They have come a long way.
Also WE have come a long way :)
Most of us use less paper. And mostly get electronic copies which are directly uploaded to EMR.
Check your Printer agreements. We just found out that we are paying for a lot more copies than we are using. Also some of the very small printers and scanners are a lot cheaper and much more efficient. We decided to replace our whopping big printer and buy a separate, small scanner and printer.
Will let you know whether I will regret this decision later - but just now things seem to be working out very well.
2/15/2015
I am very happy with this decision. We hardly use any paper at all now
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Leases vs Buying
When we first start our practices, we do have to lease as you do not have a lot of money.
But after you have been practicing for sometime - I have concluded that buying the equipment outright is the better thing to do
Here are my reasons
a. Peace of Mind - no long term obligations to others
b. A lease is very similar to a high interest loan. And sometimes they can be nasty. They will insist that you pay the money even after the machine breaks. And at the end of the day, the equipment belongs to them. DO NOT forget to read the small print - we just found out that we need to pay for the return of our large photocopy machine all the way from CA to MO. And it is all my fault because I did not read the small print.
Once again this is not a simple decision - it is always to ask your accountant and tax adviser what is best for your situation
But after you have been practicing for sometime - I have concluded that buying the equipment outright is the better thing to do
Here are my reasons
a. Peace of Mind - no long term obligations to others
b. A lease is very similar to a high interest loan. And sometimes they can be nasty. They will insist that you pay the money even after the machine breaks. And at the end of the day, the equipment belongs to them. DO NOT forget to read the small print - we just found out that we need to pay for the return of our large photocopy machine all the way from CA to MO. And it is all my fault because I did not read the small print.
Once again this is not a simple decision - it is always to ask your accountant and tax adviser what is best for your situation
Online Reviews / Billing companies
Most of the time these are very useful before you buy a product.
But sometimes they can be very misleading.
The best example is Kareo. An electronic billing system that has partnered with the Free EMR - Practice fusion.
We love PracticeFusion.com
However, the Kareo reviews were not that good. About 2 months ago I decided to just go ahead with Kareo the medical billing system. And we have been pleasantly surprised with the whole program.
BTW, a word of caution about informing Medicare about the change - the new application takes 20 business days. So plan to apply about 6-8 weeks IN ADVANCE to your transition. Otherwise you will not get paid by Medicare for about TWO MONTHS.
Also try to Google your own practice and your Physicians names - just to make sure that there are no misleading or inaccurate statements about your own practice. And if you do find something - do not get angry - just explain your point of view on the same review section.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Medical Billing
One of my pet peeves...
How many of you would give 5 - 8% of your earnings to your high school son for a data entry project ?
Friends, that is what YOU are doing when you ask a billing company to take care of your billing.
Long ago, this was a very complicated system. Now it boils down to simple data entry. Just spend ONE afternoon and you can figure it out. And you will save a lot of money. Hire someone to do the data entry. I KNOW you can do it.
Most of the EMR will have a billing module.
You can trnasmit these files for free
We use Kareo.com
Most insurance companies have direct deposit options - that way the money is directly deposited in your bank account. You do have to double check the amounts deposited with the EOBs. That is not hard either.
Try it.
Practice fusion - my favorite EMR :) has partnered with Kareo.com This is very cost effective as they charge a minimal monthly fee. We are not using it. So I cannot really comment on it. But I have been told that their customer service may not be as good as Practice Fusion Customer Service.
2/15/2015
We have started using Kareo.com and they are good.
How many of you would give 5 - 8% of your earnings to your high school son for a data entry project ?
Friends, that is what YOU are doing when you ask a billing company to take care of your billing.
Long ago, this was a very complicated system. Now it boils down to simple data entry. Just spend ONE afternoon and you can figure it out. And you will save a lot of money. Hire someone to do the data entry. I KNOW you can do it.
Most of the EMR will have a billing module.
You can trnasmit these files for free
We use Kareo.com
Most insurance companies have direct deposit options - that way the money is directly deposited in your bank account. You do have to double check the amounts deposited with the EOBs. That is not hard either.
Try it.
Practice fusion - my favorite EMR :) has partnered with Kareo.com This is very cost effective as they charge a minimal monthly fee. We are not using it. So I cannot really comment on it. But I have been told that their customer service may not be as good as Practice Fusion Customer Service.
2/15/2015
We have started using Kareo.com and they are good.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Business Liability Insurance
Over the years we pay for different kinds of insurances.
It is very important to spend some time writing all these down in one place. Also document the policy number and the customer service phone numbers.
This way you could decide which ones to keep and which ones to discard.
For example did you know that some malpractice insurances already cover business liability.
Also just call their customer service and see how hard / easy it is to contact them. For you may be surprized how hard it is to submit a claim.
It is very important to spend some time writing all these down in one place. Also document the policy number and the customer service phone numbers.
This way you could decide which ones to keep and which ones to discard.
For example did you know that some malpractice insurances already cover business liability.
Also just call their customer service and see how hard / easy it is to contact them. For you may be surprized how hard it is to submit a claim.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)