Important Details Concerning the Laboratory Billing Process
Evidence suggests that there is a lot of revenue that is being made by diagnostic and medical laboratories. A complex scenario often arises in diagnostic and medical laboratories due to the huge sums of money that these labs make. The billing problem therefore in a very big way affects the profitability of very many of these diagnostic and medical laboratories.
There are some steps however that one can follow in order to make the laboratory billing system much easier. If you are affected by this problem, look no further as this article will detail on some of the steps on how to solve the billing problem.
One of the measures that is mandatory for the diagnostic and medical laboratories in order to solve the billing problem is that of undertaking laboratory coding. Once the laboratories have offered the codes for the services that they give, insurance companies will then read those codes to establish if they will pay or not.
There are very many types of coding that may be used by the diagnostic and medical laboratories. Current procedural terminology as well as the international classification of diseases are the examples of some of the coding types that may be used. The benefit of these coding styles is that they have been made uniform by the World Health Organization.
To deal with the problem of billing that affects these labs, it is also very essential to have a revenue cycle management. Sending the payer the bill is usually the initial step in revenue cycle management. The bill that is sent to the payer is usually sent electronically using the electronic data interchange. By using the services of medical claim examiners or adjusters, insurance companies then interrogate those bills they receive from the labs.
An insurance company can either pay or refuse to pay a claim from the labs upon examination. A person can review an insurance claim and then later resend it back to the insurance company.
There are some mistakes that one needs to refrain from in the process of billing for the diagnostic and medical laboratories. It is for example very essential that one does refrain from giving information that has been mistyped. Delays is the consequence of giving mistyped information to the insurance companies. It is also important that people do avoid accepting the insurance that is inactive.
Another error in billing that occurs in most cases is that of not properly managing denials. In the long run, if you do not manage denials well, you could experience delays in payment or you could even not be paid.