Finance

Handling self-pays.

Medicare and many private insurers have been marketing their pay-for-performance programs as “free money” for good doctors. But beware hidden costs.

Fed up with payers who deny claims unreasonably, inexplicably lose them, or just take too long to pay? It's high time you did something about it. And now - finally - you have the information you need to act. Welcome to PayerView, the first-ever data-driven payer ranking based on how easy - or difficult - they are to work with.

Underpayments and "zero-pays" are a growing problem. Here's some advice to help you handle them.

Evaluating a payer contract requires more than a working knowledge of the fee schedule. If you want to negotiate a better deal when it's renewal time, you need to know how each payer does business.

Worrying about whether your coding and billing practices are within the law can keep you awake at night. We offer some guidelines to help you stay on track.

Here is guidance on how your medical practice should code a preoperative routine physical exam, including when to use CPT codes 99241-99245 and 99251-99255.

To fee or not to fee?

What do payers know about medical necessity anyway? Reduce those annoying denials and collect what you deserve.

Insurance companies are adding functionality to their Web sites - like recredentialing and comprehensive claims management - to make working with them a little easier.

On average, 30 percent of all claims are denied - and half of those are never resubmitted. Is it time to put your billing process through the paces?

Thinning patient panel, shrinking reimbursements lead 40-year-old pediatric group to seek our help.

Here is some medical coding guidance on diagnosis code for history of MI; better pay for C-sections; billing facility versus nonfacility fees; and much more.

It's a convenience for your patients and a source of revenue for you. But how do you code and bill for minor in-office surgical procedures? Here are some expert tips.

The lesson: when it comes to collecting from Medicare (and other payers), it pays to question the status quo.

Look for patterns and common errors on your EOBs to boost collections

How to control key financial indicators in your practice

The facts about IPPE

Using the front desk to improve collections

How to tell if your clearinghouse is worth keeping

Create a financial policy to boost patient collections

How to be more aggressive -- but fair -- when collecting

A conversation with billing experts on best practices

There are compelling reasons to maintain accurate, up-to-date patient accounts.

With paperwork piles getting ever higher, more physicians have been trying to buck the trend by charging their patients administrative fees.

Attorney Richard Scruggs, well known for his devastating attacks against tobacco companies, has turned his attention to healthcare.

Physicians with charity care programs must be careful to avoid the appearance that they are breaking anti-kickback rules by offering financial incentives, in the form of free or reduced-price care, in order to induce referrals.

Whether or not your practice has a full-time billing staff or outsources this function, billing remains the backbone of the revenue cycle in the practice.

As long as the carrier's incident-to rules are met, there's no problem. When the rules are broken, there's a problem.

Factoring offers you quick cash, but it comes at a steep price.