Virtual assistants: Medical Billing experts with only one purpose, help your company.
Medical billing has been an important activity for anyone in the healthcare business. With the creation of new regulations and policies regarding insurance companies, a medical biller needs to stay updated on any new bylaws regarding this matter.
Hiring a medical biller is vital to any healthcare company. Unfortunately, few people have the necessary skills to perform this job to its fullest, including coding. However, it is typical for companies to hire two prospects to perform these jobs separately.
Medical Biller
According to Indeed, medical billers work in healthcare settings to manage incoming and outgoing payments for medical treatment. Their role is to communicate with patients about their outstanding balance and handle the administrative responsibilities of billing insurance and processing payments.
While this definition may seem vague, it describes precisely what a medical biller does. Medical billers are responsible for submitting medical claims to insurance companies. After these declarations are submitted, insurance companies take care of the employee through their health-related problems until they feel better.
Virtual Assistants as Medical Billers: Skills
If you are in need of a medical biller for your company, you may want to consider hiring a virtual medical biller instead. In addition, if you are performing most billing tasks on your own, a virtual medical biller can help you automatize specific processes. At the same time, you take care of more important duties, like getting more clients or designing marketing campaigns to expand your business.
Virtual medical billers are experts who work independently for several health-related enterprises or work for a virtual agency that offers virtual assistant services. Like virtual assistants, they only charge for their work and have the perfect skills for your company to take care of their employees and customers. In the list below, you will find a few of the skills that virtual medical billers have.
Multitasking
Maintaining patient confidentiality
Knowledge in bookkeeping procedures
Active listening and empathy
Customer service
Problem-solving
Communications abilities with insurance companies and payers
CPT and ICD-10 coding
Knowledge of insurance guidelines such as Medicare, Medicaid, and other requirements and systems
Denial management
Payment posting and reconciliation
Performing daily, weekly, and monthly reports
Virtual Assistants as Medical Billers: Tasks
Below, you will find the most important medical biller tasks that can help your company maintain its finances and claims in check. It is essential to mention that the main activity of a medical biller is to make sure that providers and facilities receive their payments in time.
Communication with Insurance Providers
As most jobs related to healthcare, one of the most important tasks of a medical biller is to communicate with insurance companies. They must follow medical testing procedures and inform insurance companies and healthcare providers about the patient's treatment.
Communication with Patients
Medical billers need to inform insurance companies about the medical procedures a patient will follow. They must also communicate with patients to get reimbursement for remaining costs uncovered by insurance providers.
Coding
While most medical billers do not possess coding abilities, the ones that do have an important job. Medical coders are responsible for reviewing medical documents and transforming the treatments into codes to ensure the proper payment process from the insurance company and the patient.
Reimbursement Claims
Medical billers use the diagnosis doctors provide and compare it to the results the medical coder passed on to them. With this comparison, they are able to create and submit reimbursement claims to the patient.
Insurance Company Knowledge
Every day, insurance companies are created to help people get the healthcare they deserve at the lowest prices. Medical billers need to keep up with new insurance companies and inform themselves about the different health plans they provide. In contrast, these professionals are experts in common insurance organizations such as Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Tricare, etc.
There are a lot of tasks that a medical biller can do in a company. And, as businesses grow, the duties for these professionals increase. But, as we mentioned before, these tasks are different between companies. Below, you will find a list of other common assignments a medical biller has.
Check eligibility and benefits for treatments, procedures, and hospitalizations
Obtain referrals as required
Provide follow-ups for unpaid claims within a billing cycle
Review patient bills and obtain any additional information
Use of billing software
Contact insurance companies regarding any differences in payments
Check insurance payments and comply with contract discounts
Identify and bill for secondary and tertiary insurances
Contact the accounting department during any insurance discrepancies
Research and appeal denied claims
Set up patient payment plans and work collection accounts
Keep updated any billing software they use and manage
Perform collection reports
As you can see, the tasks of a medical biller include a lot of reports and balancing numbers, meaning they also need to have any previous accounting or bookkeeping experience. If you are having trouble understanding what a medical biller does, just think of it as a mix of an accountant and a lawyer dedicated to providing your employees the best health insurance they can receive.
Virtual Assistants as Medical Billers: Takeaway
Medical billers are part of an essential group of workers within the healthcare industry that can help your business maintain its insurances claims in order. They also can handle all communication between the customer, the insurance company and keep track of all the claims that need to be resolved before the end of a financial period.
Thinking about hiring a medical biller is easy, but finding the correct person might be a little troubling. This situation is where virtual assistants come in. They possess the necessary skills and knowledge to perform most medical billing tasks at half the price of a regular employee. So, if you are looking to save part of the budget for other departments while Black Friday is here, you can talk to us about your medical billing needs. We will be able to match you with an amazing VA in less than a week!
Contact us today.