Are Gaps in Urgent Care Billing Slowing You Down?

Common Gaps in Urgent Care billing

It is often seen that in spite of one’s best efforts, unfortunate gaps can slip into the medical billing process, causing delays in cash flow or even, missed revenue. When it comes to Urgent Care billing, the scenario is not much different. More often than not, Urgent Care centers witness collections falling through the cracks due to inaccurate or incomplete billing, or procedural delays. Among the most common areas where mistakes can creep into the Urgent Care billing process is using incorrect coding to describe the services rendered. While using the wrong codes can lead to a summary rejection of the claim, under-coding can also result in decreased collections.

Speaking of using the right codes, it is also important to use the “Place of Service-20” (POS-20) code to ensure maximum reimbursement under most payor policies. Many Urgent Care centers use the POS-11 code that designates a Primary Care facility. What they fail to realize is that it can lead to decreased reimbursement.

Some of the other areas that are prone to mistakes include failing to capture all the requisite patient details as soon as they walk into the facility, making delays in submitting the claim, and taking a laidback attitude to denial management or following up on the status of a submitted claim.

Making the Billing Process Faster and More Efficient

Urgent Care billing can be challenging, no doubt, but there are ways to make it easier. The best, and also the most economical way is to hire dedicated billing experts to get the job done. While recruiting a full in-house team can prove to be time-consuming and costly, Urgent Care practices can have instant access to all the professional support they need by outsourcing their billing tasks to dedicated, third-party service providers.

Specialized intervention translates into an increased efficiency in the billing process, an effect that can be seen from the very first day of the engagement. These specialized billing agencies use highly streamlined processes that help to get more done than a typical, in-house back-office team. The cost is also remarkably lower as their services are offered at highly affordable rates. Over time, Urgent Care centers can watch their denial rates drop, collections increase and their cash flow pick up pace like never before. In other words, such professional assistance may just be the thing