Medicare/Medicaid Billing---Ind. to Agency?

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I've been an S-corp for a little over a year now and working IC. I've done well but need to be able to expand billing and have gotten an application for medicare certification. While I understand this can be daunting, collecting that is, I am hoping this will expand my base of patients; medicaid and private insurance also. Anyone out there gone through getting an agency going? I am not interested in hiring many people, just enough to keep myself and others in work, less of it for more money. I am truly loving home/patient care and would like to continue to concentrate on this aspect and will tolerate the business end of the deal to do so. Anything but go back to "employment!!!!!"

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I am starting the process now

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Glad I'm not alone. I am pondering how many visits to put down for first 3 months of agency as I am working alone, with back up, of course. Have you come up with an answer or heard of how others do it?

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Specializes in ER, MED/SURG, HOME CARE, HOSPICE.

Can someone explain to me how to go about getting medicare certification, what steps to take. I am interested in starting a small (me) home health agency or just provide home care.

Thanks Kim

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Can someone explain to me how to go about getting medicare certification, what steps to take. I am interested in starting a small (me) home health agency or just provide home care.

Thanks Kim

plug in medicare certification and CMS. gov will come up, there you will go to HHA and there is a list of places to get application, according to the state your in.

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Can someone explain to me how to go about getting medicare certification, what steps to take. I am interested in starting a small (me) home health agency or just provide home care.

Thanks Kim

plug in medicare certification and CMS. gov will come up, there you will go to HHA and there is a list of places to get application, according to the state your in.

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I don't have any first hand knowledge about home health Medicare billing, but I do know a lot about anesthesia billing. CMS requires electronic billing, so you need to take that into consideration before hiring someone. You may do better to use an established billing service. My anesthesia (only) billing service helps me negotiate contracts with HMOs and PPOs, bill Medicare and co-pay and collects from patients if insurance does not pay. Billing is very time consuming, with phone calls for pre-approval and follow up calls for payment. I am a professional anesthetist and would rather do anesthesia (or yoga) than chase down the money.

Yoga

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I don't have any first hand knowledge about home health Medicare billing, but I do know a lot about anesthesia billing. CMS requires electronic billing, so you need to take that into consideration before hiring someone. You may do better to use an established billing service. My anesthesia (only) billing service helps me negotiate contracts with HMOs and PPOs, bill Medicare and co-pay and collects from patients if insurance does not pay. Billing is very time consuming, with phone calls for pre-approval and follow up calls for payment. I am a professional anesthetist and would rather do anesthesia (or yoga) than chase down the money.

Yoga

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I don't have any first hand knowledge about home health Medicare billing, but I do know a lot about anesthesia billing. CMS requires electronic billing, so you need to take that into consideration before hiring someone. You may do better to use an established billing service. My anesthesia (only) billing service helps me negotiate contracts with HMOs and PPOs, bill Medicare and co-pay and collects from patients if insurance does not pay. Billing is very time consuming, with phone calls for pre-approval and follow up calls for payment. I am a professional anesthetist and would rather do anesthesia (or yoga) than chase down the money.

Yoga

Thanks so much for the info! I will look for a billing company that will help with the contract work as well as oasis billing. So far I found a few on the net, which would be convenient as I do home care, entering 485, turning it into oasis and transmitting electronically. They are wanting $385 month, unlimited billing but I am unsure as to all they will do for that amount. I will look for someone local as well. If you could share with me cost of billing I would appreciate it. If you would like to do this privately I am open.

Thank you so much.

:)

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I don't have any first hand knowledge about home health Medicare billing, but I do know a lot about anesthesia billing. CMS requires electronic billing, so you need to take that into consideration before hiring someone. You may do better to use an established billing service. My anesthesia (only) billing service helps me negotiate contracts with HMOs and PPOs, bill Medicare and co-pay and collects from patients if insurance does not pay. Billing is very time consuming, with phone calls for pre-approval and follow up calls for payment. I am a professional anesthetist and would rather do anesthesia (or yoga) than chase down the money.

Yoga

Thanks so much for the info! I will look for a billing company that will help with the contract work as well as oasis billing. So far I found a few on the net, which would be convenient as I do home care, entering 485, turning it into oasis and transmitting electronically. They are wanting $385 month, unlimited billing but I am unsure as to all they will do for that amount. I will look for someone local as well. If you could share with me cost of billing I would appreciate it. If you would like to do this privately I am open.

Thank you so much.

:)

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Anesthesia billing services charge about 6-8% of collections, which gives them an incentive to collect the money. The one I use has changed from that method to a set rate based on the number of billings per month. Their collection rate is over 97%, so I am happy to pay their fees. Flat rates are fine, as long as they produce results for you. Also, billing services are subject to audits from CMS. Look for a firm that understands the importance of those audits and will make sure your filings will pass muster. You don't want to be accused of Medicare fraud. It is not necessary that you use a local billing agency, but you should have an account rep assigned to you. You will need to stay in frequent contact with them. Interview several firms, including some who are in your area. Find out their experience, get a handle on their knowlege of insurance billing in your field and how they handle your money. For example, my billing service deposits the money directly into my checking account once a week and sends me a weekly statement and monthly analysis.

I also keep my own billing data on my computer. Every week, I enter in the database (Filemaker) my insurance cases billed and payment received. Remember no one is as concerned about your money as you are and it is up to you the maximize billing and collections.

Yoga CRNA

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Anesthesia billing services charge about 6-8% of collections, which gives them an incentive to collect the money. The one I use has changed from that method to a set rate based on the number of billings per month. Their collection rate is over 97%, so I am happy to pay their fees. Flat rates are fine, as long as they produce results for you. Also, billing services are subject to audits from CMS. Look for a firm that understands the importance of those audits and will make sure your filings will pass muster. You don't want to be accused of Medicare fraud. It is not necessary that you use a local billing agency, but you should have an account rep assigned to you. You will need to stay in frequent contact with them. Interview several firms, including some who are in your area. Find out their experience, get a handle on their knowlege of insurance billing in your field and how they handle your money. For example, my billing service deposits the money directly into my checking account once a week and sends me a weekly statement and monthly analysis.

I also keep my own billing data on my computer. Every week, I enter in the database (Filemaker) my insurance cases billed and payment received. Remember no one is as concerned about your money as you are and it is up to you the maximize billing and collections.

Yoga CRNA

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