When compared to traditional healthcare providers, chiropractors face more issues in terms of amount and type of documentation. While an average busy chiropractor continues to deal with constraints of managed care, uneven patient retention rates and increasing regulatory demands, documentation gets affected to a great extent.
Generally, 18.9% of a typical chiropractor’s time is consumed in reporting and clinical documentation, whereas time devoted to direct patient care has decreased considerably. Implementation of HIPAA transaction standards (5010) and ICD-10 will also have an impact on documentation. Even though majority of expanded codes in ICD-10 will not be required, chiropractors will have to ensure that documentation matches the required specificity level.
Extensive details, including physical examination and complete history of patients are being demanded by insurance companies and this has made accurate documentation extremely vital for chiropractors to get paid and stand insurance audits. Only when correct patient records are maintained and submitted for claims, timely reimbursements can be made possible.
Is inaccurate documentation eating up your revenue?
With HIPAA tightening data submission requirements, documentation has become complex, impacting the cash flow generation of chiropractic practices.
- Lack of proper documentation remains the major reason behind underpayments and denied claims every year. Over the last year, 2% increase was reported in billing errors by the American Medical Association
- Claim denials are rising due to inaccurate documentation and approximately $1.5 billion has been spent in correction and re-filing of these claims
- A significant number of claims are also denied due to missing provider signature on the documentation submitted
How chiropractors can boost their income?
Inaccurate documentation affects chiropractic billing and coding because a service cannot be coded or billed if it is not well-documented. Only error-free documentation of services can make chiropractic billing easier and ensure timely payments. Chiropractors should avoid the common documentation errors by:
- Checking insurance details of the patient properly regarding eligibility and coverage
- Using modifiers in an efficient manner to understand treatment and incidental services
- Ensuring that correct codes are entered for treatment as well as incidental services
- Remembering to sign the document before claim submission
- Making sure that secrecy of patient history is maintained
At a time when chiropractors are struggling hard to balance patient care and revenue cycle management, less or no time is left to find loopholes and improve documentation. A focused team is required to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to reduce denials and boost income. Considering the lack of time and skilled staff, chiropractors are outsourcing coding and billing services to a billing partner.
Medicalbillersandcoders.com has the largest consortium of billers and coders across 50 US states, offering error-free, coding-verified documentation for chiropractic practices. The team at MBC is abreast with new payment models, codes and regulations to assist you in improving documentation process and improve cash flow. We believe in providing a robust module, including exemplary billing services and assistance in updating EHR related software to save your practice from documentation errors. Our aim is to handle the complexities of documentation and billing, help reduce denials and boost your income, while you concentrate on patient care.
