Efficient neurosurgery billing and revenue cycle management (RCM) processes are essential for smooth medical practice operations. Just as each medical specialty requires unique training, each specialty has unique RCM challenges. Navigating these obstacles can be a massive undertaking for in-house teams. However, independent practices can optimize RCM, overcome challenges, and improve patient care by finding the right neurosurgery billing experts with specialty-specific expertise.
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Neurosurgery Billing Challenges
Practice Reimbursement
Working with payers to receive reimbursement is critical to cash flow and must be done effectively and efficiently to keep practices running. Unfortunately, constantly changing billing practices make this entire process increasingly complicated. Each payer has their own set of coding requirements, policies, and fee schedules. Managing this web of requirements and ensuring data accuracy in claim submissions takes a lot of resources, especially when even a single letter or number typo can cause delays and incorrect payments. Neurosurgery practices must invest heavily in their staff and software to even attempt to get a handle on this significant administrative burden.
Prior Authorizations
Managing the prior authorization process is another common challenge within neurosurgery billing. While this process occurs before procedures are completed and billed, it’s not uncommon for administrative staff at small and medium-sized practices to be responsible for both prior authorizations and billing. In the end, delays and errors in handling prior authorizations can lead to denied claims and payments. Busy neurosurgery practices, again, must invest significant resources into managing and tracking prior authorizations.
Billing Requirements
While neurosurgery practices face headaches dealing with reimbursement and prior authorizations, both processes' requirements are constantly changing and evolving. Practices must not only comply with ongoing updates from payers, but they must also navigate the maze of changing healthcare regulations. Neurosurgery billing teams would ideally have dedicated personnel or systems to monitor and implement these changes; however, for many, just attempting to keep up with all other administrative tasks is already a significant burden. Failing to meet these requirements can result in delayed payment or fines, which impact cash flows.
While dealing with evolving requirements, managing prior authorizations, and navigating reimbursement are all critical components of neurosurgery billing, not having adequate resources to handle it ultimately impacts patient care.
It’s Time Find a Specialty Neurosurgery Billing and RCM Partner
Accurate and efficient neurosurgery billing starts well before a bill is sent—it starts at the beginning of the patient experience. From the very first moment a patient is scheduled, the practice must be ready to verify insurance, complete prior authorizations, and ensure accurate data capture. While all practices intend to do this, handling these tasks in-house can be overwhelming. That’s why finding an expert neurosurgery billing and RCM partner is key.
Ideally, we recommend finding not just a billing expert but a partner who has experience in the billing and RCM requirements for your specific specialty. The right partner will be able to provide you with additional neuro-specific insights that not only keep billing operations running smoothly but also help improve them. Your partner will have the dedicated resources, making them significantly more equipped to stay current on all the latest requirements and invest in robust technology platforms so you don’t have to.
Finding the right neurosurgery billing and RCM expert is key to overcoming the challenges associated with medical billing. The right team will not only ensure operations are running but also help improve them to strengthen the financial health of your practice.
What to Look for in a Neurosurgery Billing and RCM Provider
Keep in mind that not all neurosurgery RCM providers are created equal. The team you partner with should be able to provide custom financial advice and plans based on the operations currently in place at your practice and on neurosurgery-specific expertise. They should be able to provide you with comprehensive consulting services that include business operations and planning, as that all impacts cash flow and revenue.
Choosing the wrong partner could cost you more time, money, and resources. At the bare minimum, we recommend finding a neurosurgery billing partner who fully integrates with your practice with:
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Dashboards and ongoing reporting that give you a comprehensive view of the financial aspects of your practice. These dashboards should allow you to get quick insights into your finances without asking someone for clarification. At a minimum, your reports should include real-time data, claims tracking (including denials and rejections), and data visualizations.
- Insights and recommendations to make practice improvements. Your trusted neurosurgery billing partner should also be able to take those real-time reports and provide you with a custom strategy designed to improve all aspects of your practice to maximize revenue.
TRIARQ Health: Your Expert Neurosurgery Billing Partner
Our neurosurgery billing and revenue cycle management services include everything above and more. We work with you to bridge the gap between cash flow and business operations by taking a comprehensive look at your practice and creating a custom strategy just for you. Our expertise with neurosurgery practices like yours gives us additional insight into what your practice needs to ensure operations run smoothly and your patients are taken care of.
We take a comprehensive look at your practice to create a custom strategy that bridges the gap between operations and cash flow to strengthen your practice’s financial health.