Watch out for this guy.
You’re buying software not a car. If a consultant (aka “salesman”) is needed to figure out how it works, maybe it should go back to the drawing board and be more intuitively designed.
A lot of so-called “consultants” have been crawling out of the woodwork recently spewing out advice on EMR and billing software and services, mainly for the purpose of ripping you off with their systems. Our industry is ripe for the picking and many are cashing in on our ignorance and fear. Many PT/OT’s are paying way too much only to find themselves with headache and frustration. Remember, all you are doing is scheduling, creating a bill, making notes and applying payments. That’s it! Not rocket science…you should not have to pay rocket prices. All the “bells and whistles” only complicate a very simple set of tasks needing to be accomplished.
I want to shed some light on the grave issues at hand.
I hope to prevent you from potential costly mistakes. Who am I, you might ask? Let me qualify myself a little…
- Ive used about 5 different systems in my practices over the past 15 years in private practice.
- I’ve demo’d over 40 systems.
- I am a coach to over 2000 PT’s worldwide and have been privy to all the glitches and headaches associated with all the main softwares.
- Im also one of only a few PTs who serve as an expert witness and consult on documentation audits and billing cases.
- I consult software developers on metrics, security, pathways and protocols for $10k-$20k depending on their needs.
- Here’s my LinkedIN profile
Most of the EMR and billing softwares out there are inadequate but some are less inadequate then others depending on your personal situation. How many claims do you generate per month on average? Do you get good aging reports every two weeks? Do you have other apps that get some of the job done quickly and easily? What’s your accounts receivable (A/R) percentage each month?
If your current system of scheduling, billing, and documentation is bad then ANYTHING will be better.
But if your current system is not that bad (and doesn’t really need “fixing”) then theres an 80% chance that if you try to change, you will be met with frustration and regret.
Be wary of…
- Bells and whistles. Keep it simple.
- PQRS: Don’t waste your time. The time, energy and money you expend on it isn’t worth it. Pay the fine and you still make out way better than falling into the “Medicare Trap”. While the rest of the world is fed up with medicare rules and regs, cuts in reimbursement, refund requests, RAC audits…and opting out, why would you want to pay more per month on bells and whistles for something that doesn’t add to your bottom line but takes from it?
- G-Codes and C-Modifiers: It’s not that hard. Even if you do everything correctly, there’s nothing you can do if your claim is the one that happens to pass through the “Cut” list anyways. Just rebill it and it will get paid. Medicare is trying to hold on to their money longer and stay afloat so it’s likely they will not pay if they don’t want to anyways. It’s a game, don’t fall into it.
- No download of all your data: If you can’t take your data with you, don’t use that software. It’s software. They should be able to give you your data so you can take it and run when wanting.
- Paying more than $100 per provider or $500 per month: That’s ridiculous. Software is software and we are talking about cyberspace after all. It shouldn’t be that expensive; It’s really not that expensive. If the company is spending a ton of money on advertising and hiring copywriters and other people acting like an advertising agency, that drives up their expenses, which you in turn are paying for. Don’t get caught up with the hype. All you are wanting (and needing) is to schedule a patient, generate a bill, make a note, and log payments. Please…
- Contracts: Never get yourself caught into one. A software company should keep you as a customer on the merits of a good product at a good value with good services. Not with a ball-n-chain.
- Billing services charging more than 4% of Gross Receipts: All you are paying for mainly is data entry. It’s not that highly skilled. What gets me is that in some cases you, the customer, are the ones putting in the data for them…then what are you paying them for? Now, I know that some services offer appeals and collections and patient invoicing, but once again…not rocket science. You shouldn’t pay more than 4%.
VERY IMPORTANT: When you pay 5% of gross receipts, you are in essence giving away over 15% ownership of your business. How’s that? Well, let’s say your practice operates at a 33% profit margin. That means you as the owner gets 33% of gross. Someone who gets 5% of gross translates into over 15% owner or stake in your company. Do not be deceived. Do not give your business away.
- Do not pay a percentage to a billing service for cash services directly paid to you: If they don’t do any work, why should they get a portion of the money? If no claims are generated, no collection or appealing efforts have been provided, why should they get a portion of the money? It’s beyond me. A notorious offender of this rip-off scam is a company with five letters in their name. Beware.
Remember…all you are trying to do is schedule patients, create a bill, make a note, log payments. It’s not rocket science.
Life is short, start success today.
Comments
13 responses to “Are You Being Scammed By Your Billing Software, Service, or EMR?”
Which Billing/EMR services do you recommend?
Hi Thomas, good question. In order to answer it though, I need to qualify the question in order to point you in the right direction, I need to know the following:
1) Services you provide: PT OT SLP, etc.
2) How many licensed providers?
3) How many claims, or sessions, you complete per month.
Believe it or not, some options are better than others based on your answers to the above. Here are several more questions to further narrow it down for you.
4) Do you want to bill in-house or outsource it?
5) Do you have strong collections dept? Meaning, do you have a low accounts receivables right now or alot? A low would be less than $10k, high would be more than $30k (that is collectable).
6) Also, are you looking for someone to offer you billing services or will you do it yourself in-house? There are several ways to accomplish something.
7) Are you looking for billing, scheduling, and documentation altogether under one roof or which ones only?
8) Do you want a local software to use or cloud version?
If you have any difficulty answering any of these questions, let me know. But in order to help you, these specifics can narrow down your options quite a bit. There are over 400 options out there, only a pool of 20 that I would recommend. Every one will negotiate (they won’t publicize it but they will).
Thanks for the response! Here are my answers to your questions….I sure hope Clinicient is on your list because that is what we are currently in the process of switching over too. Right now we use PTOS
1. Speech, PT, OT
2. 4 full-time licensed providers, 1 part-time
3. plus or minus 1,000 sessions a month
4. Bill in-house
5. I would say that we have a fairly strong collections department. We average about 95% collections of our allowed. We do have much higher than 30K but large amount due to Attorney and Litigation cases
6. looking to keep it In-house
7.looking for billing, scheduling, and documentation. We are currently on paper documentation
8. would like it to be cloud based.
I
James,
Can I also get a recommendation? The answers for our office are below.
1) PT only
2) 1 PT, 1 PTA and we’ll possibly hire 1 more PT next year
3) About 300 claims per month
4) At the moment we are outsourcing our billing, but we would like to bring it in-house as soon as possible.
5) We have a high accounts receivable.
6) We would like to do it ourselves in-house.
7), I am looking for billing, scheduling and documentation altogether.
8) I prefer a cloud version, only because we would like to view the schedule from our phone, iPad or laptop whenever we need.
Thank you!
James,
Can you recommend some good EMR system?
Thank you,
~ Greg
James,
Thank you for the great info on billing. We have two outpatient PT locations with total 3 PTs/1PTA. We do have in-house biller (part time). Good collection system/process (low AR). Currently using a ‘practice management system’ for scheduling/billing for last 6 years (not cloud based). Still doing paper documentation waiting for a more efficient EMR to come by, that improves the documentation efficiency, not other way around as many programs are doing.
I would appreciate some recommendations from you for a good, efficient EMR/billing system.
Raj
James,
Thank you for all the great information!
Talking of EMR/Billing system, we have 3 PTs/1PTA and two locations (outpatinet PT). Currently using a practice management software for scheduling and billing only. Its documentation is not good at all. So we are still using paper. We are looking for something where things such as charge entry & auto payment posting can be by any staff member, and manual posting plus collections & follow ups can be handled by a designated billing person.
Is there any system out there that you recommend, that can save us time in documentation and billing?
Raj
Check out QuickEMR
Hi James,
What would you recommed for a small Clinic.
1. PT
2. One Physical Therapist
3. Currently About 80 Insurance visits and some cash visits per month.
4. Currently using strataPT EMR which includes billing, collection and invoicing service at 8% or $150 per month whichever is greater. I would love to bill inhouse
5. Over 90-95% collection of altówek amount
6. Looking for EMR and billing software which is compliant with ins industry and easy to use
Tks. For your advice
Kris
James–
Looking for your wisdom–I currently use WebPT—
I have 3 small clinics, 1 Full time PT in each clnic, 2. up to 750 visits at this time/month, 3. We are billing in house through Kareo, with high accnts receivable, mostly 30-60 days out……Would love a cheaper, but adequate EMR, scheduing and billing all in one to keep things streamlined and simple.
Thanks for your help….
Dean
you can email me at dean@volkpt.com
James,
We have 3 PTs/1PTA and two locations (outpatint PT). Currently using a practice management software’s scheduling and billing only. It bills out via an e-file that goes to a clearinghouse. However, documentation is not good at all. So we are still using paper. Looking for an efficient yet cost effective program that can provide a simple integration of documentation, daily charge entry, billing out and payment posting that can be done by any staff member. That way the biller can focus more on collections & follow ups.
Are there any system(s) that you know of, we can use with our size and needs? Thank you in advance.
You can email me at rpro977@gmail.com