OSE_1306_part1_Layout 1 6/3/13 3:27 PM Page 26
CODING & BILLING
Cristina Bentin, CCS-P, CPC-H, CMA
17 Business Office Best Practices
Rate the administrative acumen and financial health of your facility.
ehind every
successful
surgical facility is a strong business office. Is yours
up to par in the
areas of scheduling,
coding, billing and
other business operations? Let's see
how many of these
17 boxes can you
check off.
B
RATE GREAT? How would you rate your business office?
Staffing situations
o If you can't compete with larger facilities in hiring qualified, experienced coders and billers, consider supplementing lower salaries or
hourly rates with strong benefits packages or other perks.
o Test candidates for coding positions with actual op reports before
making an offer. This will provide insight into a coder's experience
with your case mix and how long it takes her to handle the task.
o Your case volume depends on your scheduler's relationships with
physicians' practices. Monitor that relationship by regularly speaking
with surgeons and their schedulers to determine whether any obstacles exist. If the schedulers communicate via e-mail, review those
messages for clarity.
o Schedule weekly or monthly meetings with business office staff to
discuss challenges, share information and solve problems. Discuss
2 6
O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J U N E 2013