The financial health Service Locations – eMed Partners of physician practices and provider organizations depends on their ability to process accurate billing. Typically, this involves front-end and back-end billing staff working together to generate encounter forms, deduct insurance from charges, collect copays and deductibles, and reconcile patient balances before sending invoices.

What is the role of medical billing?

Before the patient sees the doctor, the front-office staff gathers demographic and insurance information to complete an encounter form, also called a superbill or fee ticket. The form communicates the patient’s insurance and billing information, including the date of service, a list of common services (including their medical codes) and notes from the clinician.

After the doctor has seen the patient, front-office staff re-enter the patient’s insurance information into the encounter form to process claims. Claims are generated, scrubbed and submitted through clearinghouses to payers (insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid) and processed until paid.

For medical billers to work effectively, they need access to up-to-date medical laws, codes and policies. They also need to be able to scrub and edit claims to prevent errors that can cause rejections or denials.

The right medical billing service takes care of this for you, ensuring that your claims are scrubbing and coding correctly so they’re less likely to go unpaid or be denied by payers. They can also follow up on unpaid claims to get them paid.

Make sure your medical billing service is either fully integrated with a clearinghouse or has a partnership that enables them to submit claims directly to payers without charging extra fees. In addition, check that the company offers transparent, real-time updates about their billers’ progress on your accounts.