MEDICAL BILLING SOFTWARE - HOW DOES YOURS RATE?

How do you determine the best medical billing software for your practice?

It's Friday afternoon before a long weekend and your secretary has been on the phone with software support for over an hour trying to get an answer as to why your billing software has suddenly decided to stop working.

Six months ago they gave you the option of upgrading to the latest version. At the time you thought it was - an option. You were not ready at that time to make the investment to upgrade a system that you were not sure would be the best for your practice over the long term. Now you hear snatches of the conversation that conclude with "not the right version" and "not a version that we support anymore". Now what? Upgrade? Research new software?

How do you determine the best billing software for your practice? There are many "hot buttons" you should research in order the make the best decision for your office.

There are many different software packages on the market. They range from very high scale with built-in codes and parameters geared to a specific specialty to more generic types that can be customized by the practice. It is important to determine just what your individual needs are; ranging from "must have" to "that would be nice" and everything in between.

Of course, your type of practice will have a lot to do in determining your software choice. If you have a large practice with multiple providers and on-site lab and X-ray facilities, the scope of your billing needs would require a more intricate and complex package that can handle a network environment and multiple billing locations. Does your specialty require information not normally included in billing (i.e. anesthesia minutes)? Do you need more than 2 or 3 modifiers per transaction code? The importance of electronic billing has never been more obvious. What was once a quicker and more convenient way to bill has now become a requirement from many insurance companies and is the difference between 1-2 weeks to receive payment and 1-2 months.

In today's rapidly changing healthcare industry, even your "small" one provider practice has to be able to react and respond to constant updates and enhancements, both offered and required, by the insurance companies.

The software you select should come as close as possible to meeting the needs of your practice.

Redundant to above: Just what do you look for in a software billing package? You want to insure that it can handle your particular billing needs.

What kind of reports do you need? All billing software can give you the basic practice aging. Some packages offer the ability to customize aging parameters and give options on the look and setup of the aging. How easy is it to modify and create reports?

There are billing packages that will offer additional components, such as inventory sales, scheduling, collections, etc.

When researching your options, make sure that you understand just what is included in the proposal. How much installation and training time is required and recommended will help you understand the complexity of the system and how quickly you can expect to be up and billing.

I've left the most important criteria for choosing billing software and a billing software company for last.

SUPPORT. (Hint - refer back to 1st paragraph)

The experience and "hands on" knowledge of your support personnel will far outweigh some of the "bells and whistles" of your new software. Talking to someone who has "been there" and "done that" and knows how to resolve your problem (rather than the technical programmer who doesn't understand why you would even want to do that!) should be a key factor in your decision.

At Bradford Medical Associates we handle billing software issues all the time on behalf of the practices we represent. We have more than 25 years of experience in every aspect of automating medical practices of every specialty, both large and small. As medical billing specialists, we are constantly evaluating the latest offerings in the medical practice market. As specialists in this field we are available to consult with your office to help you determine the best solution to your individual needs.