Verification Required!

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. I am blessed with a wonderful family, and our office was closed for most of the week between Christmas and New Year's, so I was able to really spend time with them.

One of the recurring themes of this blog is the advancement of medical office technology, and how it makes the services we provide easier and more reliable. I was reading a post on www.healthvoices.com about the fundamental need to make sure every patient is covered by their insurance carrier for the treatment they are about to receive.

The post says that most offices still aren't using an electronic scanner which allows them to swipe the patient's insurance card for quick verification. People are still calling 1-800 numbers like they did back in the 1980's. I can't imagine why office managers would cling to such old and unreliable methods (the post notes that 25% of claims get rejected by insurance carriers due to faulty information).

Granted, it is difficult to start a computer network and modernize your office, but in the long run it is worth it! You not only save money, but you save time and energy as well. Having an electronic scanner installed is just the first step in making sure you and your patients are on the same page.