Author Topic: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees  (Read 16141 times)

jpositos

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Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« on: September 05, 2018, 06:31:06 PM »
Hello,

For those who are using Office Ally as clearinghouse, you should have began seeing this notice popping-up each time you open Office Ally to send your claims this week.  With the Office Ally Non-par list getting longer and longer, pretty soon we will be paying $35 per month for each Provider no matter how small that Practice is. 

Any thoughts?  Any recommendations of a clearinghouse that will not break the bank?

Thank you!!!!

Jocelyn

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2018, 11:25:54 AM »
I don't use OA but have been seeing this circulating. I am sort of scratching my head about the complaints because this pricing is NOT exhorbant at all. It's inline with the industry. I don't maintain any software/clearinghouse costs for my clients. They absorb the costs and I can keep my rates down because I virtually have no overhead.
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Michele

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2018, 04:22:04 PM »
We use OA and I've seen the notice.  We are still fine with that.  For the number of claims we submit per month $35 is still less than $.01 per claim.  And personally I find there service excellent.  We will continue to use them.  Most of the other clearinghouses that I've seen charge per claim and it's way more than $.01.
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jpositos

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2018, 05:16:13 PM »
Thank you!  I agree it is still acceptable.  Just wondering if anyone out there is using a different company worth checking-out.

Jocelyn

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2018, 10:42:01 AM »
Quote
Thank you!  I agree it is still acceptable.  Just wondering if anyone out there is using a different company worth checking-out.

I don't see any PM or clearinghouse fees and i LOVE it that way!! When I did years ago I found it much easier researching pricing and clearinghouses via the PM vendor I was using first and then by their payer list. If OA, like Michele mentioned comes out to .01 per claim with volume I'd say that's a good price. Then factor in the old, but true saying "If it aint broke, don't fix it!" :) :)
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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2018, 10:42:01 AM »

Michele

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2018, 11:20:34 AM »
We have tried many options over the past 25 years.  OA has been BY FAR the best option we've ever used.  We've been using them for a number of years now, but I do see other clearinghouses since we do some of our accounts in there system and use the clearinghouse they are set up with.  It just confirms my faith in OA.   The other clearinghouses that I see charge a LOT more, and the service is comparable or below OA.  I have not seen any other clearinghouse with comparable prices, and service.  Availity used to have a free option as well but I am not sure if they still offer that. 
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williamportor

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #6 on: October 01, 2018, 12:29:26 PM »
Hello,

For those who are using Office Ally as clearinghouse, you should have began seeing this notice popping-up each time you open Office Ally to send your claims this week.  With the Office Ally Non-par list getting longer and longer, pretty soon we will be paying $35 per month for each Provider no matter how small that Practice is. 

Any thoughts?  Any recommendations of a clearinghouse that will not break the bank?

Thank you!!!!

Jocelyn


I've begun raising my prices, even with my smaller clients to offset this cost. Not much pushback on it.  JMHO- If a clinic can't afford an extra $35.00 a month (about 2 hrs. pay) they're not financially solvent anyway. 

cnew

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2018, 09:22:35 PM »
Curious how many OA users have individual accounts/separate usernames for each client vs one account/username and combine all providers into one username.  I have over 12 providers each with separate usernames. If each providers account was assessed the $35.00/month fee that would total $455.00/month which is no longer an inexpensive clearinghouse. As the non-par list grows and grows each month and most likely will end up with all payors as non-par, this is an unexpected expense for billers who were never subject to this fee before.  I understand we can pass the fee to our clients, just curious if anyone uses one username and combines all providers accounts under one log on.

Michele

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #8 on: December 11, 2018, 10:43:21 AM »
We have one account we use for approximately 50 providers.  We also have two providers who have their own account because we operate out of their software.
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AYeager

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #9 on: February 14, 2019, 01:24:59 PM »
Curious how many OA users have individual accounts/separate usernames for each client vs one account/username and combine all providers into one username.  I have over 12 providers each with separate usernames. If each providers account was assessed the $35.00/month fee that would total $455.00/month which is no longer an inexpensive clearinghouse. As the non-par list grows and grows each month and most likely will end up with all payors as non-par, this is an unexpected expense for billers who were never subject to this fee before.  I understand we can pass the fee to our clients, just curious if anyone uses one username and combines all providers accounts under one log on.

The new fee assessment for OA won't matter if you have one login or multiple accounts, because they are going to do it by the NPI + Tax ID for the claims being submitted not just the account user. I have recently looked into several clearinghouses and have found OA to be one of the most affordable options! Others out there are charging per provider to the tune of $125+/month or per claim to the tune of $0.40-$0.60/claim, that's only the few I got quotes from. If you have a really high volume of claims, like the ladies who run this forum, you might be able to get better pricing but smaller billers I stopped looking after getting those quotes and finding OA and Availity.
Availity does still offer a free service account called Availity Portal but the drawback for them is that the Payer list available for the free option is very limited. It works well for me though because I'm based out of Montana and a large portion of patients carry a BCBSMT plan, which is a Payer for Availity with the free service but is non-par with OA so using both cuts down on the number of non-par claims I submit to OA which so far has kept me from having to pay the $35 fee. That being said I actually prefer the way the website for OA navigates and the reports it generates over the Availity website.
For the original post, you might be able to do some research on Payer lists between Availity and OA and see if you could do a work around like that.

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #9 on: February 14, 2019, 01:24:59 PM »

ladee1017

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #10 on: February 15, 2019, 02:19:27 AM »
I use Kareo in my medical billing and consulting practice. I'm very pleased with it!  There is a cost associated with it for each provider, but I can create claims and submit in one program.  I charge back the cost to my clients; Most are okay with it, but one asked me to see if there was anything cheaper.  She suggested Office Ally.  She said that one of her colleagues uses it and swears by it.  She said it's free.  I reminded her that free could be very costly, but I would look into it. 
Well, after reading the posts, it's my understanding that using their clearinghouse is free for commercial payers, but I still have to pay for the use of a billing program.  Is that correct?

Michele

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2019, 04:32:14 PM »
We used OA for many years and $19.95 or even $35 is reasonable.  The part that did it for us was the charge per NPI/EIN combination.  That would increase us to over $2000 per month! We looked at Availity as we used to use them in the past, but I couldn't get them to respond to my inquiries.  In the meantime we found ClaimMD which only runs us a couple hundred dollars per month and so far we love the system.    We absolutely loved OA and would never have switched if we weren't pushed but the new system seems even better.  We are excited about moving forward.  :)

We used the OA PMS system with one provider but we did not like that at all. 
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PMRNC

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #12 on: February 19, 2019, 04:57:23 PM »
Quote
I use Kareo in my medical billing and consulting practice. I'm very pleased with it!  There is a cost associated with it for each provider, but I can create claims and submit in one program.  I charge back the cost to my clients; Most are okay with it, but one asked me to see if there was anything cheaper.  She suggested Office Ally.  She said that one of her colleagues uses it and swears by it.  She said it's free.  I reminded her that free could be very costly, but I would look into it. 
Well, after reading the posts, it's my understanding that using their clearinghouse is free for commercial payers, but I still have to pay for the use of a billing program.  Is that correct?

If you were to go from Kareo to a lower priced system believe me you would regret it. A downgrade like that would certainly frustrate them not to mention a conversion from a good program to a lower grade program would not be cost efficient for anyone. IF you are passing on all costs to clients but they want cheaper system, I would have them do the downgrade and assume all maintenance and cost with you simply logging in and doing billing. it could be they are a smaller client and do not need all of features of Kareo.
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Cpatel

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #13 on: May 07, 2019, 03:21:31 PM »
We used OA for many years and $19.95 or even $35 is reasonable.  The part that did it for us was the charge per NPI/EIN combination.  That would increase us to over $2000 per month! We looked at Availity as we used to use them in the past, but I couldn't get them to respond to my inquiries.  In the meantime we found ClaimMD which only runs us a couple hundred dollars per month and so far we love the system.    We absolutely loved OA and would never have switched if we weren't pushed but the new system seems even better.  We are excited about moving forward.  :)

We used the OA PMS system with one provider but we did not like that at all.

Hello Michelle,
I looked into the ClaimMD system as clearinghouse and it is great product. However, my PM system is not integrated with ClaimMD, so I am wondering about if we face any issues to transfer file from non integrated PM system to ClaimMD? Please advise.

Thank you.

Michele

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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #14 on: May 08, 2019, 10:37:44 AM »
Did you talk to them?  We upload a simple text file so our software isn't technically integrated with them either.

If you haven't called them I would call and ask.
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Re: Office Ally - Increasing Clearinghouse Fees
« Reply #14 on: May 08, 2019, 10:37:44 AM »