Providing high quality, yet cost effective, wound care service remains a challenge that physicians across the U.S. are trying to overcome. The increased interest by the Joint Commission and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has led to its becoming a specialized service that is evaluated according to strict measurements.
With the changing emphasis on value based services, healthcare providers are forced to take on stringent procedures to meet the financial demands of running a practice without imposing on their patients' right to quality healthcare. The fact that not all wound care services are covered by insurance poses additional difficulties in generating in-house revenue. Considering that a large percentage of revenue comes from wound care, it is only natural that specialized knowledge of coding is a must. For this reason, more and more physicians are opting to outsource their billing process to companies that specialize in these services.
Wound care service in service in Florida
Healthcare in the U.S. is varied across the states, with each facing their own unique challenges. The growing population of elderly citizens (65 years and above) in Florida means that many physicians are having to deal with patients under the Florida Medicaid Institutional Care Program (ICP). Most of the senior patients brought in for wound care service are either fighting a chronic illness or are disabled, causing them to require extensive therapy. In order to keep up a steady in-house revenue, healthcare providers need to be extra vigilant about accurate billing procedures and complying with legal guidelines. Obviously, this helps avoid the negative legal repercussions as well.
Increasing in-house revenue by outsourcing
The biggest advantage that specialized support services bring to a healthcare organization is their ability to enable the organization to exceed its goals, in terms of both providing quality care and reaching financial stability. Outsourcing wound care billing services to a certified company can help a healthcare practitioner to strategically meet goals while saving time and resources to ensure the provision of quality healthcare to patients.
It is important to recognize that wound care billing is as extensive as wound care management is. Considering that wound care service includes controlling nutritional issues, chronic illness, co-morbid conditions, and any other procedures related to the wound, expert wound care billing is also very comprehensive. A competent medical coding and billing service ensures that the patient's medical record is reviewed thoroughly and includes pertinent information such as the dimensions of the wound, procedures taken to manage the wound, details of the initial and follow up visits, and photographs of the wound. If the presence of a chronic disease such as ulcers or diabetes aggravates the wound so that it calls for additional therapy, it is mentioned too.
For physicians in Florida, it makes sense to outsource their wound care billing services. The knowledge that Florida has the highest population of elderly citizens in the U.S., along with recent health reforms, and the understanding that wound care service generates the largest percentage of income in healthcare service all indicate that coding and billing procedures must be handled by the experts.