Have You Explored Thoracic Surgery Billing?

As a thoracic surgeon, one of your main focuses is ensuring your patients receive the best possible care. However, to keep your practice running smoothly and profitably, you also need to pay close attention to the financial aspects of running a medical business. This includes effectively managing the billing process for all the thoracic surgery procedures and visits that take place in your practice on a daily basis. Have you taken the time to fully explore what Thoracic Surgery Billing Services entails and whether bringing on an outside firm to handle it makes the most sense for your practice?

What Does Thoracic Surgery Billing Involve?

Let’s start with understanding the basics of what is involved in thoracic surgery billing. Some of the key elements include:

• Coding each surgical procedure, diagnostic test, and office visit accurately according to CPT and ICD-10 guidelines. Coding incorrectly can lead to claim denials and lost revenue.
• Filing claims to Medicare, Medicaid, private payers, and any other applicable insurance plans promptly after each patient encounter to ensure timely reimbursement. Repeatedly following up on unpaid claims.
• Negotiating contracts and in-network rates with insurance companies. Staying on top of any fee schedule changes over time.
• Handling prior authorizations, referrals, and pre-certifications as required by different payers to gain approval for scheduled procedures.
• Completing all billing documentation like superbills, statements, and reimbursement letters properly to comply with regulations.
• Addressing any billing errors, claim rejections, underpayments or overpayments that arise. Filing appeals as warranted.
• Assisting with patient billing and collections related to co-pays, deductibles, and non-covered charges.

As you can see, the nuts and bolts of thoracic surgery billing involves a significant amount of administrative tasks, regulatory knowledge, attention to detail and follow up. It is a highly specialized function that requires dedicated staff and resources.

Why Outsource Thoracic Surgery Billing Services?

For many thoracic surgeons and medical groups, taking on the full financial and administrative responsibilities of practice billing in-house is simply not feasible or advisable. This is where outsourcing to a reputable medical billing company can provide substantial benefits:

Dedicated Expertise – Specialized Thoracic Surgery Billing Services firms employ billing professionals who solely focus on coding, claims, authorizations, and payments related to cardiothoracic procedures on a daily basis. They stay on top of complicated regulations and guidelines better than a part-time billing clerk could in your practice.

Cost Savings – By eliminating the need to hire and manage internal billing staff, pay their salaries and benefits, purchase billing software licenses, and provide ongoing compliance training, you gain immediate cost reductions. Outsourcing billing is often more affordable on a month-to-month operational cost comparison.

Higher Claims Success – Medical billing experts are intimately familiar with nuances between different insurance plans to maximize approvals and reimbursements. Their in-depth carrier relationships allow for faster turnaround times and follow up on claims issues. This translates to higher total revenue for your practice over time.

Focus on Medical Care – You and your team can exclusively concentrate on providing quality patient care instead of getting bogged down in coding conflicts, claim rejections, or collections headaches. This reduces stress and improves efficiency across your staff.

Compliance Assurance – Outside firms keep up to the minute with HIPAA, billing laws and all payer regulations and changes. Outsourcing shields you from audits, fines or penalties caused by compliance errors or oversights.

Scalability – As your practice grows and demand for thoracic surgical services increases, a billing vendor can seamlessly expand staff and systems as needed to match your volume. There is no hard cap on the number of monthly billable procedures they can handle smoothly.

One well-regarded vendor offering comprehensive Thoracic Surgery Billing Services is DSO Medplud based out of New Jersey. They have over 15 years of experience catering specifically to cardiothoracic, vascular and trauma surgeon clients across the country. They are dedicated to handling all medical billing functions properly and getting surgeons paid on time. DSO Medplud prides itself on personal attention, industry leading claim approvals, and a managed care team available 24/7 for any billing emergencies or issues that arise after hours. Contact them to learn how outsourcing billing may benefit your practice.

What to Look For In an Outsourced Billing Firm

If you do decide to outsource your thoracic surgery billing, it is important to engage a reputable partner. Here are some key attributes to seek out:

• Extensive experience in cardiothoracic coding, billing, and payment posting specifically. Generalists won’t understand your specialty nuances well.
• Strong credentials and certification in medical billing standards like AAPC, AHIMA that assures compliance adherence.
• Positive client testimonials and longevity in business, preferably 5+ years, to verify stability.
• Competitive pricing where you only pay by percentage collected rather than flat monthly fees.
• Transparency into internal billing processes, technology utilized, staff turnover rates.
• Capable of reporting monthly on key metrics like claims volume managed, approvals percentage, denials/rejections reasons, average payment turnaround times, and accounts receivable aging.
• 24/7 online client portal access for real-time billing visibility and communication.
• Emphasis on building supportive long-term client partnerships rather than just a vendor relationship.

Proper Due Diligence on a few top contenders based on these factors will uncover the right billing partner to maximize your revenues efficiently via siyatech41.351514,-71.9646317,15z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x89e60b7fa24998db:0xfb55b472135187e7!8m2!3d41.351514!4d-71.9646317!16s%2Fg%2F11v4sfsxgp?entry=tts&shorturl=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">quality Thoracic Surgery Billing Services. Outsourcing should simplify rather than complicate your business operations.

In Summary

Between focusing on patient care and navigating regulatory requirements, managing billing internally can detract from a thoracic surgeon’s primary responsibilities. By outsourcing billing functions to a specialized firm, practices see savings on costs while maximizing coding expertise, compliance assurance, and revenue growth over the long haul. Just be sure to thoroughly vet any potential vendors to guarantee qualifications, positive reviews and client-centric service. Exploring top notch Thoracic Surgery Billing Services firms is a smart move worth your time to optimize practice finances and peace of mind.