Keep Your Medical Billing Records Accurate

The life’s blood of any practice is the reimbursement revenue from the medical billing forms. Practitioners rely on accurate medical billing and coding to get their claims paid and not denied.

Before a patient appointment, medical billers should remember to:

Remind patients to bring all pertinent documents
Copy insurance and ID cards before appointments
Gather accurate patient information
Obtain signature on assignment of benefits and HIPAA forms
Collect co-pay

After a patient appointment, healthcare providers should make sure that a detailed record has been kept of the patient encounter. Include such information as complaints, diagnoses, treatments provided, procedures recommended, or follow-up necessary. Furthermore, all of this information should be entered on the charge sheet or superbill, with the corresponding diagnostic codes. Accuracy and documentation is of paramount importance at this stage.

After the patient appointment, medical coders should remember to:

Review patient charts and double check accuracy of charge sheet
Compare the recorded procedures with the proper diagnostic codes
Research and obtain any additional reports that need to be attached to claim
Enter information into database for records keeping

View all Articles by: Melissa Clark, CCS-P