What is the first thing that comes into your mind when you hear anesthesia billing services?

Complicated coding?

Clean claim submissions?

Collecting complete payments?

All of these are fundamental components of anesthesiologist billing services – however, they are just components. If you want to truly maximize your revenue you must optimize across all aspects of your anesthesia billing process.

Billing services are more than just codes, claims, and fees. It’s a complicated intersection of medical codes, financial expertise, and legalities.

It sounds simple, but anesthesia billing is extremely complicated. Some people choose to handle their billing in house, but if you want to ensure you receive complete payment on every claim, we recommend outsourcing to an expert who understands everything it takes to complete effective anesthesiologist billing services.

Why You Need Expert Anesthesiologist Billing Services

While there are many billing companies available, many just settle with providing average service – especially if they don’t have anesthesia-specific expertise. After all, payment is payment and if your billing company collects what you expect then why would they put in the extra effort that is required to collect complete payment?

You may be used to average service – so what does a good partner look like? Here are the things you should look for when searching for your next an anesthesiologist billing services partner:

• A proven track record: You need someone who’s been in this space long enough to understand all the tricky nuances associated with your specialty. Since a lot of regulations have changed over the years, you would want to work with someone who knows all the ins and outs through practical experience.
• Hires the best coders: You need to work with a billing service that takes your business seriously. Make sure they have qualified and certified coders under their wings and that these coders have the anesthesia-specific expertise you need.
• Covers comprehensive services: Billing and coding is just one part of your business. To truly make a wide impact and optimize your practice, look for a partner that can offer you comprehensive practice management services too.
• Specialization is key: There are many great billing services out there, but there is only a handful truly specialize in anesthesia billing.

Lower Fees Aren’t Always a True “Discount”

Besides the things mentioned above, you should also consider how much your anesthesia biller is charging and what those costs are getting you.

One of the common mistakes practitioners make is going for cheaper services – with anesthesia billing you often get what you pay for. This looks good in the books initially, as the less money you pay for billing the more you can put in your pocket. However, when you dive deeper going with cheaper services typically costs you more money in the long run.

Lower fees don’t necessarily mean more money for you.

Most anesthesiologist billing services are paid based on a percentage of revenue collected. In other words, your biller is getting a portion of whatever they collect for you. Unfortunately, this method incentivizes your billing provider to just collect the easy money and move forward. Although fees are lower by 1%-2%, you still lose 5%-15% of your potential revenue because they just collect the easy money and don’t worry about the rest.

Comprehensive Reconciliation Process

Taking a generic medical billing approach, like what most other billing services use, will not yield to maximum collections.

To ensure maximum collections you want to make sure your anesthesiologist billing services have a relentless reconciliation process:

1. Anesthesiology services are performed.
2. The anesthesiologist submits the notes (handwritten or electronic) to the biller.
3. Certified coders translate notes to complete the forms required by payors.
4. Clean claims are submitted to the insurance company for payment.
5. Claims are tracked to make sure payment is received within contracted timeframes.
6. When payments are received, they are compared to a database of agreed-upon rates specific to your anesthesia contracts.
7. If the payment is below the contracted amount, then follow-up and reconciliation begin.

The problem is, lots of medical billers simply don’t complete steps 5 through 7 – they take whatever initial payment is received and move on.

You Deserve Comprehensive Services

Of course, billing and reconciliation is just one component to running a successful independent anesthesia practice. You should look for anesthesiologist billing services a comprehensive approach to all your needs.

Anesthesiologist billing and practice management services should include:

• Billing and Revenue Cycle management
• Practice Management
• Accounting and Payroll
• Bookkeeping
• Compliance Services
• Insurance Contract Negotiation
• Stipend Negotiation
• Provide useful information for transparency

Looking for an Anesthesiologist Billing Services Provider?

Fusion Anesthesia has been working specifically with anesthesia professionals for over 45 years. We provide billing, accounting, and business consulting services in a comprehensive package to provide a holistic approach to your anesthesiologist billing needs.

Our expertise, specialization, and advanced billing software allows us to help our clients collect 5%-15% more of what they would normally get from other anesthesiologist billing services.