4 Reasons To Hire CA Billing

4 Reasons To Hire CA Billing

Efficiency and effectiveness can get stunted if your medical practice is overwhelmed by the billing process. At CA Billing, we relieve you of this burden through our expert service and medical billing software. Here is what you can expect when partnering with CA Billing.
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Open Communication

At CA Billing, we value open and frequent communication. As your practice’s partner, we are dedicated to getting you paid for the services you provide. To do this, we collaborate with you and develop a relationship that ensures you are in the loop about the status of your bills. Keeping our lines open for our partners all hours of the day, you can access your revenue reports and stay in touch.

Dedicated Specialists

Our team of medical billing specialists has extensive experience processing claims in the medical industry. This comes into play when we perform audits, handle appeals, verify benefits, and conduct third-party negotiations. Trained to optimize your business practice, the CA Billing team is here to help you maximize your efficiency without sacrificing quality or accuracy.

a passionate team
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Custom Reporting

Another area where CA Billing really shines is in the reports we create for our partners. Our medical billing system allows us to deliver custom reports that are tailored to your company’s specific requirements.

Attention To Detail

Attention to detail is critical when it comes to medical billing and coding services. We aren’t interested in simply getting medical records from doctors’ offices so we can feed them through our systems like a piece of paper through a shredder. We want to develop a solution that meets the needs of your practice by improving the accuracy of your reporting so you can maximize your revenue potential.

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Incorporating our team of specialists and billing software into your medical practice will help you save time, money, and keep better, more accurate records. To learn more about becoming a CA Billing partner, contact us today!

4 Ways Medical Billing Software Helps Your Practice

4 Ways Medical Billing Software Helps Your Practice

Medical billing is not an easy task. With so many policies and regulations to follow, ensuring your billing is done correctly can take a lot of time and can even get expensive when you don’t bill correctly. However, CA Billing is here to help practices like yours. Our specialized industry knowledge allows you to prioritize your client care, while we focus on helping you obtain maximum revenue for continued high-quality service. Here’s a look at four ways our medical billing services will make things easier for your practice and operations.
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Save Time

As medical professionals, we all know how valuable your time is. You would rather spend your days seeing patients than doing paperwork and figuring out billing details. You can save huge amounts of time by using our medical billing services because we will utilize the patient information that you have already entered into the database while our team handles the entire medical billing process from patient intake to payment posting. This, in turn, saves your staff valuable hours that would otherwise be spent on repetitive clerical tasks such as manually filling out forms and payer-specific documentation. On top of this, having everything electronic makes it easy for us to provide you with the documentation you need, when you need it, so you are not constantly digging through folders. By streamlining your billing process, your staff will have more time to concentrate on higher-level revenue cycle management tasks like policy and appeals compliance and helping with insurance verifications.

Save Money

Medical billing can get tricky with so many regulations regarding claims and how and when they should be submitted. Instead, when you let our medical billing service team do all the work for you, you can prevent medical debt because every claim will be filled out and filed correctly. Instead of worrying about incomplete claims or mistakes in your paperwork, your practice has a team of professionals to look over everything and ensure it’s all done properly. No more worrying about your practice ending up owing money instead of getting paid for the services you provided! As an added plus, many insurance companies offer discounts if you provide electronic claims, which saves them money too. Medical billing services ensure that everything is done correctly, every time.

a money jar
someone checking billing on computer

Ensure Billing Accuracy

Using our team’s extensive knowledge and experience in the medical billing industry not only helps your medical practice operate more efficiently by streamlining the claims submission process, but also ensures that you have a source for answers to any of your billing questions or woes. The streamlined workflow provided by a dedicated medical billing services team can lead to fewer mistakes in your billing process, ultimately resulting in improved cash flow for your practice.

Better Record Keeping

With medical billing services from CA Billing, you can get a better idea of relevant details for your practice, such as which services are most profitable for your practice, how many claims are typically denied each month, and more. Our medical billing service team provides you access to records immediately through a digital platform, which allows you to make sure every patient gets the care they need without any delays. Having insight into what happens within your practice’s billing process will also help you to make better business decisions in the future.

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If you don’t already have medical billing services for your practice, consider partnering with CA Billing. Helping your practice with our optimized billing plans and services is only one part of our comprehensive approach toward helping behavioral health practices like yours operate more smoothly. Learn more about our dedicated specialists and open communication policies, or get started with your practice’s medical billing service and contact us today!

What is the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act?

What is the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act?

April 22, 2021

Prior to this law passing at a federal level, mental health and substance abuse was covered at a much lower level than physical illness in the eyes of insurance providers. This meant that it was very difficult to get coverage for long term stays at mental health or substance use disorder facilities. In fact, prior to 2008 going to treatment was almost all a “cash pay” system- this meant people who were in need of these services did not have the access they so desperately needed.
 
Then in 2008, Congress passed the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act that requires health insurers and group health plans to guarantee that financial requirements on benefits are not anymore restrictive than they are for the financial requirements for medical and surgical benefits.
 
This means that an insurance provider could not have a different deductible for substance abuse than it does for surgical benefits. In fact, below are all of the financial responsibilities that must be equal between mental health + substance abuse and medical + surgical:
  • Inpatient in-network and out-of-network
  • Outpatient in-network and out-of-network
  • Intensive outpatient services
  • Partial hospitalization
  • Residential treatment
  • Emergency care
  • Prescription drugs
  • Co-pays
  • Deductibles
  • Maximum out-of-pocket limits
  • Geographic location
  • Facility type
  • Provider reimbursement rates
  • Clinical criteria used to approve or deny care
 
As for all healthcare coverage, the treatment must be shown to be reasonable, necessary, and appropriate under medical necessity. However, the MHPAE also applies when it comes to medical necessity determinations.
 
There are some some exceptions when it comes to MHPAE, some insurance providers may choose to not provide any mental health or substance abuse benefits. Exceptions also include self-funded small private employers with less than 50 employees.
 
At CA Billing we make sure to advocate for our facilities when it comes to insurance companies providing equal benefits for mental health and substance abuse.

What You Need to Know About Telemedicine + Insurance

What You Need to Know About Telemedicine + Insurance

January 6, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on the way most people live their daily lives. More people are working from home, children are attending virtual classes, and greater effort is being made to avoid unnecessary trips to the store or even to the doctor’s office. As people continue to shelter in place, more behavioral health providers are offering telemedicine sessions as a way to provide their patients with the essential help and support they need.
 
 
The pandemic has been mentally and emotionally difficult for everyone, but for those who struggle with a pre-existing mental health condition, COVID-19 has made things even more challenging as access to treatment, support groups, and family and friends have been limited for almost a year. Fortunately, the use of telemedicine has expanded as a way to meet with a professional without having to leave the safety of home.
 
 
If your office provides telemedicine or you’re considering adding it to your list of services, there are some things you should know with regard to insurance. In today’s blog from CA Billing, we’re going to discuss how insurance companies view telemedicine and what you can do if your patients don’t have coverage. Keep reading to learn more and then give us a call to learn how we can help your business with all of your behavioral health billing needs.
 

What Is Telemedicine?

Telemedicine, also known as video therapy, e-therapy, or online therapy is a safe and convenient way for patients and treatment providers to connect virtually with the aid of technology. It’s similar to video chatting with a friend or family member, but it takes place with a doctor or therapist on a HIPAA-compliant web portal.
Telemedicine sessions work much the same way as traditional doctor’s visits or therapy sessions with only one significant difference — the provider and the client are not in the same location. Instead, a computer, smartphone, or tablet is used to deliver consultations and treatments in a live, interactive, (but long-distance) setting. Not only can telemedicine be used for one-on-one sessions with a behavioral health provider, but this form of video conferencing can also be used for therapist-mediated group sessions or counseling.

 

Benefits of Telemedicine For Behavioral Health Specialists

It’s easy to see how patients can benefit from telemedicine, but there are quite a few reasons why it’s also good for behavioral health facilities.

COVID Safety

Even though we are in a global pandemic, people still need treatment for substance use disorders and mental health conditions. Utilizing telemedicine is a way to be able to connect clients with group counseling, therapy, and psychiatrists while still being able to maintain distancing and safety protocols for your staff and your patients.

New Opportunities

If you’re looking for ways to expand your business, telemedicine can help you reach more clients in different places outside of your local area. Because it can be done from just about any location, telemedicine lets you reach out to people who may not otherwise have the means to travel to your facility.
 

Telemedicine and Insurance

Despite the growing popularity of telemedicine among psychologists, therapists, and other behavioral health facilities, some insurance companies have yet to get on board and still do not cover the cost of this service. While most insurance providers have increased telemedicine coverage throughout the pandemic, some patients may be denied coverage and have to pay for services out of pocket — but this will depend on the provider and the circumstances for using telemedicine instead of seeing patients in person.
To make the process more seamless, insurance providers have taken steps to make the billing process for telemedicine easier so facilities can care for their patients in a safe way while still getting timely and sustainable reimbursements. However, it is important that your in-house billing department or third-party biller becomes familiar with the subtleties and potential changes in billing codes when submitting claims for telemedicine services. We’re happy to report at CA Billing that we’ve been able to assist our clients in transitioning some of their services to telemedicine while still maintaining reimbursement rates.
 

Protect Yourself and Your Patients

To protect your patients from having to pay out of pocket and to ensure that claims are processed in a timely manner, you can do one of two things. Either you can take on the responsibility of checking with each patient’s insurance company to see if they are covered and at what rate you will be paid, or you can partner with a third-party behavioral health billing company like CA Billing who can do all of the legwork for you. Not only can we save you time and free up your staff so they can focus on more important things, but we’ll use our industry experience and connections to provide you with the most accurate information and the best chances for optimum reimbursement.
Efficient and effective behavioral health billing isn’t just about assigning the right codes (although that is an important part of getting reimbursed) it’s about coming up with a comprehensive and data-driven strategy that involves verification of benefits, staying current with insurance requirements, authorizations, and enlisting the help of an experienced team to handle third-party negotiations and appeals. At CA Billing, we can assist you with all of this and more. We have extensive experience in behavioral health billing related to in-person therapy as well as telemedicine services. Contact a member of our team today to schedule a free consultation.

The Collections Continuum- Reimbursement Guide from Treatment to Payment

The Collections Continuum- Reimbursement Guide from Treatment to Payment

October 28, 2020

We teamed up with the law firm Nelson Hardiman to put on a webinar for professionals in the behavioral health industry to provide education and tips on how to get the most out of their collections. In this webinar, CA Billing Co-Founder Abdul Ahmed and Nelson Hardiman Partner, Zach Rothenberg talk about the importance of maintaining immaculate documentation, how to best execute appeals, how to be proactive in dealing with “special investigative units”, financial hardship, patient financial responsibility, and how to best maintain data to help you moving forward in your business.

You can watch the full webinar below!

 

Would you like to learn more about CA Billing and what we can do for you? Visit our website to learn about our services or check out our frequently asked questions page. You can also call or email us to request a free consultation.