Well, the answer is very simple; hiring experts is a common practice with our daily life routine. To use an analogy of medicine, information is available online about almost all diseases, symptoms, and medicines needed to possibly cure or treat any disease. However patients visit and consult their physicians, and not just one physician, patients consult specialists and physicians that are considered experts. Similarly, physicians practicing medicine are in the business of healthcare and not in the business of providing medical billing and collection services. The fact is that Medical Billing and Collection is a specialized and complex business that should only be conducted by experts.
Please take a few minutes and read below, this may be the VERY BEST 5 minutes you will ever spend on insuring your financial future. Following is an comparison between Tangent Verses Your In-House Billers / Other Billing Companies.
Financial Security
Your In-house Billers: If you employ in-house billers that are managing your finances, basically your entire financial future is in the hands of non-certified and non-professionals. Almost all in-house billing staff usually only has a high school education or some college level education.
Other Medical Billing Companies: We always urge our potential clients to interview a few medical billing companies prior to us. We are sure that the level of financial security that we offer is an industry benchmark. Most medical billing companies DO NOT employ attorneys, college graduates with financial degrees, MBAs, or a financial data analyst. Industry wide, medical billing companies are cutting costs by outsourcing work and hiring untrained, uncertified, entry level personal. Is that the kind of service your practice deserves?
Please Think! Income form medical billing is the SOLE source of your revenue, business and personal, do you really think it is a smart idea to have just anyone be in charge of your financial future?
The questions that you should be asking yourself:
- Who holds the sole source of your income in their hands?
- What is the level of education of your in-house biller/s?
- What experience do these people have with managing money?
How is Tangent any different? Tangent delivers peace of mind that your income is in the hands of financial experts. As indicated below, our staff is highly educated not only in medical billing and collection but also in accounting and financing. We have lawyers, college graduates, data analysts, and men and women armed with MBAs working around the clock to ensure your financial success.
Experts At Work
Attorneys: We employ the very best talent the medical billing and collection industry has to offer. Over one-third (1/3) of our staff is compiled of licensed New York State attorneys, yes attorneys. Every step of the No-Fault billing and collection is overseen by one of them.
MBAs: All medical billing & collection accounts are managed by a team of executives which includes a NYS licensed attorney and a staff member with a bachelor’s degree. Healthcare providers with larger gross revenues also have an account executive with an MBA degree assigned to their account.
Experts: Billers, shippers, verification staff, debt collectors, adjusters, and settlement staff are all members of our highly trained and skilled staff. We are proud to say that 95% of our staff members average at least 7 years of No-Fault industry experience.
Data Analysts: Data analysts are assigned to all of our medical billing & collection clients. We realize each medical practice is unique; various factors combined formulate its uniqueness. Our analysts provide real time feedback to each physician on neighborhood demographics, referrals, insurance companies’ verification trends, denial reasons and trends, bulk settlements, and etc. Our analysts do accurate forecasting on anticipated payments to ensure that physicians are empowered to make better financial decisions.
- Why do you hire CPA’s to file taxes?
- Why do you hire financial planners to plan for retirement?
- Why do you go to doctors and not just use over the counter medicines?
- Why do you hire lawyers when you can represent yourself?
Expertise & Training in Medical Billing & Collection Industry
Your In-house Biller: When was the last time your in house biller had any real training and or continued education? Your in-house biller has been with you for 5, 10, or even 15 years, GREAT! So that means whatever that person has been doing wrong, he or she has been doing wrong for that many years.
Whatever your in-house biller has learned has been by trial and error, and now as your in-house biller that trend in their career is continuing. Maybe you employ a biller who actually has a certification of some kind, but the question is which kind? Who is the issuing authority of that certification?
Other Billing Companies: Internet is littered with advertising and listings of medical billing and collection companies. They all claim to be experts of some sort in medical billing and collections.
The truth of the matter is, most of these so-called experts are nothing but mom-pop shop operations that are being run out of basements of homes and source of a second house hold income. Vocational schools are issuing medical billing certifications that aren’t worth the paper they are printed on, inducing placebo effect in a person that they are a certified medical biller.
Mid level medical billing companies often started by ex-medical office managers have some intelligence and industry knowledge however they often fail to keep up with constant advancements needed to ensure successful revenue cycle management.
How is Tangent any different? Very much like CMEs (continuing medical education) the business of medical billing and collection requires continuous learning.
Our staff is continuously training, retraining, and making sure they are prepared for anticipated changes prior to them taking effect. Our staff maintains the highest level of education and training in No-Fault medical billing and collection.
Continuing education in medical billing and collection protocols. Our experts are creating and deploying procedural protocols to handle the changes in medical billing and collection on a daily basis.
Accountability
Your In-house billers: In-house billers can never be held accountable for their faults/mistakes besides being terminated.
Most in-house billers are not in a position to reimburse for the financial loss that they cause their employers (physicians), hence its confirmed that 99% of the time, in-house billers can not be truly held accountable for their mistakes which results in your financial loss.
Other Billing Companies: Please take a few minutes and read about most of the billing company advertisements online; you will start to see a disturbing trend. A significant portion of medical billing companies are fly by night operations, set up by housewives in their basements.
Those who claim to be professionals usually stumble upon the medical billing career by doing six weeks to six months of part time or online billing courses. They are poorly staffed, and 85% of the time uninsured for errors and omissions.
If by any luck you find a medical billing company that is in business for more than 5 years and actually has errors and omissions insurance, upon close examination you will discover that their insurance policy does not provide much coverage and has tremendous restrictions.
Control
Your In-House Billers: The biggest misconception by physicians is the illusion of being in control of their money by having in-house billers. How can educated and intelligent physicians who are licensed professionals even fathom that thought? This is beyond our comprehension.
The illusion of being in control is often supported by some of the following statements by the physicians:
- “I can’t outsource my billing because in-house billing keeps me in control” or
- “I don’t trust anyone with my money that’s why I keep it in-house” or
- “I want my money to be near me where I can watch it everyday” or
- “No one can watch my money for me like I can”
- “My billing staff has been working for me forever and they are doing a great job”
- “My in-house billers having been doing a great job all this time”
Let’s take a moment and have a serious and practical discussion. When it comes to control there is no way that a healthcare provider can ever obtain true / complete control of his money by utilizing in-house billers.
How is Tangent any different? The Tangent-EHR system is designed to ensure that each procedure rendered by the physician is billed accurately and ASAP. Our staff ensures this process, conducts a monthly micro audit of each practice we bill.
If your in-house biller detects his/her own mistake and covers it up within your billing system how will you ever find out? The answer is very simple, the chance of you discovering such acts are almost zero to none. Yes! Really, it’s sad but true.
How is Tangent any Different? Tangent-EHR is built with an assembly line theory of operation. The entire medical billing and collection process is divided in steps then linked to each other, each step being dependent on the previous step. Even the tiniest mistake will cause an alert immediately demanding managerial attention. Mistakes cannot be hidden or covered up.
If your in-house biller deletes a claim or many claims erroneously or purposely, how will you ever find out? The answer is very simple, you may never find out. Yes! Really it’s sad but true.
How is Tangent any Different? Tangent-EHR was designed with this very problem in mind. Once a patient account is created, it cannot be deleted. All bills and supporting documentation is protected within a patient’s file. No one can override this feature, not even the management.
If your in-house billers continuously run inaccurate accounts receivable (AR) reports how will you ever find out? The answer is very simple, you will never find out. In-house billers can manipulate accounts receivable reports purposely or erroneously. There is no way you will ever find out. You have no real control over them; even if an office manager is watching them it’s humanly impossible to watch someone’s performance every minute of the day.
How is Tangent any different? Tangent-EHR was built from the ground up to perform the task of medical billing. There is a zero chance of inaccurate accounts receivable reports. Medical bills that are generated are accounted for, down to the last penny, until they are resolved; nothing can get written off, deleted or manipulated.
Utilizing Tangent’s services, the control lies with the physician. Tangent-EHR has over 150 standard accounts receivable reports. We are sure that one of them will fit your needs and if needed one can be custom created to suit your needs. Rest assured, whether you use one of our pre-existing reports, or have us create a customized accounts receivable report; the data will be true and accurate.
Who is conducting financial audits, to insure that nothing slips through the cracks?
Your In-house billers may be doing a cleanup once a year or every six months; however the chances of something slipping through the cracks are very high. We have seen this happen multiple times with in-house billers and many so called “professional billing companies”.
How is Tangent any different? As a standard procedure every client’s account is micro audited on a monthly basis. This eliminates any chance of having things falling through cracks.
Are there any set procedures/processes that are followed by your in-house billers to conduct such audits? Throughout our experience we constantly come across two scenarios. Either audit processes/procedures do not exist or if they do, they are very cavalier. In-house billers are not auditors, they are not data analysts, and they certainly are not auditing to find/correct their own mistakes. In fact, many in-house billers do not reveal their mistakes, even if they do find them, in fear of losing their jobs.
How is Tangent any different? Each month our auditors conduct a micro audit to determine that each medical billing and collection step is being followed in a timely manner. This ensures a speedy recovery of funds and eliminates any chances of things slipping through the cracks.
How long has your in-house billing staff worked for you? Most physicians feel that their in-house billing staff has been with them for very long time, that they are doing a fine job, money is coming in, and there is no reason to make any changes.
Food for thought: When was the last time one of your in-house billers came to you and reported that something went wrong? And it was their fault? Can you really be that naïve to think that the billing staff has never made a mistake, which may have cost you thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars in financial loss?
We present a 10,000-dollar challenge; we offer a complimentary audit of your in-house billing department. Our audit will determine if there are possible defects in your billing software, defects in billing procedures, defects in verifications response procedures, defects in the mailing system, defects in denial management, and any defects in the collection process are present.
We will match each portion of the audit with our own system and show you not only flaws and defects in yours, but also how Tangent-EHR is better. If we fail to do so, we will gladly give you 10,000 dollars, no catch and no fine print.
Financial Technology at work
We have customized accounting software built right into Tangent-EHR medical billing system. Each dollar billed by us is accounted for on every step of the way, until it reaches your bank account.
Real Time Accounting & Financial Overview: What good is any billing software if it can’t produce on demand accounting? Accounts receivable reports, aging reports, profit and loss ratios, we wanted to get away from all this needless reporting that results to nothing, but more reporting and confusion. The old fashion aging reports and account receivable reports leave many questions unanswered. There is no billing or accounting system that can answer the question, where exactly is the physician’s money?
Strategic partners: We speak with the physicians and selected staff monthly (as well as on an “as per needed basis”) to review the monthly reports, which provide an excellent picture of the practice’s billings and collections.
Custom reports: We offer over 150 Business Intelligence Reports. A Customized Accounts Receivable Report and/or A Customized Business Intelligence Report, best suited for your practice and accounting is provided on monthly basis.
Custom User Friendly Reports: We decided to create an application that would address the needs of medical billing and collection accounting. With our accounting system, physicians can actually create custom reports to suit their individual needs.
Financial Report (Insurance Company): If you want to know how much money each individual insurance company owes your practice, this reporting system provides a financial overview breakdown of just that.
Financial Report (Medical Procedure): This feature of the reporting system allows you to get real time financial information using the query of any individual medical procedure, for example query of (EMG/NCV) will produce a report indicating how much money each insurance company owes your practice just for (EMG/NCV).
Financial Report (Multiple Locations): If you have a multi-location practice, by using the location query, you can produce any of the reports and cross-reference them with other locations, or add medical procedure reports to the same reports for further detailed analysis.
“TFSS” True Financial Snapshot: Where is your money? Our real time accounting system highlights exactly what stage each and every individual claim is at any given moment. This report empowers the physicians to get an accurate financial overview of the entire practice rather than relying on just the billing company or the collection attorney’s word.
TEN Thousand Dollar Challenge: Let us conduct a 90 minute, complimentary audit of your billing department. If we don’t find any issues that may make you lose money, we will give you $10,000.00 dollar case, Guaranteed!