Top 3 Billing and Coding Errors That Could Cost Your Urgent Care Center Heavily in Miami

Humans are not error free. But an error in urgent care medical billing can translate into a big loss. This mistake is the difference between receiving a payment for a service or not.

Every year over 300 new urgent care centers open in the US. Urgent care clinics may see a bigger boom in the coming times.

Efficient and high-quality urgent care centers are the need of the hour, especially with the on-going COVID-19 pandemic causing havoc across the nation. A rise in the numbers of urgent care centers also means an increase in the amount of medical billing and coding work.

That is why there is almost no scope for errors or oversights. Billing and coding mistakes have seen several urgent care centers lose their fees leading to drained finances and a poor revenue cycle.

The goal should be to keep errors at their lowest so your urgent care center can continue to grow and provide top-quality services.

With this in mind, we've listed here the top 3 medical billing mistakes that you can prevent your urgent care center from making and suffering losses.

Error #1

Inefficient Front Desk

The moment a patient walks into your urgent care center and speaks at the front desk, your revenue cycle starts. That is why it is essential to have in place sound financial processes right at your front desk. Not being able to do so can lead to increasing bad debts and a loss in revenue.

Ensure your front desk collects co-pays at the time a patient walks in. Waiting to collect co-pays at the end of the patient visit is calling for trouble.

Similarly, all pending balances should be collected from the patients before allowing them to avail new services. This will ensure no charges are missed and there is no bad debt.

Your front desk personnel must verify all patient information at the time a patient checks in. They must ensure the patient records are maintained with full safety and security. All patient records should be kept updated, and the staff need to ensure that the records comply with HIPAA laws.

Regular staff training and workshops help them to focus on the front desk processes and how best to use them. Training also ensures that the team is up-to-date and well aware of all the various steps of efficiently managing a front desk.

Error #2

Improper Use Of EMR

Your urgent care center may have the best electronic medical records (EMR) system in use, but if the system is not being used properly, it is as good as the EMR with the poorest features and technology. Not being able to put the EMR to optimal use or not being competent enough to use it, can weigh heavily on your company and its revenue management.

Ensure you employ people who have the expertise to take full advantage of the EMR and who can deliver the best results. Also, your staff should be able to accurately capture all the patient details and the services provided. Any minute detail that is missed can cause your urgent care clinic to record low revenues.

To avoid such a situation, it is prudent to hire trained urgent care medical billing and coding experts who know their work and are not a burden to your company.

Error #3

Filling Out Claims Incorrectly

Another major mistake that you would want to avoid at every cost is not having claims filled out correctly. This is a big urgent care medical billing and coding 'headache' that you must not let happen in you center.

It’s true that filling out claims is a complicated affair. But it is essential that every information is included accurately and clearly in the form. Failure to do so can result in a complete denial of claim acceptance.

Your staff must ensure that every detail is entered in legible and clear handwriting, as well as all important and necessary details are included along with the diagnosis code. Any details missed would provide the insurance company an opportunity to deny the claim.

Hiring services of a specialist urgent care medical billing company will not only prevent claim denials but also stop you from losing money on unaccepted claims.

Put A Stop To These Errors

It is possible that your urgent care center is overwhelmed by the amount of work that has been added in recent times due to the Coronavirus pandemic. But increased work does not have to mean increased burden on your staff.

Instead of handling your medical billing and coding work on your own, why not hire an Urgent Care Medical Billing Company in Miami to do your work for you. If you want to stop worrying about slow billing and delayed claims payments, you can speak to a GMB urgent care medical billing specialist at (786) 725-2120, (855) 469-1422 today.