medical billing will have a positive and profitable impact on your bottom line.

All you have to do is sign up now to get your copy of the MAS Profitability Calculator so you don’t have to keep tackling cash flow alone. Click here to sign up for your copy now.

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Holding on to the Passion

Bill Baylis — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:35:03 +0000

Most of us go into business because we have a passion for what we are doing. We’re good at what we choose as our careers because we invest in training to gain expertise. It doesn’t feel like work because we love what we do.

Doctors are no different. They dedicate many years to studying and training to become specialists. But they don’t spend time and training to become medical billers.

Doctors focus on their true passion-patient care. Too bad that the business end of running a practice and dealing with medical billing and fighting with insurance companies often gets in the way of a doctor and his or her passion.

Luckily for doctor’s my passion is medical billing and managing the administrative end of a medical practice. It might be hard to understand that what I find passionate is helping doctors do what they love to do by taking care of the things that get in the way.

Most doctors don’t realize how much administrative work is involved in being able to take care of their patients by having to deal with the insurance companies and all of the rules and clerical things that come into play in order for them to deliver services.

So what’s the solution? Outsourcing and delegating to Bill Baylis and MAS. Because at the end of the day, my passion is all about helping you focus on your passion–patient care.

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Medical Account Solutions to Attend the LIASB Anniversary Celebration

Webmaster — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 18:30:43 +0000

Bill Baylis and Susan Baylis of Medical Account Solutions will have a table at the Long Island Advancement of Small Business Anniversary Celebration. This event is open to members and the public. Sign up to attend at http://www.LIASB.com/seminars.php

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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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