There are probably hundreds of cardiovascular procedures currently being performed. Each of these procedures has one or more components that may be variable. And all of these different procedures and their components have unique cardiology billing codes and modifiers.
This makes for an incredibly huge list of diagnostic and procedure codes just under one specialty. And besides coding challenges, cardiology providers have to also deal with varying payer guidelines and payment policies.
Right from eligibility and insurance verification to claim submission and even AR collection, the entire process requires a high level of domain knowledge. These complications and many others make cardiology billing functions complex and ideal for outsourcing to experts.
Admin Tasks to Delegate to Your Cardiology Billing Partner
Healthcare providers don’t just deliver care to patients. They have to deal with payers and their confusing guidelines in order to recover payments.
All of the billing stages and their sub-steps also need to be completed on time. Any delays during this process, especially when requesting prior authorization can impact the health of the patients.
For providers, all this has to be done almost simultaneously while delivering medical care and scheduling new patients. And so, busy cardiology practices are usually better off after outsourcing their cardiology billing functions to an experienced partner.
Here is a list of administrative tasks that your billing partner will complete for you:
- Patient registration & scheduling
- Documentation
- Insurance verification & approval
- Paperwork and form fill-outs
- Medical coding of procedures
- Completion of remaining billing steps
- Claim scrubbing
- Claim submission
Considering the opportunity to efficiently outsource all time-consuming admin tasks, it is no surprise why cardiology billing services have become so popular among HCPs. However, irrespective of the benefits, small and medium-sized practices’ decision-making often depends largely on the cost aspect. And so, to help clear queries about that, let us also discuss how much it costs to partner with a medical billing service.
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Cardiology Billing Best Practices to Share with Your Team
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How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Cardiology Billing Service
There are various types of pricing models in the industry. Highly popular are FTE-based pricing model. Under this payment structure, providers pay a fixed hourly wage for every billing staff they are assigned. The hourly cost is usually $6 to $13 per FTE. But based on value-added services, billing companies can charge extra.
Another common payment model is the annual or contract-based system. This model requires payers to sign yearly contracts with their partner for a fixed price where payments are made once every year.
Often professional billing companies offer other flexible payment options to accommodate their clients’ requirements. And so, always check for options tailored to your needs.
To learn more about our cardiology billing best practices, please contact Sunknowledge Services Inc., a HIPAA-compliant revenue cycle management organization serving US healthcare providers and payers since 2007.