Operating a standalone medical office can feel like running a small coffee shop across the street from a Starbucks. Whether yours is a rural practice treating myriad different ailments every day or a small office with a single specialty, it can be hard to find the happy balance between caring for your patients and caring for your operational costs. Outsourcing your insurance pre-certification needs to a specialty service like AuthNet is a great way to ensure your patients get the care they need while saving your practice money. Here’s how it works:
Timely Processing
How many appointments in the last month have needed to be canceled last minute because an insurance prior authorization has not been processed or approved? When appointments are canceled at the last minute, not only is your patient’s time wasted, but so is your staff’s. Each time an appointment has to be canceled or rescheduled, that is likely an hour or more of the physician’s time wasted because it can be nearly impossible to fill those time slots at last minute. At AuthNet, a key part of our prior authorization process includes following up with every request within 24 to 48 hours. We undertake the follow-up to minimize appointments that need to be canceled because of unprocessed requests.
Improved Accuracy
Hospitals with a department dedicated to insurance authorization often have trouble keeping up with changes to healthcare laws and policy provider changes. Small and medium-sized clinics and practices have it so much harder. If your insurance authorization staff is small, or a single person, keeping up with requests and follow-ups can be tough enough that provider changes slip through the cracks. Of course, those changes generally mean an uptick in processing issues and denied requests. We keep our staff up to date on those changes so we can provide accurate and expedient processing.
Fewer Errors
Our precertification staff hones in on one part of the medical billing process. This means a singular focus and fewer precert requests slipping through the cracks. We also take the time to verify patient contact details, health insurance coverage, deductible or co-pay information, and any other information necessary to process precertification requests. Since we focus in on pre-certification needs, we can provide the attention necessary to process precerts in a timely manner. We also take the time to provide additional information when necessary or request a physician call from your practice if needed by the insurance provider. Our dedicated staff focuses in on this one area of medical billing to minimize errors, prevent requests from ‘slipping through the cracks,’ and expedite the precertification process.
