February is American Hearth Month.

Five Tips to Reduce the Stress of Your Billing Process.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), half of all Americans have at least one of the top three risk factors for heart disease: high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.  Other conditions and behaviors that may impact your risk of heart disease include obesity, diabetes, physical inactivity and unhealthy eating patterns.

Additionally, the American Heart Association (AHA) has great tips to help manage stress.  One of the simplest suggestions is to go for a walk even if it is down the hall to the restroom.  Take a moment to pause for one full minute of deep breathing.  There is an app on your phone or smart watch that will at least time you, if not walk you through the full minute.  One minute of deep breathing really does go a long way.

After your walk you are back at your desk, sitting or standing, and the stress has returned because your hospital has told you they are tired of patient complaints about your billing department.  Next, you check your bank account and there weren’t any deposits made by your billing company yesterday.  What?

By following these five steps, not only will you improve the quality of your billing process, but also can reduce your anxiety and concern, which in turn will likely improve your overall heart health.

• Tip 1: Ensure your billing company is capturing and billing for every dictated and finalized report.
• Tip 2: Validate receipts from insurance companies match your signed contracts.
• Tip 3: Review a sample of reports for proper ICD-10, CPT, HCPCS, Modifier and QPP (Quality Payment Program) assignment.
• Tip 4: Analyze and scrutinize your denied claims report and recovered receipts from those denied claims.
• Tip 5: Be a secret shopper by calling the patient contact number for your billing company to see how long before someone assists you and how you were treated.

While you may be thinking that your heart rate and stress just went up by reviewing the above list, quality billing companies will already be performing these steps and welcome you as a secret shopper.  However, if these steps are increasing your blood pressure, you probably already know you have an issue and should seriously consider taking a closer look.

Another great tip to managing stress from the AHA is #7 on their ‘Top 10 Emergency Stress-Stoppers’ which is to break down big problems into smaller parts.  Take one step at a time instead of trying to tackle everything at once.  This is a great time to do that.  Pick one tip from the list above and focus on that area.  You now realize you have at least a concern if not an issue and by choosing one item and taking action, you are moving towards gaining more knowledge.  The knowledge you gain will allow you to make an informed decision for next steps instead of keeping it as long term stress, because Chronic Stress Can Cause Heart Trouble according to the AHA.

You may not be sure where to start, how to start or even how to gather the information.  Again, take a deep breath, go for a short walk, then give us a call at 800-892-3436 or send an email to billingexperts@healthpromedical.com.  We will be happy to help walk you through.