Can someone please share with me the transition process from one billing company to another. I never experience this transition and I want to be sure that I don't leave anything out. The prospect is asking me for this process. Thanks!
That's too vague to answer really however I can give you some invaluable advice. First, know the contract end date of the previous billing company.. THIS IS very important to know along with YOUR start date. 2nd, and MOST IMPORTANT. DO NOT HAVE CONTACT, DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO DO with the contractual relationship of the previous company and the provider.. AT ALL!! This is asking for trouble and NOT your business. Any and all transition materials/data will come from the provider, this way they adhere to THEIR contractual relationship with the previous billing company, so basically nothing is going to be different for YOU. You will come across some doctors who think getting another billing company involved will help in terminating their relationship with the current billing company...that may be true for them, but NOT smart for you. Have your attorney be sure your contract does not overlap with the previous relationship. In other words..you are responsible from this date --/---/-- and that's it and provider is responsible for furnishing the info/data you need to begin your contract obligations.
You might even run across a provider or two shopping for a new billing company either before they terminated with the old or after. The provider is looking for an easy transition and it's easy as the billing company who's hungry for that account to want to go above and beyond to ensure a transition that they will take on responsibilities they have no way to legally implement! I can't even tell you of the ugly situations where I have had billers call me and ask what to do because they got involved with a previous billing company and then they can't get the data, can't get the reports they need, etc etc. MESSY.
In regards to data conversions.. I leave this decision UP to the provider and each situation is different. If a provider wants to do a data conversion, I will gather pricing, and technical specs and the conversion will be their cost, in some instances I will share the cost (depends on the client). I always however caution providers to the often messy data conversions that could happen. My best advice is a
manual transition where I start on this date in either their system or mine (again, I leave that to them) they in turn are responsible for all data/claims prior to my start date (they can refer to their contract with the previous billing company to hold them accountable). Again, I say this all from experience as I've seen some data conversions go really bad because of all the problems the previous billing company had, bad data=bad conversion!!
Final piece of advice: Always remember there is a reason why that previous billing company is leaving or provider was unhappy. I always try to tactfully find out why, not just for my own protection, but for an idea of what this client needs and how I can do it better. I always try to also give the previous billing company the benefit of the doubt. I've seen previous billing companies leave the provider and there's usually a good reason why <g>
I actually created a separate policies/procedures manual for transitions. It has 5 scenario's so that I can refer to it to explain to the client how it will go. It's in a 5 '' binder and I think it's rather ingenious and detailed....but I can tell you there have been times I've encountered situations it wasn't a big help for. that should tell you something
They can be messy or smooth. STAY far away from the contractual relationship with the previous billing company and you will save yourself a ton of headaches and possible legal ramifications. TRUST me.