The following article is an excerpt from Healthcare IT News. It was written by Barbara Allen. There’s no question the transition to ICD-10 will bring with it a significant loss in coder productivity. If left unaddressed, this loss of productivity will cause hospitals to get bills out more slowly. And if addressed incompletely, it will cause hospitals to incur excessive expense in increased coder headcount. Fortunately, there is still time to greatly narrow the productivity gap to protect revenue and to minimize the need to add coding resources that are increasingly difficult to secure. The key is to move quickly and with precision in addressing the root causes of productivity loss.

Medical billing software provides increased convenience for providers, less tracking of paperwork, and a more streamlined office. Physicians no longer spend valuable administrative time looking for records and retrieving past patients medical records from off-site storage facilities. Medical billing software can save money by avoiding claim denials and avoid the possibility of submitting incorrectly formatted claims.

Responsible owners and managers of medical practices typically have a policy of reviewing their systems and processes on a periodic basis to make sure they are getting the best possible return on their investment. Many such leaders come to determine that they will be better off if they implement Revenue Cycle Management software. The goal is to boost revenue and improve operations on the financial side of the practice. Here are three ways Revenue Cycle Management systems will make you a better practice.

In a perfect world, medical providers would simply focus on delivering the best possible service to all their patients, and the financial aspects of their practice would take care of themselves. Happy patients and a staff with high morale would be sufficient to ensure an adequate revenue stream. However, some medical practices could do better with how they handle their business operations in terms of efficiency, denied claims, and unpaid claims. Here are the three biggest reasons why most medical practices typically fail when it comes to maximizing their revenue.

If you are about to take the leap and start using medical billing software in your organization, you should soon expect to see your staff working much more quickly and efficiently. Your patients will appreciate the time you save them when you automate many of the processes of a modern medical office. With that in mind, here are five interesting facts about medical billing software for you to consider.

Every time there is an advance in technology or a new development in how to perform a common task, savvy business managers will take notice and try to incorporate the improvements into their workflow.

While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) gave HIPAA-covered entities a reprieve by extending the date for ICD-10 implementation from October 1, 2014 to October 1, 2015, healthcare organizations that use medical billing software need to start the process of becoming ICD-10 complaint if they have not already done so. This transition requires upgrading or replacing current medical billing software in order to accommodate the new ICD-10 codes and training the staff how use the new software, in addition to how to do ICD-10 coding. Moreover, CMS recommends 12 months of internal testing of the ICD-10 compliant systems and 11 months of external testing with business partners. Furthermore, healthcare providers need to make contingency plans in the event there are problems with third party payers during the switch to ICD-10 codes.

One of the most time consuming and tedious aspects of any medical practice is submitting claims to third party payers and then sending bills to patients for any remaining balance. Given the detail need to claims correctly, it is almost impossible for even a solo provider to complete the forms manually. Medical billing software ensures claims have the information required for seamlessly submitting and tracking claims so the provider receives reimbursement for services in a timely manner. Given the variety of medical billing software on the market, it is important to find the medical billing tools right for your practice or revenue cycle management (RCM) firm.

One of the greatest time sinks and cost centers in the management of any medical practice is the billing of patients and third-party payers for services. Each of the different health insurance providers has slightly varied billing practices, which increases the complexity of filing claims. These variations, along with the intricacies of ICD-10 coding, make the billing process highly prone to errors when claim processing is done manually. These errors can disrupt the cash flow of the practice due to denied or delayed claims. Additionally, billing errors are also one of the triggers for payment recoupment during Medicaid and Medicare audits.

Like other medical professionals whose practices serve primarily Medicare patients, cardiologists are concerned about reduced reimbursements. Adding to the concerns about financial viability is the trend of many insurance companies to reduce the contracted rates that they pay their in-network providers. In this challenging economic environment, cardiologists need to take advantage of the benefits of practice management software so that they improve collection and streamline the claims processes.