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What is Medical Billing Software & Who Are Qualified Medical Billers?

Few people today realize how complex the process of accurate medical billing has become. This has created a flood of new medical billing services and new medical billing software solutions. Not surprisingly, medical billing software scams abound.

It is critical therefore that both health care providers and those looking for employment as medical billing workers understand the advantages and disadvantages of various types of medical billing software and what it takes to become a qualified medical biller.

Medical Billing Is Hard!

If anyone thinks that processing medical claims is hard and confusing now -- just wait, it's about to get worse.

With the anticipated growth in Medicaid and payments linked to outcomes (because of health care reform), plus the coming huge expansion of diagnosis codes (from 14,000 ICD-9 codes to over 100,000 ICD-10 codes), the complexity is only growing - and at an accelerating pace.

Fortunately, sophisticated medical billing software exists to help health care providers automate and manage data. The danger, however, is that the software systems that have been developed in response to an increasingly staggeringly complex medical billing process have become themselves increasingly complex, and this has created a situation that is ripe for misusing these tools to not only accidentally over-reimburse but to submit false claims-with the attendant risks and penalties.

Types of Medical Billing Software Systems

In 2000, The Department of Health and Human Services ordered its Office of Inspector General to survey the different types of medical billing software to identify how the Medicare reimbursement process could be adversely affected. The Office of Inspector General surveyed four types of systems and identified their strengths and weaknesses:

Basic billing software relies heavily on user knowledge and entry skills. It is widely distributed by Medicare fiscal agents and the private sector. Users key most, if not all, claims information onto a claims facsimile. The software manipulates these entries to produce an electronic claim. Typical errors involve entry errors, incorrect or missing patient or provider information, incorrect or incomplete diagnosis codes or invalid Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes. Basic medical billing software, developed for mass markets, usually does not allow users to customize or override its programs. The greater risk of claim error is in data entry.

Informational software augments basic software capabilities. It uses data bases and linked files to recall patient, provider, diagnostic and service information. Invalid code combinations, missing diagnosis and other errors that might prevent processing of a claim can be brought to the user's attention before the claim is submitted for payment. Informational software does not appear to generate erroneous claims. It provides tools to help providers code their claims accurately. Vulnerabilities are more likely to stem from improper software configuration and use. For example, limited procedure coding options for office visits may steer claim decisions to higher value procedure codes.

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All Med PM

AllMed PM's electronic medical billing has simple tools that help with data entry, automated task that take only minutes to setup and very easy to use. You can print your first claim in 20 minutes! With tools like Auto-Codes, Repeat Last Claim and Auto Co-Pays. medical billing software