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The Evolution of Medical Billing Technology

The Evolution of Medical Billing Technology

The ever-evolving coding and billing regulations and processes are impacting the future of medical billing services in the USA. Most recently, the major paradigm shifts in the medical care industry have altered the epitomes of medical billing forever. The evolution of medical billing technology is pivoting the technological advancements. These include telehealth, AI-based intakes, mail-order diagnostic tests, and smartphone apps for providing care. These technologies will continue to expand and become more integral to healthcare care and billing processes.

Medical Billing Technology and the Current Outlook of the Healthcare Industry

 The healthcare system is constantly evolving and should match technology’s speed. It is essential to address patient needs effectively and to stay competitive. Recently, the healthcare industry has been facing numerous challenges, including the following:

  1. Increasing healthcare costs
  2. Shortage of patient-specific care and treatments
  3. Disorganized billing processes

     

These challenges present similar solutions in the form of modern medical billing technology. Implementing and adapting these technological solutions is imperative to the growth of your practice revenue. The process of technological advancements for physicians billing services includes the incorporation of modern equipment in addition to digital transformations via innovative systems and software.

Digital Technology for Healthcare

The incorporation of medical billing technology in addition to healthcare digital technology has significantly improved various processes for healthcare practices. These include the following:

  1. Data Collection
  2. Healthcare Coding
  3. Medical Billing Services
  4. Remote Patient Monitoring
  5. Healthcare Compliance   
  6. Early Diagnoses
  7. Timely Treatments

     

The top advantage of leveraging medical billing technology is streamlining each function. Technology usage in billing saves time, drastically reduces mechanical paperwork, and reduces the probability of errors, all of which positively affect the medical billing and care process.

Significance of a Medical Practice in the Healthcare Industry

Medical practices like clinics, hospitals, or physician practices are responsible for offering appropriate healthcare services to patients. This is in addition to managing finances, paying the healthcare providers’ salaries, and controlling treatment costs. Controlling treatment costs includes procedural treatments, supplies, and payment of overheads.

Medical Coding

Healthcare coding involves taking a patient’s treatment and diagnostics notes and translating them into correct alphanumeric codes. These codes are crucial for accurate medical billing and record keeping. The varying types of codes include the following:

  1. CPT Codes (Current Procedural Codes)
  2. ICT Codes (International Classification of Disease Codes )
  3. HCPCS Codes

Medical Billing Services

After completing coding procedures, the patients’ claims or invoices generation begins. These bills are based on coding and sent to insurance companies for payments – this process is called medical billing. Insurance companies will either approve or deny payments based on the codes. It is important to note that any medical services/treatment not falling under a patient’s insurance plan will be directly sent to the patient for payment. Furthermore, the billing process starts when a patient books an appointment with a medical practitioner.

Use of Medical Billing Technology – Coding and Billing Software

Until 20 years ago, medical billing and coding was performed manually. Manual coding and billing processing meant massive paperwork for coding, processing, and billing the claims. The paperwork could even increase if an insurance provider company denies payment due to billing or coding errors.
Medical billing is a complex process requiring time and resources. Take COVID-19 as an example; in times of a global pandemic, it gets increasingly difficult for healthcare practices to recruit and train professionals.
Especially professionals who are capable of handling both billing and coding tasks. It means that claims do not get filed or accurately processed, negatively affecting a practice’s revenue cycle.
The medical billing software redefines claims processing and payment collections for the healthcare industry. The best part is that software for healthcare works to streamline processes and reduce errors. This benefits medical practices, as the medical staff can solely focus on patient care.

Medical Billing Technology Advancements – EHR Software

EHRs are a valuable addition to the healthcare industry. EHRs are especially beneficial for streamlining the finances of medical practice. Furthermore, EHR software also helps maintain a complete and clear patient record in comparison to physical paperwork.

Conclusion

The healthcare industry went down deep in the surge of demand during the pandemic. The situation got even worse with the need for more trained professionals. The emerging advancements in medical billing technology present a solution for such instances of the global state of emergency. Not only do the advances in healthcare technology work effectively in hours of crisis, but these can also help streamline the healthcare system. Furthermore, patients feel secure with the effective use of medical billing technology, and satisfaction levels also increase. Additionally, the medical staff gets much more productive and offers better care services to patients.

Frequently Asked Questions

Many bigger healthcare platforms have incorporated machine learning and AI-backed CACs (computer-assisted coding systems). These systems assist in fixing code identification of mistakes and help coders with practical and live feedback.
Medical billers interact with patients daily, while coders work with patient data for assigning accurate treatment codes in medical claims and records.

The five major coding types include the following:

  1. ICD-11
  2. ICD-10-CM
  3. ICD-10-PCS
  4. CPT
  5. HCPCS Level II

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