Medical Billing Forum

Starting a Medical Billing Business => Starting Your Own Medical Billing Business => : lynnmarie November 27, 2015, 09:00:37 PM

: Collecting charge information from clients
: lynnmarie November 27, 2015, 09:00:37 PM
Hi everyone,

I'm the billing specialist at a counseling agency, and some of our former therapists recently asked me to do their billing.  I've been thinking about starting my own service, so I guess now is the time to start!

I'm wondering how you collect the information to be billed from your clients.  A fax machine seems like it could be unreliable -- documents might not come through, leading to charges not being billed in a timely manner.  I was thinking of using an electronic Google form or a Dropbox folder to receive charge sheets electronically, but I know from experience that some of our therapists are not tech savvy and would not want to do it that way.  Those of you with billing services, how do you handle this?  Thank you for being here!
: Re: Collecting charge information from clients
: PMRNC November 28, 2015, 01:16:04 PM
You want to look at not only reliability but HIPAA compliance. As a billing company you would be a business associates under HIPAA. There are a few HIPAA compliant fax services and file sharing services. As of not too long ago Dropbox was not HIPAA compliant. As a billing company myself I still find my fax is still the best way to go. That's just me. My clients put a cover that tell me how many pages, they get a receipt, I can make sure I receive everything. I don't feel right using those file sharing programs.  If you do decide to use filesharing or faxing services be sure that you request a Business Associates Agreement. Efax will sign one and give it to you but you must ask for it, some will not do one, I'd personally stay away from any that don't offer a BAA.
: Re: Collecting charge information from clients
: Michele November 28, 2015, 11:21:52 PM
We also rely heavily on fax.  Our clients do the same, include a cover page with either the number of billings, a list of the clients to follow, or some other identifying info to tell us how many pages/billings/whatever are being faxed.  We have very little issues with missing/lost/not received faxes.
: Re: Collecting charge information from clients
: williamportor March 01, 2016, 10:09:01 AM
One of the very best ways of dealing with this issue is to do your claims submission through your client's existing practice management software system. All they'll need to do is set you up with your own username and password, and you can access the billing information without faxes, e mails, or extra communication. If your client does not have such a system, you can use faxed information, but try to make every effort to make use of your client's system.
: Re: Collecting charge information from clients
: Christy March 01, 2016, 12:36:22 PM
S Fax offers HIPAA compliant faxing and will sign a BAA. I love it!