Chiropractic Billing: 5 Ways to Augment your Revenue

Care and attention needed for chiropractic billing

Billing in the Chiropractic billing specialty needs a lot of careful attention and can be time-consuming. These services are specialized and reimbursement of claims carries several restrictions. Medicare has many restrictions and commercial payors may have a lesser number. Documentation of medical necessity is critical to get claims paid. Most importantly, payors will reimburse only treatment of the spine by manual manipulation to correct a subluxation of one of the vertebral joints.

Even with restrictions laid out by payors, there are ways to augment your practice’s revenue.

Keeping patients informed and collecting co-pays:

Patients now have to face higher deductibles and co-pays. However, they are not knowledgeable about their insurance plans-the benefits they are entitled to, coverage limitations, and their financial responsibilities. It is therefore prudent to educate the patient about their financial responsibility before the visit. Patients should be educated about the costs involved with chiropractic care, their insurance coverage, and their financial responsibilities. Hence office staff must be trained to communicate with patients about billing information.

Importantly, your practice should have a financial policy in place. It will streamline the process of collecting cash from patients at the time of visit. Patients can also be offered flexible payment options as well as different modes of payment.

Insurance eligibility verification:

A successful billing cycle starts at the front office. Specifically, front office staff should verify insurance eligibility before every visit to determine the financial responsibility of the patient. Payors offer insurance plans with different deductible and co-pay options. Hence, carrying out eligibility verification before every visit ensures that both patient and provider are aware of the patient's financial responsibility. Certainly, recording accurate insurance and demographic details goes a long way in the submission of clean claims.

Monitor your accounts receivables:

Account Receivables Days or AR Days point out the time taken to get reimbursed on a claim. Hence AR Day is a crucial indicator of the financial health of a practice. To keep AR days as low as possible (a) submit claims daily (b) maintain separate accounts receivables for payors and patients ( c) collect co-pays at the time of visit with payment options (d) effective denial management (e) no delay in payment posting (f) constant communication wi