Whether you are opening a new chiropractic office or searching for a new chiropractic billing software, it’s important to start off on the right foot and avoid a potential financial catastrophe. Chiropractic billing software can dramatically improve the productivity and revenue cycle of your practice. Read on to learn more!
What Is Chiropractic Billing Software?
Chiropractic billing software allows you to quickly and easily generate and submit medical claims, collect patient payments, generate billing statements, and track the financial health of your office. The technology of chiropractic billing software makes these common medical office tasks much easier.
With technology rapidly advancing, your chiropractic billing software should also allow you to submit electronic claims to Major Medical Payers such as BCBS and Medicare and receive insurance payments directly from within the software’s interface.
Chiropractic Billing Software Overview
The best chiropractic billing systems give you all the necessary tools to efficiently manage the financial aspects of your practice so that you can focus on what matters most – treating your patients.
Ideally, your chiropractic billing software should be able to scrub your electronic claims for errors and allow you to resubmit claims easily in the event of an error. Some software systems go a step further and allow you to track the status of your claims in real time.
Choosing the right billing software for your chiropractic office can be a daunting task if you don’t know what to look for.
Below are important features to check for when doing your research:
Chiropractic CPT & ICD Codes
One of the biggest advantages of using chiropractic billing software is that you can eliminate cumbersome paper manuals on coding. Billing software allows chiropractic billing staff to quickly search for ICD-10 and CPT billing codes by number or description and insert them with a click of the mouse. This both simplifies and expedites claims preparation and overall leads to a happier billing staff. It is also advisable that you check with the software vendor to ensure that the billing program includes an updated database of chiropractic CPT and ICD codes.
Claim Auto-Generation
The process of manually entering charges into a chiropractic billing software is time consuming and exhaustive for billing staff. An office that sees 100 patient visits in a week and bills 3 CPT codes per patient would need staff to enter 300 charges into a billing software! Chiropractic billing software that’s built on more advanced technologies is capable of auto-generating medical claim files. These technologies virtually eliminate the need for charge entry and lead to a more efficient and happier staff.
Integrated Clearinghouse
An integrated clearinghouse is one of the most important features a chiropractic billing software should include. This integration offers several advantages over software that requires an external clearinghouse. One of the main advantages is that allows your billing staff to submit an entire batch of e-claims to the clearinghouse with a simple click of the mouse.
Chiropractic billing software systems that do not include an integrated clearinghouse require you to export your claim files from the software to your desktop and upload them to an external clearinghouse. This process is not only time consuming for staff because they are working with two independent software programs, but often costs more as you are required to pay a monthly fee for the clearinghouse service. These fees can range from as low as $35/month up to $160/month.
Claim Scrubbing
A claim scrubbing engine can help you catch billing errors before they slow your collections down. These systems identify claims that are potential problems before they are sent off to Payers and ultimately rejected. Billing staff are notified within the software interface and can easily edit and refile the problematic claims. Claim scrubbing systems can help to improve your overall revenue cycle and should be a feature of your chiropractic billing software.
Claim Tracking
Claim tracking ensures 100% accountability and provides a 360-degree view of the lifecycle of your claims. It should be an essential component of any chiropractic billing software your considering. Claim tracking updates billing staff on the status of any unpaid claims and allows them to quickly and easily follow-up with Payers. This ultimately helps to accelerate cash flow for chiropractic offices.
ERAs w/ Auto Payment Posting
An ERA (Electronic Remittance Advice) is a form of electronic communication that essentially eliminates the need of paper EOB (Explanation of Benefits). ERAs contain information on whether a claim was paid or denied, final status and any adjustments the payer made to the billed amount.
Manually posting EOBs is time consuming and costly and can quickly lead to billing staff burnout and turnover in higher volume practices. Chiropractic billing software that includes support for ERAs with auto-payment posting allows you to receive your remittance advice electronically so you don’t have to wait for paper EOBs to arrive in the mail. Your billing staff can quickly review them and post payments and adjustments automatically. This process drastically reduces transaction time and administrative costs and improves payment accuracy and office productivity.
One important consideration to keep in mind when searching for a chiropractic billing software with ERA support is to ensure that ERAs are downloaded directly into the software system and not an external clearinghouse. ERAs that are sent to an external clearinghouse require your billing staff to export them from the clearinghouse and upload them into your billing software for processing. Not only is this time consuming. It can also lead to billing errors. Using a chiropractic billing software with an integrated clearinghouse solves this problem and allows you to optimize your revenue cycle. By automating the payment posting process, you can work less and get paid much faster.
Integrated Payment Processing
Integrated payment processing saves time and money. The chiropractic billing software you choose should allow you to quickly and easily accept credit card payments and setup recurring plans capable of auto-billing patients each month.
Additional Considerations
Cloud-Based vs Server-Based Chiropractic Billing Software
There are two primary categories of chiropractic billing software – cloud-based and server-based software. With cloud or web-based software systems, your data is stored on external servers and is accessed through the web using any device with an internet connection. Server-based (non-cloud) systems store data on a local server in your office.
Cloud-based chiropractic billing software offers significant advantages over server-based systems when it comes to billing and claims management. Cloud-based systems make it easy for your chiropractic office to remain compliant and gives your billing staff the ability to work from anywhere. Cloud-based billing systems are also considered more cost efficient over server-based software programs.
Costs
When it comes to the purchase of billing software for your chiropractic office, you have two options – purchasing a system outright or paying a monthly subscription. If you are considering the purchase of a new chiropractic billing software, be sure to understand the total cost of ownership before the purchase. Total cost of ownership includes the upfront cost of the software, additional hardware purchases such as servers and workstations, IT staff to setup and configure your office network, and a firewall and data backup system to meet HIPAA compliance. More often than not, software vendors will charge you a monthly fee on top of the purchase price if you expect support and regular updates to the software. As you can imagine, these costs can quickly add up.
Using a cloud-based chiropractic billing software is generally more cost effective for most offices. You pay a monthly fee which includes all software updates, data backups, security and support. There’s no need to invest in additional hardware or hire IT staff to setup and maintain your network. Costs for cloud or web-based chiropractic billing software can range from $99/month up to $450/month.
Training & Support
A product is only as good as the training and support behind it. It’s therefore important to choose a vendor who can provide the necessary installation, training, and technical support. Your in-house billing staff should be well versed and comfortable with all features and functions of the software.
The software vendor should offer live training that teaches your staff how to properly enter charges in the system, submit claims, post payments, generate patient billing statements, and utilize any available reports to manage the financial health of the practice. Furthermore, your staff should have access to timely support in the event they have questions, or a problem arises.
Some chiropractic billing software vendors offer support on a limited basis and may have your waiting several hours or days for a response, while others offer 24/7 support with quick response time. The last thing you want is your billing being held up because your staff doesn’t understand something or cannot get their questions answered in a timely manner.
Third-Party Chiropractic Billing Services
Some chiropractic offices may find it beneficial to outsource their billing to a third party medical biller. If this is something that you’re considering, we recommend on insisting that the billing company utilizes your billing software rather than their own. This offers you an additional layer of protection in the event that you decide to terminate your relationship with the billing company or they go out of business.
The Right Chiropractic Billing Software for Your Practice
Chiropractic billing software is a smart step forward in the quest to improve your healthcare business practices. Take the time to do your homework before making a decision. There are several websites that allows you to compare programs and provide chiropractic billing software ratings and reviews. These include ChiroMonkey.com, SoftwareAdvice.com and Capterra.com
ChiroFusion provides chiropractors with a simple and affordable solution to manage billing and improve collections. The software is web-based, includes an integrated clearinghouse, claim scrubbing and tracking, ERA support with auto-payment posting, and the ability to accept credit card payments and setup monthly recurring plans with ease. To learn more, contact us today at (877) 210-3230 or download our software demo.