Medical Billing Forum

Starting a Medical Billing Business => Starting Your Own Medical Billing Business => : williamportor March 03, 2019, 06:04:56 PM

: Surcharges for clean up??
: williamportor March 03, 2019, 06:04:56 PM
As many of you are aware, when medical professionals hire independent medical billers these independents (like us) sometimes inherit billing situations in disarray i.e. old claim papers with vital information missing, lost or incomplete office notes, a 1-3 year backlog of claims to submit, large stacks of EOB's yet to be posted, expired credentialing, and the list goes on...This means not only doing the daily claim submission and follow up and resubmission of unpaid claims, but cleaning up a disorganized backlog of claims, office notes, and other tasks that add an enormous amount of upfront work hours in order have an organized billing process. My question is: Should a medical biller who agrees to take on this situation and begin to "create order from chaos" be looked upon as a normal part of taking on a new client, or should we be charging extra for the additional tasks required in order to create an organized billing process, and if so, how much??

I'm not making a bundle as a medical biller, but I'm now making enough so I have the time and and opportunity to begin to explore ways to streamline and improve my business operations. Any input would be welcome.  :)
: Re: Surcharges for clean up??
: PMRNC March 04, 2019, 09:44:30 AM
I do a full analysis first, based on that i'll chg hourly rate to go into the office to address any front end problems, staff problems, etc. For cleaning up another mess left by another biller or billing company, I consider this in the setup fee I charge. Obviously the more I need to clean up, the more I want as a setup fee.
: Re: Surcharges for clean up??
: Michele March 05, 2019, 09:59:11 AM
Ditto to Linda, but in addition:   you don't want to have it be just a normal part of taking on a client.  If that previous biller left a BIG mess, and you are unable to complete clean it up it looks bad upon you.  You want too make sure the provider understands that you will do what you can to clean it up, but it wasn't your mess.  I don't go in pointing fingers, I just make sure they understand I am a biller, not a miracle worker.  :)
: Re: Surcharges for clean up??
: williamportor March 05, 2019, 01:51:47 PM
Ditto to Linda, but in addition:   you don't want to have it be just a normal part of taking on a client.  If that previous biller left a BIG mess, and you are unable to complete clean it up it looks bad upon you.  You want too make sure the provider understands that you will do what you can to clean it up, but it wasn't your mess.  I don't go in pointing fingers, I just make sure they understand I am a biller, not a miracle worker.  :)



PMRNC and Michele - Thank You! That helps a lot.  :)