September 2014 Client Newsletter
CLIENT NEWSLETTER
September 1, 2014
6 Reasons to Check Patient Insurance Eligibility Before the Patient Visit
- Ability to get significant insurance info about patients before the service is provided. Do they have insurance?
- Reduce eligibility errors – what is each patient’s correct co-pay, coinsurance, and/or deductible?
- Cuts down on phone calls to insurers.
- Increase first submission paid claims
- It doesn’t cost you anything!
- If you use the Healthpac Scheduler, it is saved for future reference
EFT
- Every insurance company is required to offer ACH transaction deposits directly into a bank account. Other methods are optional – debit cards, paper checks, etc.
- You do not have to accept the high cost of non-ACH payments, aka Virtual Credit Cards!
- Each insurer is also required to set up a web-based system for enrollment
- CAQH has a master system that plans can subscribe to.
- Eliminates paper checks
- Avoids trip to the bank
- Speeds up deposits – and predictability. E.g., Remit received today – bank deposit in 2 days.
If you get push back, it is a clear HIPAA violation if they refuse to provide ACH to you. There is a formal complaint process through CMS which CPB can assist with.
Virtual Credit Cards (VCC’s)
One more suggestion if you are approached by an insurance company to accept VCC’s – ask them the cost of: 1. VCC, 2. Gift cards, and 3. ACH EFT.” And feel free to get us involved to help sort thru the “chatter.” The ACH EFT is usually very low - $.25-.35 cents and may be worth it.