Providers Take Note: These Simple Strategies Will Improve Billing, Patient Satisfaction
Unfortunately, many healthcare providers are missing out on things like electronic billing, email capture.nnA new survey by the Medical Group Management Association suggests providers, especially hospitals, are missing out on key areas to improve when it comes to patient billing, payments and satisfaction.nnThe Digital Payments Progress report, a product of a partnership with medical claims management company Navicure, is a national survey conducted among MGMA member organization this past May.nnThe report shows that physician practices seem to have the advantage when it comes to billing and payments. For instance, 79 percent of ambulatory organization respondents can generate a cost estimate upon request, while only 69 percent of hospital respondents can do so.nnAlso, 64 percent of group practice respondents reported patients are comfortable sharing their email address, while only 56 percent of hospital respondents had that perception.n“In actuality, 79 percent of patients report feeling comfortable providing their email address. This represents an opportunity to leverage email addresses to deliver bills electronically, saving the industry millions of dollars in cost, environmental waste and days in A/R,” the report said.nnThere are also other key areas where all providers could be doing a better job of playing to the needs and wants of consumers. Despite a majority of patients’ preference for electronic billing, 52 percent specifically, 77 percent of respondents still send paper bills. A similar study conducted in January by Navicure and Himss Analytics showed the same trend, with 52 percent of patients preferring electronic billing but 89 percent of providers saying they still used regular mail.nnThe HIMSS/Navicure study also showed keeping a credit card on file is something that 78 percent of patients approve of for small charges totaling less than $200 but only 20 percent of providers used this method.nnThe Progress Report echoed this notion, with results showing CCOF would be highly beneficial to revenue cycle management, and ultimately a provider’s bottom line. It helped reduce patient bad debt/write off, according to 36 percent of respondents, and 34 percent said it cut days in patient A/R and cost of collections, the report said.nnIn an age of consumerism, where patients are paying more out-of-pocket costs and shopping around for providers and services, practices and hospitals alike would do well to pay attention to these trends among patients, who now act more like retail consumers who go where their needs and preferences are met. Consumers have voiced a willingness to switch providers in order to have services like telehealth available to them. Chances are, as they become even more discerning and demanding, something seemingly small like electronic billing could prove pivotal when it comes to keeping patients’ business.nnThis article originally posted on healthcarefinancenews.com
MI code updatesnnThe list of ICD-10 code updates is extensive and Myocardial Infarctions got a makeover with this year’s revision. Code category I21 has been renamed from “ST elevation and non-ST elevation myocardial infarction” to “Acute myocardial infarction”. Additional specificity options now include type 1, type 2, and other MI types. Providers will need to specify in clinical documentation the type of MI the patient experienced. STEMI codes (I21.0 and I21.1) are now defined as Type 1 MIs. New codes I21.A1 – MI type 2 and I21.A9 – other MI type are also important and notable additions.
WASHINGTON — President Trump reversed course Wednesday and threw cold water on a new bipartisan congressional health care plan designed to maintain subsidies for health insurance exchanges, thereby temporarily propping up the Affordable Care Act.nnA day after signaling support for the plan developed by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., Trump tweeted Wednesday that the deal might benefit insurance companies too much.nnAlexander, in a series of tweets Wednesday, indicated the deal may still have a chance. After getting a phone call from Trump, he wrote that he agrees the subsidies should benefit consumers and not insurers.nn”The Alexander-Murray agreement has strong language to do that, and I will work with the president to see if we can make it even stronger,” Alexander tweeted.nnMurray and Alexander have been drafting a bill for several months to boost the insurance marketplace, but the effort took on new urgency last week when Trump announced he would no longer fund the subsidies without congressional action.nnWhile House and Senate Democratic leaders said they support the compromise, Republican leaders aren’t eager to bring it to the floor for a vote.nnHouse Speaker Paul Ryan’s press secretary, Doug Andres, said in a Wednesday statement, “The speaker does not see anything that changes his view that the Senate should keep its focus on repeal and replace of Obamacare.”nnOn Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters, “We haven’t had a chance to think about the way forward yet.”nnRegardless of Trump’s position, the deal’s Senate supporters will pursue an even number of bipartisan cosponsors to help build pressure for a vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York told reporters Wednesday.nn”I spoke to Senator Alexander this morning, and I encouraged him, ‘Let’s go forward, period,’ and he’s game,” Schumer said. Once cosponsors are lined up, Schumer said he’ll ask McConnell for a vote.nn”If that happened, I would be quite certain it would pass…and then there would be pressure on the House,” he said. “If the president will come out strongly for the bill and stick to that, that will help us get it through the House.”nnAlexander also said Trump and the House will have to consider the agreement once more senators are on board.n
Physician practices may begin data collection as late as December 31 and still avoid the negative payment adjustment.nnOctober 2, 2017, marked practices’ deadline to begin collecting data for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) “pick your pace” option two under the merit-based incentive-payment system (MIPS) track of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).nnFor this transition year of the 
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