Benefits of Hiring a Medical Practice Management Company
As a healthcare provider, managing a medical practice can be quite challenging. From juggling patient care to keeping up with regulatory compliance and administrative tasks, it can be overwhelming for any practice. This is where a medical practice management company can help.
Medical practice management companies offer a range of services designed to help healthcare providers run their practices more efficiently. From billing and collections to marketing and strategic planning, these companies can help practices navigate the complexities of the healthcare industry while improving patient care.
Boosting Morale at Your Medical Practice: Tips and Strategies
As a medical practice manager, one of your top priorities is to create a positive work environment that promotes job satisfaction, productivity, and employee retention. Maintaining high morale among your staff is crucial to achieving these goals. But with the ever-increasing demands of healthcare, it can be challenging to keep your team motivated and engaged. Here are some tips and strategies to boost morale at your medical practice.
Recognize and Appreciate Your Team
One of the simplest yet most effective ways to boost morale is to acknowledge and appreciate your team's efforts. Celebrate their accomplishments, recognize their hard work, and show them that you value their contributions to the practice. A simple "thank you" or "great job" can go a long way in making your staff feel appreciated and motivated.
Please contact Tower Physicians Solutions at 630-243-5731 or email us at:
Learn more at: https://towerps.com Contact Tower for more information regarding business strategy support for your practice
Partnering with a Medical Billing Vendor Can Grow Your Practice
A medical billing vendor may be the key to improving billing within your medical practice. Every provider that runs an in-house billing department knows just how burdensome they can be. With the highest turnaround rate of any other department, providers are constantly having to train and retrain new staff. This is costly and exhausting to practice resources and results in a low-functioning billing department. Choosing to partner with a medical billing vendor can help you grow your practice in the right direction.
Benefits of a Medical Practice Management Partner:
Relieve Billing Frustrations
There are thousands of burdens and frustrations associated with running a billing department. From high staff turnaround to training, to keeping up with medical billing codes, and chasing down collection payments, it never ends. By choosing to partner with a medical billing vendor, you hand over these frustrations to someone else. You no longer have to juggle a million pieces to keep your practice financially afloat. Instead, expert billers take over your billing department, guaranteeing that it will run smoothly. They are in charge of their own training/staff who will always be up to date on top industry standards.
Please contact Tower Physicians Solutions at 630-243-5731 or email us at:
Learn more at: https://towerps.com Contact Tower for more information regarding business strategy support for your practice
Like many, you might start your January with a few New Year’s resolutions in mind, whether you’re looking to get healthier, travel more or learn a new skill. But don’t leave your medical practice off your list! Even if your practice is thriving, there’s always room for improvement. Not quite sure where to start? Think about adding these ideas to your list of resolutions.
Improve medical practice operational efficiency
What are the tasks that require the most staff time, and can you use technology to reduce the burden? For example, do patients and other providers frequently call the practice asking for the fax number and address? If so, include this information on your website and in your initial voicemail prompt. Do new patients often forget to come in early to fill out paperwork? If so, send paper forms in the mail before the visit, or go paperless using technology that prompts patients to provide information electronically.
Please contact Tower Physicians Solutions at 630-243-5731 or email us at:
Learn more at: https://towerps.com Contact Tower for more information regarding business strategy support for your practice
Antone Crasto named CEO of Tower Physician Solutions
For immediate release: January 12th, 2023
With industry-leading experience as a foundation, Antone Crasto's inspired and grounded leadership style will aid in the company's enhanced performance and growth.
Antone, is a respected leader in the medical practice management field with an extensive background in new business strategies.
“Antone’s insightfulness, cutting-edge ideas and adept problem-solving skills make him the perfect fit for such a prominent position at Tower. His comprehensive understanding of the medical practice management industry will no doubt bring forth newfound successes as we move forward together.” said Brian O'Dea, CEO of NANI.
Tower Physicians Solutions is a provider of nephrology-specific medical practice management services, a subsidiary of Nephrology Associates of Northern Illinois and Indiana, NANI.
NANI physicians have cared for patients with compassion, experience and innovation in kidney disease since 1968. The nephrology practice operations, billing and strategy professionals which support NANI are now leveraged to provide the same resources to other practices through Tower Physician Solutions. Physicians nationwide trust Tower to increase their billing revenue, help with their business strategy, and use the latest industry knowledge to achieve greater success.
With Antone Crasto’s leadership, we look forward to providing exceptional service and support to our physician
partners.
https://towerPS.com
Tower Physician Solutions
120 W 22nd St. Suite 300, Oak Brook, IL 60523
How To Improve Medical Billing Collections For Your Practice?
Getting due payment or reimbursement without any shortfalls is a primary focus for any physician or medical practice. However real-time scenarios can give a different picture with reasons such as low paid, rejections, denials and payment delays. While getting 100% timely payment for all claims processed might seem impractical, working towards achieving maximum reimbursement within the turnaround time (TAT) and assuring internal quality standards are getting affected should help keep your practice financially sound. Tips to improve and standardize medical billing collections:
Revenue Cycle Management Services
Attention to complete revenue cycle management right from patient registration to payment collections focusing on areas pulling down the process quality for improvement and engaging in strategic methodology to gain payable collections can help achieve financial goals.
Credentialing issues can be costly and drain productivity, so put in place a plan and keep your credentialing up-to-date. Here are some tips to help ensure you have a successful credentialing process.
Establish the Credentialing Process
Set up a credentialing process for your organization before accepting applications or pre-applications. Establish a written policy describing the process you will use and the information you will need from applicants. The following are standard requests for information:
◆ Current license
◆ Active Controlled Dangerous Substances (CDS)/ Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA license)
◆ Evidence of relevant training and experience
◆ Professional certifications and affiliations
◆ Proof of recent insurance coverage
◆ Record of claims and malpractices, if applicable
◆ Board certification information
After that, it is essential to verify the authenticity of all the above documents with a primary source - the issuing organization to confirm that they are correct and current. Communicate via correspondence, telephone conversation, or online contact. Along with these, you should pay attention to a candidate's current health, references, and criminal history.
Proactive Medical Billing Tips to Maximize Revenue
Are you doing enough to make sure you’re always paid what you deserve? Here is a quick and easy medical billing tip to get your practice paid in full more efficiently. We will uncover more ways to maximize revenue in the next blog!
Manage Medical Claims Properly
Approximately 80% of all medical bills contain errors, and because of how strict insurance companies are about correct medical billing and coding practices, they’ll likely be rejected. The cycle of submission, rejection, editing, and resubmission can take weeks, often resulting in providers waiting for months before receiving payment for their services.
Because of the wasted time and effort involved in editing and resubmitting claims, it’s important that claims are accurate and complete the first time. This involves inputting the information correctly and double-checking claims for any possible errors before submitting them.
Physicians are under even more pressure than ever before to make sure their practice is run as efficiently and effectively as possible. Price pressures, healthcare reform, declining reimbursements and other issues are making it incredibly hard to be able to provide the necessary focus on patient care. These are just a few of the reasons you should consider partnering with a medical practice management company. As one of the largest nationally recognized leaders in nephrology, NANI’ s legacy in nephrology dates all the way back to 1976. NANI was formed and began hiring nephrologists to staff its growing number of dialysis centers in the Chicago area. Later that year, NANI established its first dialysis center in Indiana.
Ramp Up Your Medical Practice Billing and Collections
Ramp Up Your Medical Practice Billing and Collections
No matter the size of your nephrology medical practice, billing and collections play a large role in a physician’s ability and capacity to offer care to their patients.
Payments from both insurance companies and patients are necessary to keep the doors to your medical practice open. In order to secure each payment in a timely fashion, providers need to observe the following tips.
Medical billing and coding can be challenging to get right, especially for a small practice with limited time and resources. Since insurance billing is often the lifeblood for an organization’s revenue stream, any situation that contributes to an increase in medical billing errors needs to be identified and addressed as quickly as possible. That’s why having an experienced medical billing partner is a tremendous asset for any healthcare practice.
Why Minimizing Medical Billing Errors is Essential for Your Medical Practice
Medical billing and coding can be challenging to get right, especially for a small practice with limited time and resources. Since insurance billing is often the lifeblood for an organization’s revenue stream, any situation that contributes to an increase in medical billing errors needs to be identified and addressed as quickly as possible. That’s why having an experienced medical billing partner is a tremendous asset for any healthcare practice.
Why Minimizing Medical Billing Errors is Essential for Your Medical Practice
Medical coding is the most critical stage in the medical billing process. Maintaining accuracy is imperative in this step to avoid denial of claims. Most of the time errors in coding happen due to several reasons – from improper knowledge to common mix-ups. No matter what the reason is, the consequences of wrong coding are always severe.
Some of them include:
Affecting Reimbursements
Coding errors would lead to claim denials and hence, directly affect the process of revenue cycle management. Over time, the denied claims would stack up till they are corrected and resubmitted. This delay in submission of clean claims would cause financial instability for the medical practice.
An error in medical billing is usually something along the lines of data entry or typing errors. The problem is that a mistake in medical billing can make the difference between a payment being made – or not. Simple mistakes are easy to make; a human error must be allowed for, but lost fees can really drain the finances of a medical practice, it’s up to the medical billers working hard to keep the mistakes to a minimum.
Along with this, effective communication can go a long way to ensuring these mistakes are stopped in their tracks before they even become a problem. It is important to have a highly skilled and experienced team of medical coders onboard to ensure that there are absolutely no errors in the claim. Here are some of the most common medical billing errors.
If your practice has trouble finding, retaining, and training medical billers and certified coders, then you’re not alone. Maximizing collections is just one component of effective revenue cycle management. If a medical practice overlooks this key step, they risk forfeiting money they’re owed and lose out on much-needed revenue.
To ensure accuracy, medical billing requires complete focus and expertise, which is why countless healthcare leaders are choosing to outsource their revenue cycle to the specialists at Tower Physician Solutions. Read our testimonials!
A healthy revenue cycle is imperative to sustain the costly work of providing healthcare, but it's not always easy to make sure your practice is paid for the services it has rendered. It can be particularly challenging because healthcare providers are often reimbursed by third-party payers after the patient has already come and gone, and there is a lag between rendering services and receiving payment.
Moreover, insurance claims might be rejected or denied for various reasons. Human error plays a major role in many of these denials, as up to 75% of claims are coded incorrectly. Claim denials can be very costly for the medical practice and many write off underpaid or denied dollars, costing the practice revenue losses on an institutionalized basis.
What are the best ways your practice can minimize losses and ensure timely and complete payments for the work you've already done?
Like many, you might start your January with a few New Year’s resolutions in mind, whether you’re looking to get healthier, travel more or learn a new skill. But don’t leave your medical practice off your list! Even if your practice is thriving, there’s always room for improvement. Not quite sure where to start? Think about adding these ideas to your list of resolutions.
Improve medical practice operational efficiency
What are the tasks that require the most staff time, and can you use technology to reduce the burden? For example, do patients and other providers frequently call the practice asking for the fax number and address? If so, include this information on your website and in your initial voicemail prompt. Do new patients often forget to come in early to fill out paperwork? If so, send paper forms in the mail before the visit, or go paperless using technology that prompts patients to provide information electronically.
Many roadblocks can arise in practice revenue management, but by using these 5 tips to manage your revenue cycle, the patient experience and practice revenues will improve exponentially. Are you ready to improve your revenue cycle management for 2022?
Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) can be very complex, but if you have the right goals and measures in place, you can set your Nephrology Practice up for success. Maintaining any medical practice requires efficient revenue cycle management that works for both your practice as well as your patients.
Many roadblocks can arise in practice revenue management, but by using these 5 tips to manage your revenue cycle, the patient experience and practice revenues will improve exponentially. Are you ready to improve your revenue cycle management for 2022?
Prepare Your Medical Practice for the Holiday Season
The holiday season is upon us and there are a few things you should coordinate to prepare your medical practice holiday schedule and ensure you end the year on a high note.
This time of year tends to be busy, and your team and patients may be celebrating Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas or even a memorable New Year’s Eve. It’s important to be prepared in advance so that you remember to celebrate the practice’s achievements over the year, mark important milestones, and get you and your team ready for a well-deserved break. Get started now so those last few weeks aren’t any more overwhelming than they need to be!
If you’re struggling with an inefficient medical practice, you’re not alone. According to Becker’s Hospital Review, 25 percent of specialists fall behind in their appointment schedules daily, 79 percent fall behind because patient visits last longer than expected, and 66 percent fall back because patients are late and don’t have time to fill out paperwork. Although there are various reasons in which practices fall behind and into inefficiency, consider the following factors that could be stunting productivity at your nephrology practice.
As part of this relationship, NANI has made an equity investment in Strive, joining New Enterprise Associates, Alphabet's CapitalG and other leading venture capital investors, building on Strive’s $140 million Series B funding round announced in March 2021.
Nephrology Associates of Northern Illinois and Northern Indiana and value-based kidney care leader will jointly share and manage payor risk under long-term agreement
DENVER AND CHICAGO – September 21, 2021 – Strive Health, the national leader in value-based kidney care, and Nephrology Associates of Northern Illinois and Northern Indiana (NANI), the nation’s largest independent nephrology group, today announced a strategic partnership to jointly pursue and manage global risk payment models. This partnership will benefit people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end stage kidney disease (ESKD) through a “whole patient” approach that enhances lives and communities across Illinois, Indiana and potentially other states.
As part of this relationship, NANI has made an equity investment in Strive, joining New Enterprise Associates, Alphabet's CapitalG and other leading venture capital investors, building on Strive’s $140 million Series B funding round announced in March 2021.
Proactive Medical Billing Tips to Maximize Revenue
Any medical provider knows how difficult it is to align payments to the value of their services. To get paid efficiently and on time, medical providers need to establish better systems and procedures that provide lasting success. By preventing problems before they happen, healthcare practices can maximize their revenue, ensuring they’re properly reimbursed, and they are able to continue providing care to their communities.
Here are several steps your nephrology practice can take to be more proactive in your medical billing procedures:
1. Establish a Clear Collections Process
All providers need a collections process to ensure the financial health of their practice. Establishing a step-by-step approach clarifies the procedures for all involved, and it can greatly improve revenue cycles by ensuring patients are properly and thoroughly informed of their responsibilities.
2. Manage Claims Properly
Approximately 80% of all medical bills contain errors, and because of how strict insurance companies are about correct medical billing and coding practices, they’ll likely be rejected. The cycle of submission, rejection, editing, and resubmission can take weeks, often resulting in providers waiting for months before receiving payment for their services.
Improving medical office efficiency requires evaluation and planning. If you’re constantly running behind schedule and chaos is standard operating procedure, these steps can help you get and keep your practice running smoothly.
Track and Observe
First things first: spend a few weeks tracking the flow of patients through your practice. You’ll want to know how many patients you see each day, how much time you spend with each patient, how many patients are there for the first time, and which days are most popular for first-time visits. This information can help you identify when your patient load is at or over capacity and allot an appropriate amount of time for each visit.
Offer Online Scheduling
The majority of medical practices that offer online scheduling see a reduction in staff labor, patient waiting time, and no-shows according to a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. Your patients will appreciate the convenience of booking appointments online. Meanwhile, your staff will appreciate spending less time on administrative tasks.
We all want our medical offices to run as efficiently and smoothly as possible. Unfortunately, there are some mornings that just fall flat and, before we know it, they’ve completely fallen apart. These are the types of mornings that even Starbucks can’t fix! Keep everything running well at your practice by starting with these tips:
Let’s face it, we are all so busy and overworked lately we cannot afford to let our guards down when it comes to our health and wellbeing. All too often, we hear that our sedentary working lifestyles will – quite literally – be the death of us.
That doesn’t have to be the case. It’s easier than you think to have an office job and a healthy lifestyle and here are some tips:
Plan in exercise
Walk for at least 15 minutes of your everyday commute. Get on and off your bus or train one stop early, or park your car a little further away. Take a midday break with some exercise and fresh air – it will make you far more productive in the afternoon than staying put and slogging through. Spend half an hour going for a brisk walk or a run and the other half hour eating your lunch.
We all want our medical offices to run as efficiently and smoothly as possible. Unfortunately, there are some mornings that just fall flat and, before we know it, they’ve completely fallen apart. These are the types of mornings that even Starbucks can’t fix! Keep everything running well at your practice by starting with these tips:
1. Embrace Technology
Automate, automate, automate—Technology is one of the greatest friends for an efficient practice. Done right, technology can eliminate errors, improve patient access, and save time. Technology can now automate many time-consuming tasks such as appointment reminders, newsletters, recare, and more. That being said, it is critical that everyone in the office is fully trained and mentally on board with any new technology. If not used to its full advantage, technology can actually slow things down. Don’t let the benefits of technology go wasted.
Summertime Cleaning: 7 Tips for Getting Your Business Finances in Order
What a better time to look at your medical practices financial health than the start of a new season! While caring for your patients is why you practice Medicine, you have a business to run and it is important that you keep your business afloat by taking the time to get all your finances in order.
Fortunately, getting your finances back in tip-top shape doesn’t require a complete overhaul. You just need to dedicate a few hours to tidying up and start making a few more intentional decisions. Here are some tips on how to get it all done!
Tips for Getting Your Business Finances in Order
1. Clean Up Your Books
With everything going on day-to-day to run the practice, it’s easy to get behind on your financial to-do list. If your financial records are not up-to-date, you could risk losing money by failing to keep up with late payments by your customers or failing to realize that it is time to pay your suppliers. Maintaining a good record of your finances will help you track your expenses, debts, and creditors, and be able to apply for additional funding if the need arises.
Collect your paperwork: Gather your receipts, bank statements, bills, invoices, and the like. If you’re using cloud-based bookkeeping software (more on that soon), you’ll have this taken care of in no time.
Organize your income and expenses: Double-check all of your transactions to ensure they’re appropriately categorized. This information can help you with your tax deductions and business planning later.
Generate financial statements: Go ahead and create your primary financial statements: balance sheet, cash flow statement, and profit and loss statement. Give these a quick look through to discover any trends, opportunities, or risks.
File your taxes: Don’t wait around for the due date to get your taxes completed. Get it done and off your mind.
Verify inventory levels: Do a quick count of your inventory to ensure your digital and physical records are in sync.
What makes the difference between a successful practice and one that just gets by? And how can your practice be the former and not the latter? The most successful practices all adhere to basic business strategies and your practice should too.
1. Commit to patient service
As a leader in your practice, your words and actions must consistently show your commitment to providing quality patient service. You cannot do it through a mission statement or slogan that is indistinguishable from the mission statements of the majority of other practices across the country. You have to discuss your commitment to patient service at staff meetings, in conversations with your practice administrator or manager and in the context of decision making.
Medicare Physician Spending During COVID: Updated Analysis
The COVID-19 virus has tested the world’s economy, leading to changes in the way we deal with all aspects of life. With the new normal created by the novel coronavirus, what does that hold for the future of the nephrology physician workforce in both the near and long term? There are several things to consider.
Fewer physicians are going into private practice. However, it is possible this will be offset in the short term with the potential of fewer nephrologists retiring as planned due to recent economic volatility and its impact on 401k accounts, retirement plans and joint ventures. Currently, many nephrology practices are feeling the financial effect of diminished patient volumes and hospital consults being minimized due to the pandemic.
There is never a dull moment in a nephrology medical practice! Everyone is always busy, most employees wear multiple hats, and all hands are on deck to get essential tasks completed.
Aside from coordinating patient appointments, staff is conferring with patients’ families, verifying insurance eligibility, collecting co-pays and documenting patient encounters. Medical practice staff are also responsible for performing medical billing, handling audits, reviewing fee schedules and providing oversight for coding and charge reviews to ensure the financial health of their practice. (Medical Billing)
To ensure accuracy, medical billing requires complete focus and expertise, which is why countless healthcare leaders are choosing to outsource their revenue cycle to the specialists at Tower Physician Solutions. If your practice has trouble finding, retaining, and training medical billers and certified coders, then you’re not alone. (Outsourcing Revenue Cycle)
Below are many factors you should consider when it comes to outsourcing the medical billing services for your practice.
Ensure the Future of Your Practice Through Early Succession
The current global health crisis seemed to hit like a tidal wave and has created unique challenges for nephrology and private medical practices across the nation. COVID-19 has negatively impacted business operations in an array of industries, but it has also shed light on a crucial element of running a solid medical practice– succession planning. Succession planning is a process that ensures your medical practice is prepared for the future. Some may think that having a succession plan in place may be reserved for those nearing retirement age or a family-owned business, but succession planning can ensure long-term success for your practice. The true value of a comprehensive succession plan has never been more apparent than right now. One of the positives we can glean from all this turmoil is that it prompts an opportunity to better plan for future unknowns.
We are all learning to adapt in a new world, one where we may be working with a leaner staff. We all know that a medical office or hospital is only as good as its back office staff. The people in charge of billing and coding are the invisible engines in the healthcare machinery, and it's their job to ensure billing is done properly and all the medical codes are up-to-date, so as to ensure their patients are reimbursed properly.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented — and in some cases permanent — changes to the healthcare industry. A strong, technology-driven response to address urgent needs will have positive implications that last beyond the current health crisis, giving patients and providers new options for preventive care and better connectivity. As the saying goes, “If there’s one thing we can count on, it’s change.”
So here are some healthcare trends physicians should look out for in 2021 and beyond?
Managing a medical practice has always been complex and challenging. However, the events of 2020 have made it even more so. With the Coronavirus pandemic targeting the vulnerable members of society and medical offices known to be prime transmission sites, physicians will have to continue to proceed carefully in 2021.
Managing a medical practice is hard work and many practice owners put in massive amounts of effort to make sure their business thrives. Having a clear objective can help you implement the right strategies and can give you the right direction. This may make running a medical practice a little bit easier.
The holidays are meant to be a time of joy and cheer–but amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, kicking off this year’s festive season will look different for many of us, and that may include a higher-than-usual level of stress.
The holidays are a stressful time for everyone, but they can be especially challenging for busy clinicians. Especially in this unusual year, uncertainty, worry, family holiday expectations, coupled with cold and flu season mean you and your staff are at even greater risk for illness and burnout.
Ways to Show Appreciation for Healthcare Employees
Today more than ever appreciating our healthcare employees is so essential! As the days grow shorter and we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, a favorite holiday, let’s discuss a few ways healthcare employers can show appreciation for employees (no turkey necessary).
With everyone under so much pressure in a fast-paced healthcare environment (ah-hem, COVID-19), showing a little appreciation for your employees can go a long way and help ease some of the stress.
The following are a few ideas to help you thank your employees and make them feel appreciated.
A Simple “Thank You”
Positivity goes a long way in the workplace, and it can be as simple as saying “thank you” to your team at the end of each day. While it may seem like a small gesture, it can truly make a difference if it’s truly sincere. It’s not secret that Millennials want constant feedback, so what better way than to tell them what a great job they’re performing after a day with a sincere “thank you?” Consider speaking with your managers and supervisors to start implementing this practice with their teams.
Keep Your Medical Practice Running Amid a Pandemic!
Shifts in patient volumes, elective procedure cancellations, supply shortages, staffing concerns and much more all require healthcare administrators to adapt. The best administrators guide their practices to evolve to new workflows to remain successful, rather than succumbing to competing pressures practices face during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The following areas are essential in helping medical practices not only evolve, but excel throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic:
1. Planning, decision-making and crisis management
The ability to act quickly and decisively and make plans that have both short- and long-term financial implications can make a huge difference in medical practice operations. Adapting and pivoting to the daily changes at both a federal and state level is essential to help a practice to continue operations while offering patient care and protecting providers and staff.
Every practice’s operations can be improved. As the physician-owner of your own medical practice, you may find that you and your staff expend energies on activities that have little or no value. You may be able to perform some activities more efficiently, allocate work better and eliminate redundancies. Here are several ways, both large and small, that you might go about improving things.
Work on one aspect of your practice — the aspect that seems almost manageable.
With the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, the world is hyper-focused, as it should be, on the caregivers and the population of patients contracting the virus. However, we must also keep in mind the need for clear and concise documentation regarding the diagnosis, testing, and tracking of the spread of the virus.
There are hundreds of medical terminologies that document every step of the health care process through admission, testing, treatment, discharge, and billing. So when there is a large health event or worldwide pandemic, like COVID-19, it requires quick changes and updates to those terminology sets. This is required to ensure that health care providers have the ability to accurately document, track, and treat their patients in a timely fashion.
If you have a busy medical practice, then you have probably considered outsourcing your medical coding and billing services. In today’s digital age, where technology is advancing at lightning speed, outsourced medical coding and billing can be a huge benefit for medical practices.
Below, our professional biller and coders have provided some information about the benefits of outsourcing your medical billing and coding.
Maximize Medical Billing Revenue by Being Proactive
Many medical practices are having a tough time sustaining and improving their performance and practice revenue as the healthcare environment continues to evolve. Trying to juggle decreasing resources with increased provider and patient demands makes it difficult to keep practices growing financially. Aligning with hospitals and health systems through affiliate or employment arrangements can be financially beneficial to some medical practices, but it doesn’t ensure optimal performance, growth, or improved practice revenue.
What can you do to start bringing in more revenue? The first step is to understand the obstacles standing in your way and then address them to start seeing growth and improvement.
Changes in the way that healthcare is delivered during this pandemic are needed to reduce staff exposure to ill persons, preserve personal protective equipment (PPE), and minimize the impact of patient surges on facilities. Healthcare systems have had to adjust the way they triage, evaluate, and care for patients using methods that do not rely on in-person services. Telehealth services help provide necessary care to patients while minimizing the transmission risk of COVID-19, to healthcare personnel (HCP) and patients. The use of Telehealth technology is widely accepted throughout the medical community. Having now existed for over a decade, Telehealth has taken medical practices by storm and changed the way that patients visit with their providers.
If you have had to downsize your staff due to the pandemic, then outsourcing your medical billing and coding may make your practice more efficient and profitable. Outsourcing your medical billing services can serve as a springboard to boost, not only your profit margins, but also patient and employee satisfaction. Outsourcing may even reduce in-house stress because managers or other skilled employees will be able to focus on their intended work. When everyone is working more efficiently, your company can, once again, save money and accomplish more in a shorter time.
Finding ways to lower costs and increase revenue is essential if you want to keep your medical practice afloat financially. With rising business costs, effective and accurate medical coding is more important than ever. It’s the diagnostic and procedural codes submitted with reimbursement claims that mandate the amount providers are paid for their work. Medical practices must make sure they optimize coding procedures for financial success. Try implementing the following tips to ensure your practice is coding more effectively.
You may be starting to open your practice backup and need to evaluate the efficiency of running your practice. There are so many things to figure out to ensure that your patients receive the best care that you’re able to give. But in order to keep giving patients the best care, you need to know the guidelines to make sure your practice is running as safely and smoothly as possible.
To help you with that, we have compiled seven ways to help you keep your staff and patients safe during this transition period.
5 Tactics to Help Cut Cost for Your Medical Practice
Running a medical practice is a business and physician practices are confronting unique operational and business challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to grow profitably and responsibly, trimming costs is necessary. There are several areas where this can be done — overhead, personnel, technology, billing, bill processing, and insurance. Within these categories, simple changes can lead to process improvements, helping physicians find more time for appointments and other revenue-generating activities.
The end result is cost-savings, something that can bring more stability and opportunity for growth to a medical practice. Below, learn five tips for effective cost-cutting from some of Tower’s operation managers.
Outsourcing select practice operations to Tower is another viable option for most practices who want to improve their efficiency and stability. We have full-time professionals in IT and Revenue Cycle departments who stay up to date on the latest regulations, applications and skills.
Here our some ideas suggested by Tower’s operations managers:
● Cross training staff so that a MA can work front desk, and room patients, etc. in addition to clinical role Cross-training offers a wide variety of benefits for medical practices. A well-designed program can help reduce costs, improve employee morale, reduce turnover, and increase productivity. It can also give a company greater scheduling flexibility, and may even lead to operational improvements. Perhaps the most important benefit to companies that implement cross-training programs, however, is greater job satisfaction among employees.
New Nephrology Today Podcast with Emily Frederick of Tower Physician Solutions and Jack Rudnick Jr., Practice Manager, talking about Telehealth implementation in a medical practice.
Telemedicine and telehealth have the potential to increase access to care, improve quality of care and decrease costs. Jack looks at Telehealth from the perspective of four fundamental areas: access, cost, quality and continuity.
Access to Specialists
Telemedicine allows you to get healthcare at any time and from any place, as long as you have an Internet connection. It is now possible for the patient to leverage the expertise of specialists who are not nearby. When it comes to serious health issues, you want to consult with the best, not the closet.
Now is the Time to Outsource Your Medical Billing & Coding
As the country continues to deal with the public health emergency that’s come with the COVID-19 pandemic, many medical practices had to make the tough decision to downsize their office personnel. There still is much work to be done and with limited resources many practices are looking to outsource their billing-coding during this difficult time. As you face the constant changes and challenges affecting practices during COVID-19, having an experienced medical billing and coding company by your side can help you navigate this time successfully.
Once you partner with Tower Physician Solutions, you do not have to worry about managing your revenue cycle, as our prompt medical coding team will accurately code the services and our billing team will ensure that the claims are reimbursed on time.
New Podcast from Nephrology Today; Practice Consolidation
Although the decision to consolidate is not an easy one to make, Jack Rudnick Jr. of Indiana Kidney Specialists discusses the support and benefits of joining NANI. In our latest Nephrology Today Podcast, Emily Frederick and Jack Rudnick Jr discuss the support received during the onboarding process of bringing together two practices.
Podcast title: Emily Frederick with Jack Rudnick Jr. talking about Medical Practice Consolidation
Unfortunately the reach of the pandemic is also affecting nephrology medical practices. It may be no surprise that many practices have had to furlough, or terminate altogether, employees as a result of COVID-19. Some have had to reduce hours or days that the practice can be open during the week and have had to quickly learn and implement telehealth solutions for their office-based patients and visits to various dialysis centers.
Secure the financial and legal strength of your medical practice through medical auditing. This process, performed regularly on chart notes and billing for each provider, offers several essential benefits to the practice.
Nephrology Today Podcast Conversation with Antone Crasto
We recently sat down to talk to Antone Crasto, our VP of Strategy and Development for Tower Physician Solutions, representing NANI. We discussed how the current COVID-19 pandemic and Public Health Emergency have affected medical practices nationwide.
Podcast title: Emily Frederick Podcast w/ Antone Crasto discussing COVID-19 pandemic and Public Health Emergency
Unfortunately the reach of the pandemic is also affecting nephrology medical practices. It may be no surprise that many practices have had to furlough, or terminate altogether, employees as a result of COVID-19. Some have had to reduce hours or days that the practice can be open during the week and have had to quickly learn and implement telehealth solutions for their office-based patients and visits to various dialysis centers.
June is half way through the year
give your practice a 6 Month Check Up.
MIPS: Your MIPS performance in 2019 impacts your 2021 Medicare payments. Payment adjustments based on 2019 performance increase to +/- 7%—that's a potential 14-point swing in Medicare payments. MIPS is designed to make ECs compete in quality performance. Since MIPS is mandated to be budget neutral, the program essentially takes money from lower performing ECs and pays it to higher performing ECs. There’s a lot of incentive for you to bring your A-game, so review which quality metrics you could be meeting more effectively.
Revenue Cycle: Are you leaving money on the table? At the heart of revenue cycle challenges is running an efficient operation such that the cost to collect on billing is not higher than it should be. Could you be running a more efficient revenue cycle? Run periodic audits to check the health of your billing and collections activities.
Emily Frederick interviews Sandeep Bajaj MD, Quality Programs Expert at Tower.
In the latest podcast Sandeep will review new information on the topic of MIPS and review key points a medical practice should know for 2019! We want to be a resource for you as you run your medical practice. Here is some important information practices need to know about. Starting in Year 3 of the MIPS program, CMS will add a 3rd criterion for clinicians to qualify for the low-volume threshold. Clinicians and groups must meet one of the following three criteria to be excluded from MIPS:
● Have $90,000 or less in Part B allowed charges for covered professional services; OR
● Provide care to 200 or fewer beneficiaries; OR
● New: Provide 200 or fewer covered professional services under the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS).
NAVIGATING THE COMPLEXITIES OF REVENUE CYCLE MANAGEMENT!
With the growing body of regulations today, nephrology coding has become more complex. Practices must navigate not only a new level of required specificity but also additional requirements from payers. Needless to say, it can be daunting to stay on top of all of the guidelines for CPT, E & M, and ICD-10 coding — all while continuing to provide quality care for patients. Periodic reviews and education, however, can save you and your practice time, resources, and money.
Coding reviews can help nephrologists assess the accuracy and completeness of the documentation of services provided as well as to determine if that documentation supports the claims ultimately submitted for payment. It is critical to the success of a nephrology practice to be accurately reimbursed for services provided.
Patient Experience Can Be Improved
with Telephone Etiquette
Every patient’s satisfaction with their care starts with their experience in the physician’s office. As the importance of online reviews and satisfaction surveys has grown, the way staff interacts with your patients has become more important than ever. Consider these tips the next time you talk to a patient on the telephone.
Hot Topics to Watch in Nephrology Medical Billing & Coding
With the growing body of regulations today, nephrology coding has become more complex. Practices must navigate not only a new level of required specificity but also additional requirements from payers. Needless to say, it can be daunting to stay abreast of all of the guidelines for CPT, E&M, and ICD-10 coding — all while continuing to provide quality care for patients. With changing federal guidelines and payer requirements, complex conditions like chronic renal disease, global periods and the unique billing rules for inpatient and outpatient services, nephrology medical coding is quite complex. An in-depth understanding of this specialty is imperative for accurate documentation and reimbursement. The experts at Tower Physician Services can help avoid these headaches and reduce the rate of claim denials for nephrology offices. Tower can provide timely and affordable coding solutions to save your time and maximize your revenues.
Is your billing company prepared to offer your practice the information and support you need to bill successfully? Avoid interruptions to provider revenue stream by working with Tower Physician Solutions.
As we reach the end of 2018, a lot of reflection is happening from everyone – both personally and professionally. The team at Tower Physicians Solutions wants to help offer some tips or resolutions that your Nephrology Practice can make for 2019 in order to grow your medical practice and improve patient care. Where do you see your practice headed in 2019?
Keep Your Medical Staff Happy this Holiday Season!
Happy workers are also known as “engaged” workers. Engagement in the workforce has a direct correlation to productivity. Engaged employees are less likely to leave your facility in search of a new position. For the sake of your patients and your facility’s reputation, it’s always a good idea to take steps to keep your employees happy on the job. Healthcare can be a very demanding career, with large caseloads, long shifts and – on occasion – difficult patients. Many healthcare professionals can suffer job strain, especially around the holidays, that drags them down throughout the workweek; it’s your job as an employer to help your healthcare workers stay on task and in high spirits.
The year is almost over and we gathered important dates that you should note going into 2019. As always the experts at Tower are here to be your MIPS/MACRA resource. Starting your reporting early can help you catch errors and improve processes!
In healthcare today, patient financial responsibility is on the rise. Patients are increasingly responsible for a higher percentage of their own healthcare costs. Employers are shifting those costs to employees, and insurers are offering high deductible health plans which increases out-of-pocket expenses. It's also harder for healthcare organizations to get paid for the care they provide. When patients can’t pay, your accounts receivables (AR) days go up, cash flow slows down, bad debt mounts and revenue shortfalls are almost inevitable.
A medical practice can pass a Medicare audit easily if they have the right information. One of the consequences of treating Medicare patients is that the practice is then subject to Medicare audits. These can lead to the suspension of payments and Medicare fees. For a practice with lots of Medicare patient accounts, this can cause a financial crisis.
Unfortunately, Medicare audits are a necessary part of the system. Healthcare waste, fraud, and abuse lead CMS (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) to be diligent in recovering as much federal money as possible. This places a burden on facilities that follow the rules. Even when there is no intent to be dishonest, the practice can still face penalties if found guilty of improper Medicare billing.
The most successful nephrology practices don’t reach their position in the industry without paying close attention to all aspects of their revenue cycle. Of course, success is based on numerous factors and not just on the financial side of things at your organization. You may have assembled a group of highly dedicated medical professionals who are at the top of their game. You also have a large base of satisfied and loyal patients, many of whom also happen to refer new patients to you.
REDUCE INCORRECT BILLING WITH A PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
One of the biggest financial problems that have affected Nephrology medical practices is inaccurate billing and coding at various stages of the medical billing process. Incorrect billing and coding can occur due to several reasons, including slow collection of patient receivables and coding at improper levels. Medical errors can happen anytime, even by the most professional and well-trained staff members. By automating outsourcing billing functions with a practice management solution, you’re effectively eliminating unnecessary medical practice expenses.
Starting your MIPS reporting early can help you catch errors and improve processes! Early reporting can also help to improve MIPS scores in the second half of this year and alleviate that last minute pressure to report before the deadline…
Tips for tackling 2018 reporting:
Identify your deficiencies in 2017 reporting and focus to improve those areas.
The minimum number of measures to report has increased, in fact it’s beneficial to report on as many measures as possible.
Review the list of 92 improvement activities, and identify at least one improvement activity your practice completed for each activity in 2017.
The most affordable and easiest way to submit data on improvement activities is by attesting to participation via the new data submission system on the QPP website..
What Your Nephrology Practice Should Know…MIPS/MACRA Updates 2018
The trend toward value-based payments began with the implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) that was signed into law in April 2015. Since then, there have been updates and additional programs included in MACRA, such as the Quality Payment Program (QPP). MACRA created a new framework for independent physicians who will be rewarded financially for providing high-quality care. Physicians may qualify for one of two tracks for payment: Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Advanced Alternative Payment Models (AAPMs).
Why are there so many ways to submit an ICD-10 cause code? As a medical billing department specializing in Nephrology, we know it can be frustrating to try to sort out the differences in coding requirements among various payors. The more individualized your coding is on claims, the cleaner your claims submissions will be, resulting in more expeditious reimbursement.
Education Improves Coding Accuracy
If your practice management system does not automatically update coding according to the level of service indicated in your visit notes, then it’s essential to know how to choose the appropriate codes for service and procedures provided. Not only is this a key step in the revenue cycle, but accuracy at this point may be evaluated in an audit.
This year, RPA's annual Hill Day is June 22, followed by the NCAP Advocacy Forum on June 23 and 24. RPA's Advocacy Weekend is open to all nephrology providers and practice managers and NANI’s leaders will be there.
According to NCAP attendee and practice CEO Brian O'Dea, CPA, "All the thought leaders in nephrology are here. We get to work with other groups to find out what they are doing around the country and share our collective knowledge. You realize that you aren't out there alone."
Moving your practice billing functions to a third-party service is a high-stakes decision and one with plenty of options to choose from. You can work with a large organization, a small billing company or a technology provider, but it’s ultimately not about a billing firm’s size, scope, or software – it’s about service… and more specifically, the quality of that service. You’ll want to choose a billing company who has experience in your field of medicine.
NEPHROLOGY TODAY INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN O'DEA
Employment Contracts with New Physicians,
What can you Expect?
Brian O’Dea, CFO/COO of NANI discusses what new physicians need to know about contract negotiations. Learn how to successfully master the negotiation when the time comes by working with the professional at Tower.
O’Dea says that one mistake is not asking questions during employment contract negotiation. Many new physicians are uncomfortable asking questions because they may not have much knowledge of contracts or the business of healthcare. Generally, this isn't taught in medical school or residency. New physicians should feel no compunction about asking for definitions of terms or probing for specifics. Of course, it helps to know what to ask.
The Quality Payment Program (QPP), which resulted from the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), is designed to reward or penalize physicians based on the quality of patient care they provide. Last year, physicians could “Pick Your Pace” through an introductory program that allowed physicians to test the waters. But in 2018 physicians will have to more fully engage with the program or risk a negative payment adjustment of up to 5 percent in 2020. Successful participation could earn a positive payment adjustment of 5 percent or more in that year.
QPP will be updated annually through the federal rule-making process. The 2018 rules, released on Nov. 2, made significant changes in six key areas. Physicians participating in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) track of QPP will need to focus on these changes to succeed during the 2018 performance period.
NANI & Tower's Brian O'Dea and Antone Crasto will be headed to Orlando March 15th-18th for the RPA Annual Meeting!
The landscape for medical group practices continues to change. Mergers, acquisitions, and new partnerships bring not only new challenges, but incredible opportunities for physician practices. As a growing number of physicians consider divesting their practices to adapt to today's practice environment, there are many factors to consider.
Brian O’Dea, CFO/COO of NANI NEPHROLOGY TODAY PODCAST
Brian O’Dea, CFO/COO of NANI discusses the many challenges facing medical practices today and how physicians can maintain their independence in the ever changing medical industry. We know that navigating MIPS/MACRA is one of the top challenges that practices will face in the year ahead. Learn how to get ahead of these challenges and more by working with the professional at Tower.
MIPS/MACRA:
6 Things You Need to Know in 2018 PART 1
The Quality Payment Program (QPP), which resulted from the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), is designed to reward or penalize physicians based on the quality of patient care they provide. Last year, physicians could “Pick Your Pace” through an introductory program that allowed physicians to test the waters.
But in 2018 physicians will have to more fully engage with the program or risk a negative payment adjustment of up to 5 percent in 2020. Successful participation could earn a positive payment adjustment of 5 percent or more in that year.
Nephrology Billing…
learn from Tower’s latest podcast
Meet Helena Cohan, Director of Revenue Cycle Management at Tower Physician Solutions. Helena’s extensive career has focused on the medical practice and healthcare industry.
Prepare Your Medical Practice for the End of the Year!
As we approach the end of the year it is always good practice to assess what has worked well for your medical practice and what needs improving. Here is an end-of-the-year checklist to make sure that you’re keeping your nephrology medical practice healthy and prosperous well into 2018.
What to Know When Signing a Medical Director Agreement
Brian O’Dea is the CEO of Tower Physicians Solutions and currently the CFO & COO of Nephrology Associates of Northern Illinois, (NANI). Tower was started in 2015 to help independent Nephrology Medical Practices with nephrology-specific medical practice management services. Brian lead the initiative to form Tower.
The Nephrology experts of NANI and Tower Physician Solutions will be heading to New Orleans, LA. on October 31st for ASN’s Kidney Week, the premier conference in our field. More than 13,000 kidney professionals from across the globe will be in attendance at this year’s Kidney Week 2017.
Hear how having the right help with your medical practice back office can help you focus on patients and work life balance.
Dr. Omaima Degani is a nephrologist in Gurnee, Illinois and is affiliated with Advocate Condell, Vista Regional and Midwestern Regional Medical Centers. She received her medical degree from American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine and has been in practice for 11years.
Sandeep Bajaj M.D, is an accomplished healthcare professional with over 10 years experience.
She provides strategic direction and oversight of health quality programs and initiatives aimed to improve physician practices. Listen to our online podcast Nephrology Today as Sandeep reviews important dates for MIPS/MACRA and the impact on medical practices.
Why is October 2nd important and what should a practice be doing now to prepare?
If you participate in MIPS, you have a total of six options for reporting Quality Performance data to CMS, but you must decide by October 2nd of 2017.
MIPS/MACRA: Why October 2nd is Important
and What You Need to be Doing Now!
Wait! Don’t let your medical practice miss this deadline. You cannot afford to pass up Medicare revenue and incentives in years to come. Most physician practices are running a race against time to implement Medicare's value-based payment system. Read on to learn about MIPS, MACRA and what you need to do today.
Understanding MACRA’s complexities is critical since the law exposes both providers and payers to greater risk and opportunity. MACRA does more than address physician payments; it is designed to reduce health care costs by rewarding quality care over service and procedure volume.
Focus on your patients,
but don’t let the business slide
Nephrology Today Interview with Dr. John Ducker, MD Listen as John Ducker, M.D. of Fort Wayne, Indiana discusses the benefits his practice realized when they joined a large private practice, NANI. His group has improved their best practices including the challenges of billing and coding, mergers, and MACRA/MIPS for 2017.
Dr. Ducker explains how consolidating with NANI and having office functions consolidated in one office, from billing to HR, really helped cut down on overhead. He stresses how the partnership has made his job easier so he can focus on patient care. Dr. Ducker is a community leader and has brought a more advanced level of nephrology care to Fort Wayne by giving chronic kidney disease patients better access to outpatient procedures and transplants.
Focus on your patients, but don’t let the business slide.
The more efficiently your office runs, the better customer satisfaction will be. Every private medical practice can benefit from a billing process with few errors and consistent cash flow, as well as more time to focus on customer satisfaction.
Deciding whether or not to outsource medical billing can be a difficult decision for your practice. Medical billing has always required a specialized set of skills, and in the last few years there has been a steep increase in complexity and red tape. Whether you are a new practice startup, experienced veteran, or in the midst of turmoil like upgrading to a new system, referring your billing to a specialist makes a lot of sense. It has now become a necessity for practices to consider revenue cycle management services.
As with Meaningful Use, the earlier your practice starts participating in MIPS, the better the outcome will be in terms of future penalty avoidance and Medicare fee increases.
Although 2017 is a reduced reporting “transition” year, it’s a great time to choose a few of the new patient care protocols that will soon be essential for MIPS participation and incorporate them into your workflow.
After years, or decades, of carefully building a Nephrology practice, most physicians want to be just as intentional about what will happen to their practice and your patients when it’s time to retire. Early retirement planning and open communication can help you find a buyer for your practice, ease your transition to retirement, ensure your practice thrives and still provide effective care for your patients.
A great article providing tips on “practice onboarding” for smooth integration of a small practice into a larger practice. Written by Bob Florio, Controller & Director of Finance for NANI, the article “Practice Acquisitions
With a new, clean calendar comes the intimidating task of preparing your practice, your providers and your billing staff for the advent of ICD-10 coding. October 1st, 2015 may be an imposing, if not frightening, deadline for practice managers concerned about their Medicare payments.
Spending two weeks preparing for an EHR Meaningful Use audit may not be one of your top goals for this quarter. In fact, it’s almost certainly something you don’t have time for. After all, you’re in Healthcare to help patients and they are your top priority.
The MACRA Division The new 962 page rule can certainly not be summarized very well, but I would like to highlight some key points that will be useful to Providers.
Now is the Time to Prepare Your Practice for MACRA
Sandeep Bajaj, Meaningful Use Coordinator with Tower Physicians Solutions recently discussed in an interview what nephrology doctors need to know about MACRA. CMS released its long-awaited for new value-based payment programs under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).
According to the American College of Physicians, approximately 20 percent of new physicians create their own practice. While autonomy is one of the main benefits of a solo practice, it can be difficult for a small provider to shoulder the financial demands necessary to succeed with smaller budgets and fewer resources.
Small Changes in ICD-10 Coding is a Big Deal for Practices
Once again, October 1st was the BIG DAY. Medicare’s one year ICD-10 grace period ended October 1st of this year, a year after ICD-10 coding requirements were turned on. That year wasn’t so tough, was it?
April 20th
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