Scribe’s New Clinical Documentation Improvement Services Enhance Patient Documentation While Adding Revenue to the Bottom Line
Lake Forest, IL (PRWEB) July 30, 2013 -- With the conversion to ICD-10 coding system looming less than a year and a half away, a multitude of healthcare providers are simply not ready. Practices struggle to keep up with current billing and coding parameters which puts preparation for the major changes in coding firmly on the back burner. In an effort to assist with the transition and help practices bolster their revenue, Scribe Healthcare Technologies, Inc. (http://www.scribe.com) is now offering consulting services for clinical documentation improvement (CDI).
Scribe combines its expertise in complete patient documentation with the implementation of patient encounter improvement policies for both medical coders and healthcare providers. Scribe’s beneficial consulting services ensure that providers are reimbursed for the patient services they deliver. “The interest our healthcare clients showed concerning Scribe’s consulting services was overwhelming and quite timely,” remarked Julie Bramlet, Owner/Manager of Quality Transcription. “Our physicians work really hard but are frequently not paid for their time, and are maxed out on the patients they can see. This is a viable means to receive earned revenue while staying compliant with government regulations.”
An initial audit of current ICD-9 code usage reviews the levels of service charged and determines if narratives are complete enough to avoid overbilling or under billing. Insufficient detail required to satisfy specificity in documentation can result in missed revenue, decline in patient safety and decreased quality of care. Claim errors and denials can be quite costly, not to mention the adverse effect an audit can have on a bottom line.
Our CDI experts not only assist medical practices in accurately supporting ICD-9 codes, but in capitalizing on technology to improve data capture and preparation for the complexities of ICD-10. More than 1,200 medical groups accounting for over 55,000 doctors participated in research conducted by the Medical Group Management Association. According to their findings, few practices have made significant advancement toward the ICD-10 conversion. Only 4.8% percent rated their overall readiness for ICD-10 implementation as progressing.
Scribe’s team has worked with a wide range of providers from an individual practitioner to a practice-wide system. After one evaluation of an orthopedic clinic, billable charges increased $436,000 in a three-month period. The review uncovered coding opportunities that the providers were not even aware of but accurately accounted for more complex levels of patient care. “The providers were more confident in billing the higher levels of service they delivered,” explain Melanie Imhoff, CPC, Reimbursement and Documentation Specialist for Scribe. “Denials were reduced by 30% and the coding was supported by medical necessity.”
In addition to identifying opportunities for greater billable charges, Scribe provides recommendations to streamline workflows. A focus on frequently-used codes and creation of templates to gather essential histories simplify the submittal process. “A lot of physicians currently do not like to document and the near-term demands will be greater,” said Bramlet. “Templates bring the physician’s thought process together with automation, and a patient’s care is more easily translated into accurate data collection.” A thorough gap analysis verifies documentation specificity to assist in denial reduction and prepare for claim challenges or audits. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) estimates ICD-10 denials will increase 100-200%. Scribe examines previous denials to recognize deficiencies, propose code sets to decrease the cost of re-submittals, and avert potential denials.
Education and guidelines for uniformity are key components to the assessment as well. A refined and standardized system improves detailed data capture, confirms patient encounters are input correctly and minimizes follow-up queries. Missing or incomplete information can hinder payment. Not only are practice interruptions minimized, but productivity for all parties who process patient encounters increases. Better and faster billing lessens delays in receivables and reimbursements. Scribe’s new CDI consulting services help practices achieve incremental revenue growth while escalating data integrity.
About Scribe Healthcare Technologies, Inc.
Scribe Healthcare Technologies, Inc. is a privately-held, healthcare technology company based in the Chicago, IL area. The company has developed a proprietary “Cloud-based” platform that centers on medical documentation solutions to deliver physician narrated content to the electronic medical record. Scribe’s platform includes complete solutions for dictation, transcription, voice recognition, document management, clinical documentation improvement, and reporting with data analytics. Scribe offerings include both computer and mobile solutions. Scribe serves more than 30,000 users. Business partners and resellers include consulting firms, transcription companies, EMR/EHR providers, and business process outsourcers. Additional information is available at http://www.scribe.com.
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JOHN WEISS, Scribe Healthcare Technologies, Inc., http://www.scribe.com, (847) 574-0172, [email protected]
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