Guest guest Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Greetings, Just getting the chance to catch up on my emails. I use AC for charting. I use Medrium for my billing. My wife does my billing for me. Inputting the data into Medrium. Since we input the data, we pay about 75 cents a claim. We don't send claims for self pay patients and so Medrium doesn't get any money for this. This is not a percentage fee. But if I were to break it down into a percentage it would be less than 1%. We have been with Medrium since Feb 04 when we opened. There was a learning curve, and some rough spots, but overall we are pleased with their service. My wife would like to save the 75 cents and do all the billing electronically from home, if we could ever figure out how to do that. However, I like the secondary and tertiary checks that are done to make sure the claims are correct. We have no financial stake in Medrium. We just like paying less than 1% for our billing, and essentially doing the billing ourselves. At my last solo practice, I used a local billing service that cost 7% of total revenue. All revenue recieved had to be sent to them for deposits, which they handled. This way they saw the total revenue of the company. My experience with them was much less than good. As a new practice with few patients, I was often given the newest billers on my account, since 7% of my income was so much less than their established practices, I often got other short thrift as well. My AR was also abysmal, IMO, at only about 60%. I can charge whatever I want, I can see as many patients as I want, but if my biller doesn't do his job, I don't get paid. PHONE CALLS: I find this to be the one draw back to the minimalist approach. I initially tried to take phone calls myself at the office. This didn't work for me. Fortunately, I have an easy solution in my situation. My wife works from the house running two companies of her own. We already had 6 phone lines at home. I commandeered one of them. My office phone is permanently forwarded to this house line. My wife, or the lady working for her answer my phones. If it is something I need to know but not urgent they instant message me (I like and have used ICQ for about 5-6 years now). If it is something urgent, they call me on my second line at the office. I currently employ my wife as a part time employee for insurance benefits. I do not directly pay her employee (who is also a close friend), as 1) she likes helping with my office, and 2) my income helps offset our expenses, making it easier to keep her employed during my wife's business slow times. Credit Cards I don't accept credit cards, and don't plan to. PS: hang in there. We opened about the same time. I am up to 215 patients. PPS: aren't ya'll glad I don't read my email more often, otherwise you'd have even more books to wade through Have a great day. TAS -----Original Message-----From: Graham, M.D. Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 9:26 AMTo: Subject: Billing with ACDoes anyone out there use Amazing Charts Billing? I like the 5% optionwhich has no start-up fee, on-line insurance eligibility check, and a1-800 number for patients to call if they have any questions. What Idon't like is that they take 5% of EVERYTHING...including copays andself-pays.Since I'm just starting up, I thought I'd try it out since it seems likeit would be the simplest (no double-data entry).Any thoughts?- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 in addition ac prices have risen to 6% for billingi appreciated your post geord > Greetings, > > Just getting the chance to catch up on my emails. > > I use AC for charting. I use Medrium for my billing. My wife does my > billing for me. Inputting the data into Medrium. Since we input the > data, we pay about 75 cents a claim. We don't send claims for self pay > patients and so Medrium doesn't get any money for this. This is not a > percentage fee. But if I were to break it down into a percentage it > would be less than 1%. We have been with Medrium since Feb 04 when we > opened. There was a learning curve, and some rough spots, but overall > we are pleased with their service. My wife would like to save the 75 > cents and do all the billing electronically from home, if we could ever > figure out how to do that. However, I like the secondary and tertiary > checks that are done to make sure the claims are correct. > > We have no financial stake in Medrium. We just like paying less than 1% > for our billing, and essentially doing the billing ourselves. > > At my last solo practice, I used a local billing service that cost 7% of > total revenue. All revenue recieved had to be sent to them for > deposits, which they handled. This way they saw the total revenue of > the company. My experience with them was much less than good. As a new > practice with few patients, I was often given the newest billers on my > account, since 7% of my income was so much less than their established > practices, I often got other short thrift as well. My AR was also > abysmal, IMO, at only about 60%. > > I can charge whatever I want, I can see as many patients as I want, but > if my biller doesn't do his job, I don't get paid. > > > PHONE CALLS: > > I find this to be the one draw back to the minimalist approach. I > initially tried to take phone calls myself at the office. This didn't > work for me. Fortunately, I have an easy solution in my situation. My > wife works from the house running two companies of her own. We already > had 6 phone lines at home. I commandeered one of them. My office phone > is permanently forwarded to this house line. My wife, or the lady > working for her answer my phones. If it is something I need to know but > not urgent they instant message me (I like and have used ICQ for about > 5-6 years now). If it is something urgent, they call me on my second > line at the office. I currently employ my wife as a part time employee > for insurance benefits. I do not directly pay her employee (who is also > a close friend), as 1) she likes helping with my office, and 2) my > income helps offset our expenses, making it easier to keep her employed > during my wife's business slow times. > > Credit Cards > > I don't accept credit cards, and don't plan to. > > PS: hang in there. We opened about the same time. I am up to 215 > patients. > > PPS: aren't ya'll glad I don't read my email more often, otherwise > you'd have even more books to wade through > > Have a great day. > > TAS > Billing with AC > > > > Does anyone out there use Amazing Charts Billing? I like the 5% > option which has no start-up fee, on-line insurance eligibility check, > and a 1-800 number for patients to call if they have any questions. > What I don't like is that they take 5% of EVERYTHING...including > copays and self-pays. > > Since I'm just starting up, I thought I'd try it out since it seems > like it would be the simplest (no double-data entry). > > Any thoughts? > - > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Really? I just signed up for 5%...after seeing your note I checked the website, but I still see the usual prices: 4% with $1000 setup fee 5% with no setup fee and free insurance eligibility checking 6% with paper reports by snail mail > in addition ac prices have risen to 6% for billingi appreciated your > post geord > >> Greetings, >> >> Just getting the chance to catch up on my emails. >> >> I use AC for charting. I use Medrium for my billing. My wife does my >> billing for me. Inputting the data into Medrium. Since we input the >> data, we pay about 75 cents a claim. We don't send claims for self >> pay patients and so Medrium doesn't get any money for this. This is >> not a percentage fee. But if I were to break it down into a >> percentage it would be less than 1%. We have been with Medrium since >> Feb 04 when we opened. There was a learning curve, and some rough >> spots, but overall we are pleased with their service. My wife would >> like to save the 75 cents and do all the billing electronically from >> home, if we could ever figure out how to do that. However, I like the >> secondary and tertiary checks that are done to make sure the claims >> are correct. >> >> We have no financial stake in Medrium. We just like paying less than >> 1% for our billing, and essentially doing the billing ourselves. >> >> At my last solo practice, I used a local billing service that cost 7% >> of total revenue. All revenue recieved had to be sent to them for >> deposits, which they handled. This way they saw the total revenue of >> the company. My experience with them was much less than good. As a >> new practice with few patients, I was often given the newest billers >> on my account, since 7% of my income was so much less than their >> established practices, I often got other short thrift as well. My AR >> was also abysmal, IMO, at only about 60%. >> >> I can charge whatever I want, I can see as many patients as I want, >> but if my biller doesn't do his job, I don't get paid. >> >> >> PHONE CALLS: >> >> I find this to be the one draw back to the minimalist approach. I >> initially tried to take phone calls myself at the office. This didn't >> work for me. Fortunately, I have an easy solution in my situation. My >> wife works from the house running two companies of her own. We >> already had 6 phone lines at home. I commandeered one of them. My >> office phone is permanently forwarded to this house line. My wife, or >> the lady working for her answer my phones. If it is something I need >> to know but not urgent they instant message me (I like and have used >> ICQ for about 5-6 years now). If it is something urgent, they call me >> on my second line at the office. I currently employ my wife as a part >> time employee for insurance benefits. I do not directly pay her >> employee (who is also a close friend), as 1) she likes helping with my >> office, and 2) my income helps offset our expenses, making it easier >> to keep her employed during my wife's business slow times. >> >> Credit Cards >> >> I don't accept credit cards, and don't plan to. >> >> PS: hang in there. We opened about the same time. I am up to >> 215 patients. >> >> PPS: aren't ya'll glad I don't read my email more often, otherwise >> you'd have even more books to wade through >> >> Have a great day. >> >> TAS >> Billing with AC >> >> >> >> Does anyone out there use Amazing Charts Billing? I like the 5% >> option which has no start-up fee, on-line insurance eligibility check, >> and a 1-800 number for patients to call if they have any questions. >> What I don't like is that they take 5% of EVERYTHING...including >> copays and self-pays. >> >> Since I'm just starting up, I thought I'd try it out since it seems >> like it would be the simplest (no double-data entry). >> >> Any thoughts? >> - >> >> >> >> >> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 Thank you both and . I will look into these. There are some other aspects of medrium that we use as well. The internet access to scheduling is useful for us as my wife can make the appointments at home. The financial reports from medrium are helpful, because AC is so basic. Tim S. Re: Billing with AC I am doing all my own billing with Tkfp which is the same program Kathy Broman is using, except she is doing paper claims only and I'm using an on-line claim processing service called MDOn-line http://www.mdon-line.com They charge a one time set up fee which I got waived because it was payed by one of the plans I was signed up for as an incentive to encourage electronic billing. After that, you pay $39.95 a month for an unlimited no. of claims. The claims go via MDOn-line to the WebMD-Envoy clearinghouse. There is no separate fee for the clearinghouse. Tkfp produces a " print image " version of the HCFA1500 form, which we batch into a daily file that we submit through the internet. Their software checks your claims for gross errors and you get an immediate report on those within seconds, so you can fix and resubmit. If it passes MDOn-line's checks, it goes to the clearinghouse and you also get a web based report back on those, although it can take varying amounts of time to get the reports from the clearinghouse. The clearinghouse forwards any messages from the insurance co's back to you. Usually if everything is OK, it just aknowleges that it has received the claim and you will get the check and EOB in the mail. If there is a problem, you will get a web based report back via the clearinghouse with the explanation. So far I have not tried to bill Medicare directly with Tkfp, although I can produce the new required X12 837 HIPAA claim format. MDOn-line has another set up where you can basically fill out a HCFA1500 form on their web site and submit the claim that way. They have another one where you run their software on your computer and submit the claims to them via modem (not internet). The set up I'm using was designed to work with programs that can already produce valid claim forms like Tkfp. I have no financial interest in MDOn-line. I have no financial interest in Tkfp either, except my wife thinks I have wasted the last 7 years of my life on it, I have never made a dime off it and have been giving it away for free. But finally I am using it to put food on the table, so maybe it was worth it! Caldwell M.D. Tulare, CA USA > Like Tim, I am using Medrium for billing. I just started using them > about 1 month ago, and have been very pleased with their service and > (relative) ease of use. They charge 75 cents a claim or a minimum of > $25/month. That works out to about 33 claims a month, which I don't > have yet, but even at $25/month I only need to bill $500 for it to cost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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