Reimbursement

Tracking claim denials with Sarah Hanna Q. How important is it to track my company's claims denials? A. Tracking your company's denials is a very important aspect of the billing process. By knowing the major causes of your denials, you will be able to stop the problems before they begin to decrease your DSO. From a management perspective, this is an important tool to assist you in monitoring your billing department. To obtain these reports you can outsource to a remittance data analysis company, or track the data in-house. Utilizing an outside company to track your denials, is a great way for you to gain the information without taking up the already limited time of your staff, and you will get the information you need in a very user friendly report. However, there are costs involved. Some companies charge approximately $3,000 per year, plus some additional charges. To make sure this fits your company's budget, you should analyze what it would cost to perform the duties in house vs. outsourcing. When tracking the denials in-house, management needs to stay vigilant that these reports must be part of the billing department's duties. Your billing personnel will need to track (at a minimum) their top 10 denials from your top three payers. Your billers will need to tally the denial codes from each EOB and use those numbers to develop a spreadsheet. Whether you choose to perform the tracking in-house or outsource, looking at your denials will help your company improve its billing process, reduce the DSO and reduce your accounts receivable. Sarah Hanna is the Vice President of ECS Billing & Consulting, Inc. and can be reached at 419-448-5332 or sarahhanna@bright.net.