While your primary objective as a doctor of chiropractic (DC) is to leverage your skills and knowledge to help your patients, implementing seamless chiropractic billing practices is an integral aspect of finding success.
This article presents ways to simplify your chiropractic billing practices and make it easy for both your patients and your business.
How to streamline your chiropractic billing practices
To make the billing experience better for your office and your patients, as well as see increased financial success, you want to ensure billing is quick and accurate. The easy-to-implement tips below can help achieve these outcomes.
Start with insurance verification
Before beginning a session or proceeding in the billing process, it is essential to verify the patient’s insurance. This includes ensuring they have coverage, noting the limitations of their policy and making them aware of anything that may not be covered.
Today, this process is quite simple thanks to software that can connect you to such information. You can also directly contact the patient’s insurance provider to confirm their coverage. Taking these vital steps helps reduce the possibility of denied claims and delayed payments.
In addition to verifying their insurance, all patient information should be confirmed. Be sure to check their name, date of birth and other meaningful details before providing treatment.
Document everything accurately
Billing relies on thorough and accurate documentation, both for immediate purposes and future reference. Compiling documentation detailing services rendered and the related diagnosis codes can help you avoid claim denial, delayed payments and other undesirable outcomes.
Chiropractic billing should emphasize legible paperwork (or digital documentation) that is dated and signed. You should also always include detailed treatment notes to clearly state what services were provided.
Code correctly
Proper use of codes, including current procedural terminology (CPT), international classification of diseases, modifier codes and medical necessity, is imperative when billing. Failure to do so could lead to denied claims and underpayment.
Bill in a timely manner
In order to receive prompt payments from insurance providers, you must bill them in a timely manner. Most providers have designated timelines for claim submissions that must be met. Failure to submit within this outlined time frame can delay payments or even cause claim denial.
Update your billing practices and fee schedules regularly
Chiropractic billing practices and fee schedules can change frequently, making regular reviews and updates extremely important. If your fee schedules are out of date or inaccurate, you may not be charging appropriately for the services you are providing, leading to underpayment.
The same principle applies to billing regulations. Such regulations are also subject to change, and if your chiropractic office does not adhere to the current standards, you could be out of compliance and find yourself in an undesirable position.
Track payments and follow up on denials
Once a bill is issued, it’s important to follow up on it. Outstanding payments should be tracked to ensure they are received in a timely manner. If a claim is denied, you should swiftly work to resolve the issue and resubmit the claim.
Use chiropractic billing software
The majority of the steps to implement successful chiropractic billing practices can be streamlined and even automated through the use of high-quality chiropractic billing software. In addition to the convenience of these programs, the time they save by streamlining your chiropractic billing practices and reducing errors is worth its weight in gold. The same principles can apply to partnering with a third party to assist you in refining your billing process.
Final thoughts
Running a successful chiropractic practice is a multifaceted proposition. For more insights into how you can unlock the full potential of your practice, subscribe to Chiropractic Economics magazine.
