In this world of technology, you have to wonder what would happen to the medical billing profession if suddenly all the power in the world went out and the computers stopped working. If you never thought of how catastrophic this would be, this little eye opening look at a hypothetical situation should get you thinking about having some backup plans for your medical billing business.
The problems with not having a computer to do your medical billing in today's day and age are mind boggling. There are actually a multitude of headaches that you're going to have should your PC and network decide to go south for an eternity.
For starters and this is just for starters, every medical billing establishment that processes claims via software, is physically tied in to medical insurance companies like Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross and a number of others. If the computers shut down, all communication stops. This not only means that no claims can be transmitted to the insurance companies but it also means that medical billing companies can't get critical updates like Medicare Allowable Tables, HCPCS codes, DX Codes and a ton of other things.
Then you need to add to the above problem the trouble you're going to have printing forms. For those of us who don't use electronic billing and actually submit paper HCFA 1500 forms, well, that brings us to the next crisis. No computers means no printers work either. So your forms are basically recycling for the next day's paper collection. And even if your printer is still physically working, there is no way for data to get to it since the computers are down and all the data is stored in them.
This is quite a pickle isn't it. Well, believe it or not, all is not lost. At least it doesn't have to be if we simply realized that the electronic world could come crashing down at any time and because of this we need to have an alternate game plan. Does such an alternate game plan exist? Yes, it does. Will it be easy? No. It will take a lot of prior thought and preparation, but it can be done.
The first thing you need to do is always keep communication between you and the insurance carriers open by having a phone number on hand to speak to an actual representative. This way if problems arise, you can at least ask some questions. By relying only on computers as a means of communication, you are looking for trouble.
The next thing you have to do is, every time you enter a new patient into your system, print out a paper copy of their records. Also print out a paper copy of the items to be billed. This way, if your system should crash and you have to send in a claim, you can still do it. How?
Well, you know those forms that are pretty much useless except for that recycling? If you have all that information already printed out, you can, with some effort, hand fill out the HCFA 1500 forms. Yes, it will take some time. But if you're billing a $3,000 wheelchair, so what? You're also going to have to make sure that you have envelops to go with those forms and an actual mailing address that is printed out somewhere. If it's in the computer only, then you're going to have to call the insurance carrier for their address. You do have their phone number, right?
Yes, trying to fix a nightmare like this won't be easy, but if you want to get your medical billing done, this is what you are going to have to be prepared to do. You'll be glad you did.
