Medical Account Solutions » physician billing

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?

Is big business looking to cash in on ACO and healthcare reform? Check out this post from the latest FierceHealthcare News Brief...
Can ACO’s make healthcare accountable for all? Check out a NJ Spotlight blog written by Lilo Stainton,...
Get linkedIn to the Turnaround of Healthcare! With all that is going on today, rarely is there...

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Get linkedIn to the Turnaround of Healthcare!

Webmaster — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 18:27:22 +0000

All too often our issues with healthcare revolves around political issues, whether or not we can get access to treatment or coverage under our insurance providers and so on. On the front lines institutions battle with overworked billing departments and indifferences with insurance providers. Thrown in budget cuts and having to do more with less and still provide top care to patients who are dealing with serious health issues is an almost impossible task.

With all that is going on today, rarely is there a place where healthcare’s best and brightest come together to take on the challenges ahead.

We all know there is power in numbers so we’ve launched a group on LinkedIn called Turnaround Healthcare.

Turnaround Healthcare is a professional community for those who are dedicated to improving the wellbeing for today’s American Healthcare system through better management and implementing best practices.

Outside of healthcare, research tells us that teams working together are more successful and make fewer mistakes than do individuals. These studies show a strong relationship between qualities such as flexibility, adaptability, resistance to stress, cohesion, retention and morale with effective team performance.

Join us!! Healthcare experts, providers and networkers, let’s take our business know-how and entrepreneurial spirit to the healthcare world and mentor them to turnaround.

Is big business looking to cash in on ACO and healthcare reform? Check out this post from the latest FierceHealthcare News Brief...
Can ACO’s make healthcare accountable for all? Check out a NJ Spotlight blog written by Lilo Stainton,...
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...

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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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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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HappyDeal for big biz. What about the little guy?

Bill Baylis — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 14:16:45 +0000

It’s only been two weeks since the official start of Obamacare, September 23rd and already several companies are granted waivers from the law faster than your last order at the neighborhood fast food drive through window.

McDonalds among a list of other companies such as Aetna and Cigna were given relief from the bill. But I am just wondering how fast the little guy will be able to get a similar deal.

David Whelan of Forbes Health Dollars blog asked “What Does It Take To Get An ObamaCare Waiver?” his response “just ask”. He also has another excellent question: If companies can so easily get waivers to keep selling insurance made illegal by ObamaCare, can individuals apply for waivers to avoid paying the $950 penalty for not buying the right insurance?

Something tells me that the government health plan is not going to be done “your way” and was not really meant to be on the value menu.

Obamacare and fast food does have a few things in common “we will never understand exactly what is in it ” and “we may regret even having it in the first place.”

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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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MAS to be Spotlighted at the next Long Island Connects Meeting

Webmaster — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:28:44 +0000

Bill Baylis, President of Medical Account Solutions will be speaking at the next Long Island Connects business networking meeting on Wednesday, September 15th at 12pm. Long Island Connects meets at the Hauppauge Palace Diner, 525 Smithtown Boulevard in Hauppauge. For more information, call Bill Baylis at 516-348-7282 or visit the Long Island Connects website at http://liconnects.com.

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The Cost of Dying: End-of-Life Care. The path of least resistance for a medical blogger.

Bill Baylis — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:24:00 +0000

60 minutes ran a story Sunday night Aug. 6, 2010 (originally published on Nov. 22, 2009). The Cost of Dying: End-of-Life Care . It started with the statement “Every medical study ever conducted has concluded that 100 percent of all Americans will eventually die. This comes as no great surprise, but the amount of money being spent at the very end of people’s lives probably will.” They also reported, that last year, Medicare paid $55 billion just for doctor and hospital bills during the last two months of patients’ lives. That’s more than the budget for the Department of Homeland Security, or the Department of Education.

This piece created a lot of emotions for me. I don’t think it was an accident that I related to this story, considering that I have been working with colleagues who are experts in the field of eldercare and life coaching.

When I first decided to add this story to my blog; it seemed like an easy angle to write about our role in the debate as medical billers. (If you have any thoughts on what role we play, please comment.) After reporter Steve Kroft asked Dr. Elliott Fisher, a researcher at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy “How do so many people end up in the hospital?” and Fisher replied “It’s the path of least resistance”. I realized I was about to take the same path with this blog–so here goes the harder way.

Perhaps we as a country need to take a step back and as hard as this is to say “decide how we want to die”.

Most Americans don’t like to focus on morbid thing like this, but I have to agree with the point of view held by Dr. Byock who leads a team that treats and counsels patients with advanced illnesses: “This is a hard time in human life. But it’s just a part of life. Collectively, as a culture, we really have to acknowledge that we’re mortal,” Dr. Byock said. “Get over it. And start looking at what a healthy, morally robust way for people to die looks like.”

Dale Carnegie once said “Prepare for the worst that can possibly happen” then “calmly try to improve upon the worst.”

I think that we should put some thought today into how we what to die, to maintain some control of our last days. I have deeper understanding of how working with my end-of-life colleagues could help us live a better life. Attorney Craig Andreoli an estate planning expert, Stephanie Ethe long term insurance specialist and Jean Summit-Riker life coach can help us plan and ask ourselves the hard questions now so that we’re better prepared for death.

Jean Summit-Riker said “Life is a journey we all travel, but the choice to take the path to peace and happiness is yours alone.” I think this is our chance to collectively leave a legacy to our children and grandchildren and show them that it is important to prepare for death and that is possible to do it gracefully.

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Could Streamlining Medical Billing Save $7 Billion a Year? We say yes! MAS has been doing our part for over 20 years.

Bill Baylis — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:51:40 +0000

Here is some food for thought from a recent WSJ Health Spot Blog written by Katherine Hobson entitled Could Streamlining Medical Billing Save $7 Billion a Year?

The post highlights a study by a team from Massachusetts General Hospital and its physician’s organization. They examined the time and costs associated with the third-party billing system used in the U.S and calculated that they could save billions by just streamlining typical administrative inefficiencies.

The analysis, published in Health Affairs and funded by the Commonwealth Fund and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, looked at a large, multi-specialty group of doctors that uses the typical fee-for-service model. They looked at what might reduce some of the administrative burden – specifically, the time spent by physicians and office staff doing paperwork and going back and forth with payers.

“Achieving these savings would not require restructuring the basic market-system tenets of our complex health care system through, for example, mandating a single-payer approach,” the researchers write.

Medical billing companies like MAS have been on the front line of streamlining costs since the 1970’s and is a major reason why our industry has taken off since. Over the years. many doctor groups and hospital have taken advantage of our expertise to increase cash flow, including niche billing skills delivered by MAS, such as Workers’ Compensation and No-Fault or Ambulance / Emergency Transport Billing.

Another trend that MAS has seen is for clients to use our billing company on a project basis, as with our Third-Party Follow-Up and Trial Balance Cash Improvement programs. Our team literally becomes an extension of the client’s back office, benefiting them by keeping their office focused on the day to day’s most pressing needs.

What also works well is a contingency billing scale in which healthcare organizations take advantage of a sliding pay schedule that adjusts with need and patient volume. This becomes a win-win when hospital and physician organizations protect bottom line costs while still having a trained staff available when they need them the most.

There is no doubt the battle in streamlining costs in healthcare is a challenging one. When I read a report like this one I get energized and it reminds me that success can be ours! By working together and relying on the various industry segments to do their part, MAS believes that our healthcare industry can save billions. The model is there for us to follow. We look forward to doing our part to streamlining costs– one doctor office, one clinic, one doctor group and one hospital at a time.

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Comparing medical billing companies? If you only focus on price, MAS hopes you don’t get what you pay for.

Bill Baylis — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:05:37 +0000

Believe or not on 90% of our sales calls the first question our potential clients ask is “what do you charge?”

I can understand why most medical offices focus on that “pre-programmed answer” they assume that all medical billing offices are the same. Because they do the same things–don’t they?

I’m here to tell you that they don’t. If you’re considering hiring a medical billing company, I’d like to give you a few different questions to ask, because the truth is ALL MEDICAL BILLING OFFICES ARE NOT ALIKE!

Instead of just asking about price, dig deeper.

Ranging from basic to difficult the answers to these questions will help you figure out if they will give you the attention and client service you deserve.

How long have they been in business? Make sure they have the longevity to grow with you.
Who are their clients? You’ll find out if they are experienced in your area of specialty.
Who are the owners? Understand if they share your strategic vision.
How often will you get to meet with the owners? Confirm how accessible they are if you need to reach them.
Are they givers or takers? Givers will help you grow by sharing information and resources that keep you current and ahead of your competitors. Find out if

they will share what billing software they use with you
the data always yours or theirs
what format can the data be exported in.

How am I doing so far? These questions are a lot tougher than just pricing and we haven’t gotten to any performance questions yet! (I suspect I will get to that in another blog soon).

When it comes to finding the right medical billing company for you, do your research and think about what important qualities you need in a billing agency. If they deliver the right answers to the questions above, price won’t the only factor you base your decisions on.

Remember, not all medical billing companies are the same. Demand the best for your practice. But, if you only focus on price, you will get what you pay for.

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