The Top 5 Reasons for Medical Billing Denials and How to Prevent Them
Manual errors, input omissions, and timing concerns could be instigating more denials than you realize. Keep an eye on these collective reasons for insurance denials to see if you can constrict your billing approach and reduce your rate of medical billing denials.
Denials fall into two distinct buckets: soft and hard. Hard denials cannot be corrected or reversed and result in written-off or lost revenue. Soft denials are provisional denials with the potential to be reimbursed if the provider amends the claim or sends further information. Furthermore, here are the top 5 explanations for medical billing and coding services denials, as reported by the 2013 American Medical Association National Health Insurer Report Card.
YES HIM Consulting’s Subject-Matter-Experts can help your organization recover payments from denied claims and raise your DNFB benchmark with our denials remediation solutions. Contact our team today.
Missing Data
Leaving just one required field on a claim form blank can elicit a denial. Technical and demographic errors, which could be a missing modifier, no Social Security number, or the wrong plan code, cause an immediate 61% of initial medical billing denials and explain 42% of denial write-offs.
Already Resolved Service
This blunder occurs when benefits for a certain service are encompassed in the allowance/payment for another procedure or service that has already been adjudicated.
Duplicate Service or Claim
Duplicates, which are entitlements resubmitted for a single encounter by the same provider on the same date for the same beneficiary for the identical service item, are among the leading reasons for Medicare Part B claim denials (reaching a cumulative 32%).
Not Insured by the Payer
Medical billing denials for procedures not provided under patients’ current benefit plans can be prevented by checking details in the insurance eligibility response or calling the insurer before delivering services.
Expiration of Filing Limit
Of course, most payers necessitate medical claims submissions within a specific number of days of service. This comprises of the time it takes to process rejections, whether it was automated review (system edits to check for inappropriate coding or other errors) or complex (licensed medical specialists determining if the service was covered and was necessary and reasonable). Correcting inpatient medical coding faults, which account for 81% of complex claim denials, cause delays that push medical billing away from the deadline. Workflow practices need to alert staff when medical claims reach the time limit.
While developing denied medical billing claims after the fact is a crucial constituent of revenue cycle management, depending on this alone can disrupt cash flow to dangerous levels. As a much sounder financial tactic to avoid denials, top medical coding companies in USA proactively measure the causes and volume of denied medical billing claims.
Preventing the Medical Billing Claim Denials – Useful Insights
Adding more people to the healthcare claims denial management team won’t inevitably help prevent or reduce denials. Unless they know what to focus on. The following medical coding solutions should be part of any sound denials management strategy:
Quantify and Categorize Denials
By measuring, tracking, and reporting trends by department, doctor, procedure, and payer. Analytics and technology and are essential to consistent business intelligence. However, they are well worth the investment and time.
Improve Patient Data Quality
At admission, this is the source of many faults and as a result, claim rejections.
Create a Task Force
To prioritize and analyze denial trends, determine the necessary resources to implement solutions, and track and document progress.
Prevent Incorrect Assumptions
Determine the exact details for denials by reaching beyond generic coding explanations and executing root cause analyses.
Develop a Denials Prevention Mindset in all Fragments of the Revenue Cycle
Include case management, patient accounting, medical records, contracting, coding, compliance, and patient admission.
Improve Claims Management Software
To guarantee edits are functioning, current and refining your clean claims rate. Your vendor needs to provide clean claims rate data frequently and tips to improve it tailored to your organization.
Use Automated Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics flag possible denials and address them before submission of claims.
Collaborate with Payers
In essence, to eradicate contract requirements that frequently result in denials overturned on appeal. In summary, data analytics can help recognize trouble spots and sustain negotiations.
Efficient And Cost-Effective Denials Management
Many organizations lack the staff and technology to manage medical billing denials and raise the DNFB benchmark successfully. Especially in light of continually changing regulations and payer guidelines. Outsourcing revenue cycle management to companies that provide medical coding consulting services like YES HIM Consulting, who have skilled denials management teams can be a sustainable, profitable alternative. We can help you attain medical billing benchmarks and DNFB benchmarks. Our experts decrease backlogs, recognize the root causes of denials, and expand your revenue cycle team.
If you’re interested in learning more about ED Denials in general, enroll in our CPT ED Denials Overview course, which dives into several examples of and solutions for denials. The course reviews common acronyms, ANSI codes and definitions, appeal versus rebill, and modifiers and medical necessity.
