How Medical Billing Processes Slow Down Home Care Agencies' Growth

Complex administrative tasks are a roadblock to quality care and financial success. The American College of Physicians (ACP) considers that this "adds unnecessary costs to the U.S. health care system" and "divert[s] time and focus from more clinically important activities... such as providing actual care to patients and improving quality." It can also, according to the ACP, prevent patients from receiving timely care and contribute to healthcare staff burnout.

For home care agencies, admin work can take up hours each week and force the hiring of more back-office staff. Some agencies find themselves unable to take on new clients due to the additional administrative burden.

Medical billing can be a particularly challenging administrative task for home care agencies, with many businesses forced to hire a specialist. America's multi-payer healthcare system and numerous medical coding systems make generating correct invoices time-consuming at best, and confusing at worst. Any billing errors can have serious consequences for the patient and the agency alike, and resolving them can take hours.

The Benefits of Streamlining Your Agency's Home Care Billing

When you optimize your home care billing system, you'll quickly notice the benefits. In particular, you can expect to see:

Decreased Costs

With a streamlined system for billing, your team won't have to invest as much time in generating correct invoices, double-checking their accuracy and submitting them. You’ll be able to reduce any overtime payments and potentially operate with a smaller back-office team. 

More Efficient Operations

As your per-client labor costs fall, you can run a more financially efficient business. Your back-office staff will be able to spend their time on activities that have a higher return on investment, such as client communications, caregiver management, and marketing.

Fewer Errors

You’ll be able to replace manual invoicing with electronic health records and auto-generated billing. And in doing so, you’ll reduce the likelihood of billing for the wrong service code or home visit hours.

Improved Cash Flow

Better billing creates a better cash flow. Not only will your back-office team be able to bill payers straight away, but you’ll also benefit from fewer rejected claims. There will be a higher probability of prompt payment, which will lead to a steadier stream of income. 

Better Financial Compliance 

Whether you’re filing your taxes or undergoing a Medicaid audit, a streamlined system for billing will help you stay prepared. You’ll be able to demonstrate that your invoices are accurate and that you comply with all relevant regulations.

Happier Staff

Implementing a simplified billing process means your back-office team won’t have to spend as much time on monotonous tasks such as copying and pasting time logs. They’ll have a more manageable workload, plus they’ll be able to focus on more fulfilling tasks. As a result, you’ll find it easier to engage and retain talented staff members.

Streamlining Home Care Billing in 3 Simple Steps

Optimizing your billing processes doesn't have to be hard work, especially if you use home care software solutions.

#1 Connect Your Schedules, Shift Records, Payroll and Billing

Rather than using generic billing software, look for a home care management software that covers all areas of your business management. In particular, you want a system that connects your schedules and shift records with billing and payroll.

Once you've built your schedules, everything else should fall into place: the schedule will create the skeleton of the shift record, which your caregiving team will confirm and update during care delivery. The shift record will then form the base of your clients’ fund management, clinical updates, and invoices.

With this setup, your admin team will be able to auto-generate correct invoices with a few clicks of their mouse. The software will pull information from the electronic health records. Your staff won't have to spend hours poring over spreadsheets, and you’ll reduce the risk of typos or copy-paste errors.

For even simpler accounting and billing, encourage your caregivers to attach gas receipts and other expenses to their shift records via the mobile caregiver app.

#2 Create Shift Types and Client and Caregiver Profiles

Spend 10 minutes setting up detailed shift types and client and caregiver profiles, complete with service codes and the correct pay rates. Then, when creating the weekly schedule, all you have to do is assign the correct service and length of time.

With this information already included in the shift record, you’ll be able to auto-generate complete invoices. The 10 minutes you invested in setting up your home health agency software will save your back-office team hours of work.

#3 Set Up Automatic Approval Ranges

You can use the automatic time log verification feature in your home health care software to ensure shift record accuracy. Ask your caregivers to clock in and out for each home visit via their mobile app. The app can check the geolocation data and approve any time logs that are within an acceptable range. 

This way, you can rest assured that you’re billing for the correct hours. There will be no need to waste time double-checking time logs. And, you’ll have the electronic visit verification you need for Medicaid billing compliance.

Easier Billing and Scheduling With Home Health Software

ShiftCare's home health care software makes billing easy. You can auto-generate correct invoices, based on your shift records, with a click of a button. And with built-in scheduling, client funds tracking, document management, and compliance features, you can cut down your team’s workload by hours each week. Our clients find that admin tasks that used to take them days can now be completed in minutes.

Discover the benefits of streamlined billing. Try ShiftCare for free.