May 2009 Newsletter
Refine Manual Receipt Posting for Productivity Gains
It comes as no surprise that manual receipt posting is one of the most resource-intensive processes challenging medical billing today. In the traditional sense, this process is highly manual and often difficult to manage, burdening organizations with labor-intensive practices such as:
- Mailroom activities
- Receipts/correspondence separation
- Bank deposits
- Deposit balancing
- Work distribution
- Heads-down receipt posting
- Copying for exception handling (i.e. Line Item Denials, Credit Balances)
- Copying for secondary claims
- Paper handling and filing
To date, many organizations have sought relief from these burdens through the adoption of electronic remittance advices (ERAs) and Lockbox services. The relief, however, has only been partial, as sound payer ERAs are still not globally available (despite being mandated by HIPAA), and Lockbox services relieve only a few of the noted burdens. Organizations are at a loss on how to deal with this resource-intensive process and are turning to Quadax for creative assistance.
Fortunately for our requestors, Quadax’s ECM Services team has been successful in relieving many of the burdens plaguing the manual receipt posting process. This success comes from marrying corporate knowledge, technology, and Lockbox resources together in a business improvement manner. The result: a streamlined receipt posting process that offers significant productivity gains. The process, as illustrated in the workflow example below, is powered by an underlying enterprise content management (ECM) engine. The ECM engine effectively ingests Lockbox images and corresponding financial MICR information (via a daily Lockbox Services’ interface) for each Receipt and Correspondence transaction directed to the Lockbox for a given deposit date. Once ingested, the MICR information for each transactions is bounced against client-defined business rules (i.e. Deliver BC/BS to Jane Doe) to drive systematic delivery to the client’s staff.
Lockbox processing workflow (click to enlarge)
The staff then performs the following system-aided tasks within the ECM engine:
- Deposit Balancing
As the check amounts are provided with the MICR information, the ECM engine makes quick work of balancing the deposit. - Heads-Up Receipt Posting
Unfortunately, we have not yet displaced the physical act of posting the receipt or working the denial from the imaged remit, but we are working on it! Stay tuned! - Exception Handling
While posting receipts, identified exceptions are easily handled within the ECM engine by means of electronic highlights. Receipt posters simply apply the exception highlights, thus enabling the ECM engine to deliver the document and noted exception to applicable staff. - Secondary Claim Attachments
In support of secondary billing efforts, the ECM engine enables staff to quickly redact and print the applicable portion of the primary EOB.
Productivity gains, however, are not limited to the receipt posting act alone, as significant gains are also achieved in the handling of denials and refunds. From an administrative standpoint, the management of the process is greatly enhanced by the real-time inventory of both completed and incomplete work. In addition, workload distribution can be intuitively managed to deal with unexpected volume and staffing changes. As a final bonus, the traditional paper-ladened environment is minimized, resulting in tangible storage savings as well as easily retrieved remits.
If you are interested in learning more about this coveted solution, please contact Phil Conard, VP of ECM Services, at 440-788-2176 or philconard@quadax.com. Additional information can be found in our revised Web content at www.quadax.com/ECM.