Medical Billing & Collections

Use this sample template for guidelines on documenting established patient visits. Provided by Hill & Associates.

Let new patients know about your policies from the get go. Follow these guidelines.

Specialists, use this waiver if a patient forgot his referral. It says that the patient agrees to pay for services rendered that are not covered by his managed care company.

Use this sample template for guidelines on documenting outpatient visits. Provided by Hill & Associates.

Executive editor Bob Keaveney speaks out against the pervasive practice of cost-profiling physicians.

Our fifth edition of PayerView uses real claims data to examine and rank payers based on financial and administrative performance, as well as efficiency. Here’s to friendly competition that helps docs get paid.

Medicare is getting more aggressive with audits through its Recovery Audit Contractor program. Here’s how to assess your billing procedures to avoid audits, and establish a process for when a RAC does come knocking.

Plastic surgeon Eugene J. Strasser runs into trouble when an angry patient insists he bill Medicare for an elective procedure and he rightly refuses.

Coding is hard. It’s tedious. Yet it is how you get paid for the services you perform. So we asked the experts where things go wrong most of the time - and how to fix them.

Knowledge is power in the payer game. Expert Lucien Roberts explains how to evaluate your payers and then use that information to negotiate better reimbursements.

Concerned about Medicare’s new Recovery Audit Contractors snooping around? Though your practice may not be affected by RACs for at least a year, the time to ready your defenses is now. Here’s how.

Consultant Susanne Madden offers a step-by-step guide to handling payer take-backs and not getting bullied into writing a check without researching the situation.

Considering outsourcing the business side of your practice to a revenue cycle management firm? Let someone deal with the claims and collections headaches … right? Maybe. We examine the pros, cons, expenses, and benefits.

A lingering recession and declining reimbursement make for stormy weather for practices. Check out our suggestions for how to stay dry - and in the black.

In this podcast, consultant Betsy Nicoletti explains the changes in CMS’ 2010 final physician fee schedule that could affect your practice.

Hospital-doctor bundling schemes are a near-certainty in any healthcare reform. Will physicians get the short end of the stick?

The best measure of physician productivity is the “relative value unit,” or RVU. But a physician trying to figure out how much she’ll be paid under this system doesn’t know where to start, or even what an RVU is. Here’s help.

EHR companies are increasingly offering billing services, and vice versa. Is this just another way to squeeze money out of you, or does it make sense to combine the services?

Here's how to properly use E&M code 99213, including when other CPT options might be more appropriate with patients at your medical practice.

Say goodbye to photocopies: Machine-readable cards could make billing and collections easier. When will payers make them widely available?

Medicare hopes to save millions with tougher billing rules and aggressive audits - changes that could cost your practice money. But if you bill right and on time, you can keep that Medicare check coming.

Which payers should you deal with and which should you drop? PayerView uses real claims data to rank them first to worst.

Assignment of Benefits

Appeal letter for prompt payment from your medical practice payers.

Here is a sample collections letter to use at your medical practice.