Author Topic: Question regarding your books...?  (Read 13971 times)

kwardbilling

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Question regarding your books...?
« on: January 09, 2010, 12:28:30 PM »
Hello Michele:  I am a newbie and have been looking at the books that you and your mother wrote.  I would like to order one to see how they work for me.  Unfortunately right now funds are a little tight.  I have three clients right now and have been doing mental health billing for 3 years part time from home.  I have recently lost a client, as he called my bluff.  I know I was taking in a lot of money for him and he also had several other incomes, and he was paying me late (behind by 1-2 months), I told him we needed to set a goal to get caught up and I would be willing to let him make payments, but he called my bluff and dropped the service .....upsetting, but I was being taken advantage of.  He kept telling me how he'll be lost without hte servie that I brought him in so much more money that he had collected on his own, but that he will be doing his own billing again.  Now I am in need of picking up at least one to two more clients to fill his voice.  I need some advice on which book to start with as I can't afford them all right now. I was thinking of geting the Mental Health billing Pack, or Taking your Mental Health Billing to the Next Level.  I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the claims process, however, I liked the idea of the information on medicare and medicaid, not to mention just having a resource handy.  After hearing a little bit about my background which book would you suggest I start with?  Thanks for any info.  Also I am from MA I don't know if that makes a difference.

Karen

Pay_My_Claims

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2010, 03:11:32 AM »
obtaining training material is great and helpful, but I also think you have some other issues you need to look into as well. did you have a contract #1? no matter how knowledgeable you are with the billing, providers will SCREW you. They know that there are more and more "at home" billing services and they will rotate us like whores in a brothel. I never allow them to go 2 months without payment. We always bill a month behind, but if payment has not been received by the 15th of the month, you are suspended. I don't do payment arrangements. If the provider is having financial issues, and I am bringing in his revenue, he needs a financial analyst to evaluate his practice. I only deal with how he can improve his revenue based upon how he files, and how he receives full reimbursement (correct coding, obtaining auths, up front collections etc) I also do flat fee billing as I don't have the patience for % fee, plus all the grey area laws about fee splitting. Also have you thought about broadening your horizons? Don't just do the mental health, unless that is the only thing you want to do. I personally love DME billing, but I have and will do general practice. I like podiatry and neuro as well since they both have moved over into doing DME billing as well. Podiatry is my new market as I am looking to show them how they can benefit by billing for AFO's as well. The reimbursement is great. Neuro's can do the CPAP's and make great profit if they dispense themselves.  I need to get a couple of training books on some different specialties I haven't billed for as well

Good blessings to you

kwardbilling

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2010, 01:52:19 PM »
Thanks for your response.  I am working on a contract, as someone from this site just suggested that, up until now I wasn't too concerned, but I see it's necessary.  Any suggestions of what I should put in the contract are always welcomed.  I have been charging by the session, not by %, I like it that way, it's much easier to keep track of and also lets the counselors know exactly what they owe me so they have no surprises.  It seems to be working well for me over the past three years.  The software I own is for mental health, (Therapist Helper), so I hadn't thought about branching out yet.  My contract isn't up on the software, and also I feel like I'm getting a good handle on the mental health.  I had no background in billing before I started this, so I don't know a whole lot about coding etc.  I don't know if you've seen any of my other posts, but I kind of fell in to this as I work at our local high school as an administrative assistant and one of the counselors asked me to learn billing and do it for him.....that's how this all come about.  I am really enjoying it, love the independence, and I have that detailed personality! :)  I am pretty sure that you can do chiropractic and physical therapy billing with my software, maybe something I should think about.....?  Anyway,thanks for the response.

Karen 

Pay_My_Claims

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2010, 04:00:10 PM »
what do you mean charge by the session? Do you mean you charge them a fee for each session you bill? This would be similar to my flat fee billing. Well as far as your contract is concerned, there are plenty of "sample" contracts on the web. I would still advise that a lawyer look over it for you. Remember whatever can happen will, so you want to cover all bases. You should include termination clause in your contract as well. I don't do yearly contracts myself. I charge a start-up fee (non-refundable) and bill a flat fee, so as long as either of us gives 30 day notice we can terminate the contract, which is basically a month to month.

kwardbilling

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2010, 09:49:43 AM »
Thanks for the info.  That's exactly what I do right now, a 30 termination notice is asked, although I hadn't had it in a contract.  I am definitely doing that now.  And yes, I charge so much for each session I charge.  Same Idea as a flat rate. 

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2010, 09:49:43 AM »

Michele

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2010, 12:27:01 PM »
Karen,

    Sorry for the delay!  Last few days flew by.  Anyway, Charlene is right, contracts are important.  Honestly if you are already billing for mental health, I don't think our mental health book would help you much.  It is for someone looking to get into mental health who hasn't had much experience in it before.  I'm thinking that since you are looking to get more clients maybe the marketing book would help.  It has 12 methods for getting new clients.  Also, we just put out the first credentialing book on Medicare.  We have found that our credentialing service gives us lots of referrals for the billing.  If they are just getting credentialed they usually haven't thought much about how they will do the billing.  Anyway, it sounds like you have a good start and are getting some important things straightened out.  Best Wishes!

Michele
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Pay_My_Claims

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #6 on: January 13, 2010, 05:43:05 PM »
Karen,

    Sorry for the delay!  Last few days flew by.  Anyway, Charlene is right, contracts are important.  Honestly if you are already billing for mental health, I don't think our mental health book would help you much.  It is for someone looking to get into mental health who hasn't had much experience in it before.  I'm thinking that since you are looking to get more clients maybe the marketing book would help.  It has 12 methods for getting new clients.  Also, we just put out the first credentialing book on Medicare.  We have found that our credentialing service gives us lots of referrals for the billing.  If they are just getting credentialed they usually haven't thought much about how they will do the billing.  Anyway, it sounds like you have a good start and are getting some important things straightened out.  Best Wishes!

Michele


Michelle, I just saw an ad for a biller and it stated "credentialing experience desired"

kwardbilling

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #7 on: January 13, 2010, 05:51:30 PM »
When I started a few years ago a couple of clinicians had asked if I helped with credentialing.  Unfortunately at that point in time I was totally new to the medical billing world and felt I had enough to learn with just learning how to submit claims correctly and efficiently.  I think I do need to head in that direction now.  Thanks for the ideas, I am going to look in to the book you are suggesting.  Also, Michele one last question. You mentioned you are working on getting a new web based software I think you said in March, are you able to give us the name of the software?

Michele

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #8 on: January 14, 2010, 08:58:20 PM »
The software is called Xena.  If you are interested in sitting in on an online demo let me know. 

As for the credentialing, the book should be up now.  We released it yesterday. 

I have always found that it helps if you are experienced in many things, as opposed to one.  It is good to be great at one, but if you can help out in other areas too, it makes you more valuable.  The credentialing for us, started out as just to help out our docs.  Then we realized, there are lots of docs out there that need the credentialing that we don't bill for.  It's really taken off for us.

I'm not surprised by the add Charlene.  Some offices have providers coming and going on a regular basis and they need their billing department to be able to handle adding/deleting providers.

Michele
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kwardbilling

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #9 on: January 14, 2010, 09:08:24 PM »
Michele, am I understanding correctly, that you don't charge for the credentialing service?  I would possible be interested in watching the demo of the software Xena.  I just upgraded Therapist Helper that I use.  So far I've been happy, but it isn't a web based service, although I believe at some point they are headed in that direction. I am from MA and they are just 20 min from me which is nice.....but I'm always open to suggestions, maybe next year at renewal time..

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #9 on: January 14, 2010, 09:08:24 PM »

Michele

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #10 on: January 14, 2010, 09:15:10 PM »
We DO charge for credentialing.  When we first started doing it just for our providers we didn't charge.  It was very time consuming and that's what made us realize that we had to charge.  Once we started charging we realized we could make some money doing it for providers we didn't bill for.  We do give our providers a discount on credentialing, if we do their billing.

Michele
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kwardbilling

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #11 on: January 14, 2010, 09:55:06 PM »
got it.....can you give me a ballpark about what billers charge for credentialing services....

Michele

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #12 on: January 14, 2010, 10:57:40 PM »
It varies depending on the carrier.  Medicare apps usually have a flat rate from $125 - $225 depending on whether it's a group or individual, CAQH can be from $125-175.  Individual carriers depends on the paperwork involved.

Michele
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kwardbilling

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #13 on: January 14, 2010, 11:02:44 PM »
I actually just sent Alice an email, should have read this post first I guess.  I couldn't find a book entitle credentialing on the web site.......also, if I remember correctly an email came out with information about the book and also about a competition to win one, but unfortunately I must have deleted the email......would you possibly have that information to foward on to me?  Thanks in advance.  Also, is the credentialing book just for medicare/medicaid or a general guide on all general carriers? Credentialing is totally new to me, so sorry for all the questions, but one more.....is the fees you listed just to file for the paperwork and then you add your fee on top of that?

Michele

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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #14 on: January 15, 2010, 10:28:41 AM »
The book coming out now is just on Medicare credentialing.  We are going to follow with others.  There is a competition on winning one.  I will email you the link.

Michele
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Re: Question regarding your books...?
« Reply #14 on: January 15, 2010, 10:28:41 AM »