ASCs need more efficient billing and claims
Surgeons thrive when they get to do their best work in the OR. But nowadays, they’re spending more time in AR (accounts receivable) instead. A lot of the paperwork and administrative burden is due to the back-and-forth between surgery centers, patients, and their payers. But, by implementing a trustworthy system, surgery centers can have more efficient billing and claims.
ASCs are struggling with administrative inefficiencies
ASCs (ambulatory surgery centers), in particular, struggle to keep efficiency high when they have to:
- Get the right patient and insurance information for billing and reimbursement
- Navigate a maze of billing codes for different procedures
- Manage constant changes in payer requirements and regulations
- Deal with rejected claims and errors in processing
Denied claims or those with missing information leads to more paperwork, follow-up, and re-submissions. It can also reduce patient satisfaction if ASCs have to continue contacting them for insurance-related details or other issues.
Surgeons are frustrated with growing paperwork
Unfortunately, inefficiency in an ASC tends to pull surgeons away from their patients. Instead, they spend more time with:
- Laborious billing and coding forms
- Re-writing or fixing medical transcription errors for each case
- Verifying patient medical histories, especially if different payors need varying information
- Re-submitting documents based on different payor requirements
What makes things worse is that physicians, nursing staff, and other ASC personnel must compensate for staff shortages rampant across the industry. Balancing all these tasks can be exhausting. Many facilities need more time to train new administrative staff on multiple software and best practices in patient data collection, billing, and reimbursement filing.
It’s a snowball effect; without adequate training, there may be more errors and re-work.
The extra work on top of the rise in surgical volumes due to patient demand leaves many surgeons facing:
- Exhaustion
- Demotivation
- Burnout
Surgeon burnout is real
Since 2011, physicians in all medical fields have experienced burnout. However, it is particularly high among surgeons and surgical residents, with over 50% experiencing burnout.
Burnout can lead to:
- Lower effectiveness
- Less time for quality patient interactions
- A greater risk of committing medical errors1
- Poor communication between clinicians and other staff members
- Higher turnover
- Greater liability for the ASC if surgical decision-making is impaired
ASCs benefit when surgeons are more engaged
Improve efficiency
Helping surgeons feel more comfortable and engaged with their work at ASCs can help boost productivity, patient satisfaction, revenue, and more. After all, surgeons in ASCs value the hyper-specialized atmosphere that ASCs offer compared to hospitals. They also get to offer more input into the types of products and services they need to make their ORs efficient.
Enhance patient care and experience
Once administrative tasks are streamlined, surgeons can plan their schedules better by time-blocking their ORs and spending more time caring for their patients.
After all, ASCs have been on the rise due to the rising patient demand for them. Patients and their caregivers have greater expectations, and their experience at the surgery center matters. It is not enough that patients get their elective surgery scheduled; they must feel like the center is taking care of their needs.
Patients feel at ease when they see composed clinicians, nurses, and other staff who have the time to answer their questions and concerns. This way, ASC staff can double-check that patient data forms are complete and accurate before each surgery. This vital step minimizes the need to call patients about insurance details, incomplete fields, or other issues after they leave the premises.
So, how can ASCs put surgeons back in the OR and boost their morale?
Consider using PRO-MAPP for your ASCs. PRO-MAPP was created in partnership with clinicians who became increasingly frustrated with growing requirements for data collection and reporting.
PRO-MAPP eliminates the hassles of creating claims packages by streamlining and automating the workflow:
- Choose from 100s of templates to customize based on your center’s needs
- Access your workflow from any computer, tablet, or even smartphone — right in the OR
- Automatic coding for all procedures based on your center and each surgeon’s preference
- Your surgeons never have to dictate again. Op notes are generated automatically after each surgery— no more medical transcription errors.
- Did a surgeon need to make intra-operative changes based on bone quality after making an incision? They can add patient modifiers and update their notes with a few quick taps. The codes change automatically.
- An effective way to engage with patients: before, during, and after their procedures to help improve patient satisfaction.