Tips for Making Your Medical Coding Process More Efficient

Tips for Making Your Medical Coding Process More Efficient
Medical coding requires efficiency, accuracy, and timeliness. Without these three qualities, insurance rejection rates will soar. A mismatched code, an outdated patient information, or a late submission can make health insurers say NO. When that happens, everyone takes a blow. Patients, doctors and medical facilities don’t get the funding they need.

Medical coding is a crucial process. Even though it operates in the background, its impact is substantial.

Here are tips on how to make the medical coding process more efficient:

Work with a Trained Staff
CDT, HCPCS, ICD, DSN, HL7.

An average joe would ask, “What do these letters stand for?” But to medical coders these acronyms would feel like a second language — familiar, comprehensible, clear. They know the words and what it means. Not only that, they can make sense out of doctors’ notes and procedures. They who know the difference between “acute” and “chronic”; a CT scan and an MRI; a diagnosis and a prognosis.

Having a medical coding staff that’s well-versed with terminologies, codes, and the entire claims process will expedite the coding operations.

Embrace Technology
Medical coding calls for high attention to detail and patience. Lots of it. On top of that, medical coding deals with varying billing procedures and different coding systems. It’s a painstaking process, and without technology, the progress will crawl at a snail’s pace.

Cutting-edge software that adapts to the medical and health insurance industries is a must to speed things up.

Analyze Rejected and Denied Claims
Keep this in mind: Every failed claim is an opportunity to improve.

Rejected and denied claims provide valuable business intelligence, showing you the areas for improvement and the processes to streamline.

So, set aside time to look into reports. Study them and find out what went wrong. Compare approved claims vs denied ones. Trends and patterns often emerge, giving insights on how to strategize for higher approval rates.

Strive for a Complete and Updated Patient Database
A wrong address, a misspelled name, and an inactive phone number can stretch out the coding and claim filing process unnecessarily.

Right off the bat, make sure all relevant patient information are documented accurately. Take the complete name; double check the phone number; verify the address; know the birth date; collect the Social Security number. When it comes to patient information, don’t save it for later. Stay on top of it and keep it updated.

Consider Medical Coding Outsourcing
Medical coding requires manpower, premium software, and ongoing staff training. Do you have the time or the resources for it? Think about it. Having it in-house is a costly exercise.

But if you choose to outsource, you’ll have what you need, all bundled up in a reasonably priced package. Flexibility is an add-on, too. You’ll have more time to focus on core processes like patient care. More importantly, ROI is guaranteed.

StraightSource specializes in Healthcare BPO. Our processes our HIPAA compliant and we have modern systems in place. Our outsourcing solutions will give your business the push it needs.

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