How to Reduce Days in A/R with Smart Denial Management Strategies

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 Timely reimbursement is the lifeblood of a financially healthy medical practice. Yet, increasing Days in Accounts Receivable (A/R) continues to be one of the most pressing revenue cycle issues for healthcare providers. One of the major culprits behind this issue? Denials. In this blog, we explore how strategic denial management not only reduces days in A/R but also improves cash flow and strengthens your bottom line. Understanding Days in A/R Days in A/R refers to the average number of days it takes for a practice to collect payments due after services have been provided. Industry benchmarks typically suggest keeping A/R days under 35. Anything higher signals inefficiencies - and likely unresolved denials. How Claim Denials Affect A/R Denied claims delay payments and increase administrative burden. Without an effective process to identify, appeal, and correct them, your A/R days will climb - and revenue will suffer. Top causes of denials include: Missing or incorrect ...

Eliminating Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) Medical Billing Complication

 

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Medical billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities has undergone metamorphic changes ever since the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 came into effect in 1998. One of the significant requirements under the new legislation is that Skilled Nursing Facilities are not permitted to unbundle services administered by contracted healthcare providers. As a result, most of the services provided to Medicare beneficiaries are to be bundled together and billed by SNFs under the Prospective Payment System (PPS) in one consolidated claim. The SNF concerned is then responsible to pay for contracted services out of the per diem rate that it earns for caring for a Medicare beneficiary.

Eliminating Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF) Medical Billing Complication

While this imposition may have helped reduce potential fraud and abuse due to double billing by healthcare providers, SNFs have certainly had a hard time understanding:

  • What services are covered under consolidated billing
  • What is billable under Medicare Part A
  • What is billable under Medicare Part B
  • State-specific Medicaid protocols and Methodologies for SNFs Medical Billing
  • Commercial health insurance plans and their dynamics

Though most of the services offered to a resident under Medicare Part A are allowed to be included in the consolidated billing, certain services deemed costly or requiring specialization must not be appended with the consolidated billing. Generally, physician’s professional services; certain dialysis-related services, including covered ambulance transportation to obtain the dialysis services; certain ambulance services, including transporting the beneficiary to the SNF initially, transporting from the SNF at the end of the stay (other than when involving transfer to another SNF), and transporting round-trip during the stay temporarily offsite to receive dialysis or certain types of intensive or emergency outpatient hospital services; erythropoietin for certain dialysis patients; certain chemotherapy drugs; certain chemotherapy administration services; radioisotope services; and customized prosthetic devices are excluded.

The services that are excluded under Medicare Part A should be billed under Medicare Part B, which allows medically necessary services to be reimbursed under the ‘Fee For Service’ (FFS) system. It is possible that SNFs may not have been entirely thorough with these procedures, resulting in billing inefficiencies.

Even as most SNFs need to bill Medicare Part A and Part B, SNFs could operate under the state-specific Medicaid ambit. And, because each of the 50 states in the U.S. may have its own Medicaid program, SNFs should invariably have to bill under their state-specific Medicaid rules and regulations. This region-specific compliance too may have had a considerable impact on SNF billing.

To learn more about Eliminating Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) Medical Billing Complication, click here: https://bit.ly/3W5s5re  Contact us at info@medicalbillersandcoders.com888-357-3226.

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