Medical Billing Forum
Starting a Medical Billing Business => Starting Your Own Medical Billing Business => : patricia1016 March 24, 2008, 12:27:53 PM
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Hi Alice and Michele,
I have a question regarding how much to charge. I understand it is usually a percentage, however, I am unsure if it is the billed amount or the insurance approved/paid amount? Thanks for your help.
Patti
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Hi,
Most services charge the percentage on what is collected, not on what is billed out. As we all know, reimbursement is usually less than the amount billed out. From my personal experience, providers would have a problem paying on the billed out amount, as opposed to the collected amount.
Thanks
Michele
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Hi Alice
I also have a question about the amount you charge. When you charge your clients, do you charge them about 5, 6, or 10% of what is collected. I'm not sure exactly how much to charge them. And also, Do they give you a check for what you charge them or you take it out yourself
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The amount you charge is going to be based on several factors. Where you are located (rural, city, etc), what type of provider(s) are you billing for, what services you are providing (complete billing, medicare claims only, insurance only) . For example, we charge a slightly lower percentage for a couple of providers that we do Medicare only billing for and they are usually repeat patients. It is very easy, redundant work and we can get away with charging less. But for our family practice drs that we do complete billing including patient billing, we charge a little higher. We bill our providers once a month on the first for all that is collected in that previous month and they cut us a check. It is suppose to be within 10 days, but drs aren't usually good with that!
Hope that helps.
Michele
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Thanks Michelle
your answer really help, but can you tell me a little bit more about the complete billing service. what exactly included in a complete billing service.
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When I say 'complete billing service' I mean all billing from start to finish. Filing insurance claims, both primary, secondary, and (if needed) tertiary, plus billing patient's any balances. Following up on unpaid and/or denied claims.
On the other end, sometimes we only provide part of our services. We have some drs who just hire us to submit their Medicare claims electronically. We don't do secondaries or patient billing. Sometimes we only provide the service of submitting the claim. We don't track it, record the payment, or follow it thru at all.
Michele