Mental health billing is increasingly more complex as more payers cover the cost of mental health services. Optimizing your billing process is a key component of building a sustainable practice that can offer care to a multitude of clients. In order to be successful in 2021, providers should adhere to the following tips for mental health billing.
Verify Coverage Before Every Visit
Coverage verification is critical for providers that are accepting insurance at their mental health practice. Even if a client believes their insurance covers the type of care they are seeking, there may be prequalification, prior-authorizations, or even a lapse of coverage that needs to be addressed before a visit. Providers should utilize available technology and services to implement automated eligibility verification prior to every visit.
Thorough Documentation
Documentation is everything in mental and behavioral health. It helps providers track a client’s progress, pick up where they last left off, and now, bill effectively. Documenting adequately plays a huge role in the claims process.
Know Your Codes
When filing a claim to an insurance provider, the correct CPT code is necessary in order for them to approve the claim and reimburse you. Mental health providers need to be intimately familiar with the codes that apply to their organization so that each claim is accurate and optimized for approval.
Offer Multiple Payment Methods
For providers accepting insurance, there is still a chance that a portion of the payment, or the entire payment, falls into the lap of the client. Payment can be more difficult to collect once it becomes a client’s responsibility. In order to optimize client payments, providers should offer multiple payment methods. This may include credit card processing, online payments, or traditional check by mail.
Utilize Quality Technology
Technology can make or break your mental health billing process. Using the right technology can both simplify your billing workflow and optimize your revenue. The key to finding the right mental health billing technology is to partner with a high-quality and experienced vendor.
Outsource Billing Services
Another option for improving your practice’s mental health billing in 2021 is to outsource services to a qualified partner. Outsourcing mental health billing to a vendor can help you practice:
Maximize Reimbursements
A billing partner hires and trains their own professional billing staff that become experts in the field of mental health billing. They can help your practice maximize reimbursements by filing claims correctly and on time with payers.
Improve Claims Processing
Outsourcing your mental health billing services can also improve your claims process by helping you identify weak points in your claim management, helping correct those mistakes, and improving your clean claims.
Denial Management
Should a denial happen, a vendor can make sure it is handled correctly and immediately. They will work to ensure denials that are eligible to be resubmitted are completed and that your practice sees little delay in payment.
Increase Revenue
By following these tips and outsourcing your mental health billing to a qualified vendor, providers can increase their revenue. By increasing and stabilizing their bottom line, providers can build a sustainable practice that goes on to help clients for many years.
To learn more about how to improve billing at your practice, click here.