Before we can discuss why we need urgent care billing services, we must understand what urgent care is. When you or someone you care for requires immediate medical attention or simply not feeling well, you need urgent care. Urgent care centers are ideal if you require treatment for a minor medical problem or additional medical services such as lab work and vaccinations. They do not provide treatment for life-threatening conditions. Urgent medical issues are those that are not emergencies but require treatment within 24 hours. Examples of such situations:
- Injuries and burns
- Moderate Back pain
- Breathing problems (i.e. mild to moderate asthma)
- Bleeding/cuts — little bleeding but necessitating stitches
- Diagnostic services (X-rays and lab tests)
- Fever or flu
- Dehydration, vomiting, or diarrhea
- Sore throat or coughing fits
- Minor fractures and shattered bones (i.e. fingers, toes)
- Mild asthma attack
- Bug stings
A lot of misunderstanding between urgent care and emergency care comes under observation frequently. People frequently have difficulty identifying between the two. While both urgent and emergency care are close to each other, there are some considerable differences between them. The primary distinction between urgent care and emergency care is the severity of the patient’s condition. The emergency department is in charge of treating life-threatening situations. In contrast, the urgent care unit treats patients with minor injuries or illnesses that cannot wait until the next day.
Urgent Care Billing Process
Urgent care centers serve an important role in our healthcare system by filling the gap between the primary care practitioner and the emergency department.
Front Desk Operations
Most urgent care facilities do not have a pre-registration process, starting at the front door due to the nature of walk-in appointments. When a patient requests an appointment, the receptionist or front desk employee must collect basic billing information.
- Name, address, and date of birth.
- Reason of visit
- Insurance company name, primary care provider name, and policy number
Information collected during the registration process will help develop a patient health record. A current patient record with detailed notes makes the billing process much more efficient. If a patient is a frequent visitor, it is critical to record any demographic or insurance information at each appointment.
Confirm Financial Accountability
Patients should know their insurance information and understand the expenses associated with using a walk-in facility. An urgent care facility may not always have the time to call insurance companies to get pre-authorization services. The patient must sign an affidavit of financial responsibility to avoid billing disputes before the treatment.
Filing the Claim
When the medical process has been appropriately coded and validated for regulatory compliance, the billing process concludes by sending it to the payer. The insurance company receives the bill containing essential information about the diagnosis, procedures, and associated expenditures. An accurate bill ensures a faster reimbursement procedure, if it contains any errors which result in late payments or claim denials.
Cost Of Urgent Care Centers
An urgent care visit is often more expensive than a visit to your doctor, but it is substantially less costly than an emergency department visit. Urgent care centers provide immediate medical care at a far cheaper cost by offering patients the required services. The cost of an urgent care center is mostly determined by circumstance and necessity. According to Debt.org, a public financial consulting organization, the average urgent care visit costs between $150 and $200. Your actual price is influenced by various factors, such as where you obtain urgent care and the sort of care required to diagnose and treat your symptoms.
Why Outsource Your Urgent Care Billing Services?
Outsourcing your urgent care billing services allows doctors and medical staff to concentrate on their patients, decreases billing errors, and improves cash flow. Outsourcing can help you increase income and save money by allowing you to focus on what you do best:
- An outsourced billing company can assist you with billing demands and allow employees to focus on patient care.
- Billing companies are better at collecting missed payments.
- A billing provider is in charge of all data entry, resolving denied claims, and sending bills to patients, making your process much easier.
- Outsourcing lowers the chance of billing and coding errors, streamlines the billing process and increases collections.
Benefits Of Outsourcing Urgent Care Billing Services To I-Med Claims
Outsourcing urgent care billing services to us can benefit you in the following ways.
- We provide customized urgent care billing services to meet your requirements.
- We ensure efficient cash flow, revenue management, and prompt payments.
- We follow up the claims submitted to insurance companies so that you can be reimbursed as soon as possible.
- We conduct payment audits to ensure that your urgent care services receive the maximum payments.
- Our team ensures that the information is entered correctly to avoid billing errors.