Why Optometrists Need Optometry Medical Billing Companies to Win Patient Trust?

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Why Optometrists Need Optometry Medical Billing
Companies to Win Patient Trust?
As an Optometrist, you are not just providing
eye care services to your patients, but your
facility is your business as well. Optometry
specialists should know that there are
fundamentals of medical billing and coding
concepts that must be understood. And if not done
correctly you may stand to lose patient
trust. While some optometrists knowingly and
willingly committed fraud, then there are others
who find themselves in trouble because of
misunderstandings or lack of knowledge of
optometry medical billing. How Outsourcing
Optometry Medical Billing to Companies help
Optometrists Win Patient Trust?   Not knowing if
youre in-house billers codes according to
HIPAA HIPPA has a set of codes that every
insurance company must use. However, some
insurance companies in the process of becoming
compliant can make the optometric billing
service very confusing. Until everyone is HIPAA
compliant, if there is a question about the code
set being used, the doctors staff should call
the insurance companys customer service
department.
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Why Optometrists Need Optometry Medical Billing
Companies to Win Patient Trust?
Optometrists and their employees stay on top of
the insurance company guidelines. Doing these
things has added a little bit more to my
workload, but in the long run, payments are
coming in a little more quickly. This keeps both,
the Optometrist and patient happy. Charging two
insurance companies for the same procedure Some
in-house optometry billers wrongly bill, both the
patients medical and vision insurance for the
same procedure. It is possible, however, to bill
the patients medical service to their medical
insurance and their vision service to their
vision insurance, if he or she is being seen for
both a medical and a vision service on the same
day. And, in fact, patients, in that case, can
actually have two copays. Thus, keeping your
patient satisfied. Billing office visit and
foreign-body removal done on the same day to the
patients medical insurance
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Why Optometrists Need Optometry Medical Billing
Companies to Win Patient Trust?
The only way you could bill an office visit to
the patients medical coverage on the same day as
a foreign-body removal, is if the two were
unrelated. For example, a patient came in for a
glaucoma evaluation, but during that evaluation,
the doctor found lashes scratching on the cornea
and decided to remove them. S this procedure
would be separate from the office visit. The
doctor should inform the payer of this by putting
the appropriate modifier (separate procedure) on
the surgical procedure and by using the glaucoma
diagnosis code with the office visit. Using the
time at the wrong time Another possible coding
mistake is when optometrists use the time to
increase a visit to higher coding levels, when in
reality no time has been spent counseling or
coordinating the patients care. The three
important factors in the selection of an
Evaluation and Management (EM) code are history,
exam, and medical decision making. Time is only
to be considered when counseling and coordination
of care dominate the visit. You cant simply look
at the number of minutes spent with the patient
and use that to determine what code level you
have performed. This will make the patient pay
higher and you may lose his trust.
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Why Optometrists Need Optometry Medical Billing
Companies to Win Patient Trust?
Using maximum reimbursement to choose a
code You cannot choose a code based on
reimbursement. The bottom line is you have to
work from the correct side of the coding
equation, which is based on history, exam, and
medical decision making. Also, lots of issues
have propped up regarding coding incorrectly for
extended ophthalmoscopy. For this, there must be
a medical reason for this procedure, and you must
perform all the components of the procedure to be
considered truly extended ophthalmoscopy. To
know more about our Optometry Medical Billing and
Coding services, contact us at info_at_medicalbillers
andcoders.com/888-357-3226.