Buffalo Wheelchair improves efficiency

ATLANTA - Eight years ago, Buffalo Wheelchair was printing all of their claims on pin fed carbon copy 1500 forms, folding and mailing them, one by one.

“We really needed to move to a new practice management system,” said Jennifer Kostowniak, reimbursement specialist and software administrator at Buffalo Wheelchair, during a conference session at Medtrade in     October.

The West Seneca, N.Y.-based DME provider, working with ZirMed, has since streamlined its claims management process, reduced denials, improved upfront collections and increased payment options.

During its first six months using ZirMed, Kostowniak said the company saw a 75% reduction in claims  submission time.

“When you're doing 4-5,000 claims a month and every one of them is on paper, being able to send them all in five minutes was a giant step forward,” she said.

The company also implemented electronic remits and added ZPay, allowing patients to make payments online.

Previously, the only way customers could make payments was by phone. An associate would then manually enter the 16-digit credit card number at the register.

Buffalo Wheelchair currently processes 80 to 100 transactions per day and collects more than $100,000 a month using the electronic payment system.

One of the biggest mistakes ZirMed Product Manager Nate Davis sees providers making is not offering online billing.

“You've got to give them options and just think about it as a consumer,” said Davis. “If you go to pay your mortgage, pay your car, pay your Target card, you probably go online and make a payment.”