Offshore Medical Billing - Transition Process

Posted by Ecareindia on May 30th, 2014

The success of any outsourced medical billing project purely depends on the transition process carried out by offshore medical billing companies at the initial stage of on-boarding a new client. The efficacy of this process plays a vital role in streamlining the managerial bandwidth of US medical billing companies at a later stage. Offshore medical billing companies in India and other countries follow a series of steps to make sure that the transition process takes place smoothly and efficiently. The series of steps involved in transition process flow are briefed below:

1. Signing Contractual Agreements: When a US medicalbilling company decides to partner with a reliable offshore medical billing company, both parties accept to sign contractual agreements like the Service Agreement and Business Associate Agreement (BAA). A medical billing solutions provider is said to violate the HIPAA laws, if it does not sign a BAA with its client. The Service Agreement should also have an efficient compliance plan and a SOW that clearly outlines the work processes, training, and auditing techniques of the service provider.

2. Forming the Transition Team: The next step is forming a team with highly-skilled professionals who handle the transition process smoothly. It is during this phase that client manager and account managers are assigned. Account manager of the offshore medical billing company is the first point-of-contact, who undergoes the initial training process. After learning the client requirements and nuances of work, the account manager trains and educates the same to the in-house team.

3. Establishing Secure Connections: To understand the medical claims processing functions and get access to the EHR and PMS, offshore vendors should establish secure VPN (Virtual Private Network), Cloud, or TSC (Terminal Services Client) connections. They should also communicate effectively with US medical billing companies by scheduling regular calls.

4. Data Transmission: To carry out medical claims processing effectively, offshore medical billing companies will sometimes require access to client data. To ensure safe data transmission, offshore vendors must set up DMS (Data Management System) or secure FTP data servers with their clients.

5. Knowledge Sharing: As knowledge sharing is the key to error-free medical claims processing, offshore medical billing companies should hold regular web conference meetings with their clients. This way, they can learn the nuances of the billing process.

6. Creating the Account Manual: Right from the pre to post-transition processes,everything is documented in what is called as the Account Manual. It contains important operational protocols and best practices, which were developed in association with the client during the course of the transition process. Updates from clients will be communicated to offshore medical billing companies through phone calls and emails regularly. The updates will also be documented in this manual for future reference. Once the Account Manual is approved by the client, the project is said to go ‘live’, for regular work.

One of the reputed offshore medical billing companies that carry out the transition process without much impact on the revenues is e-care.

About e-care India:

e-care India promises the above mentioned benefits with total customer satisfaction. With 14 years of experience in the industry, e-care’s 3 offshore medical billing delivery centers have been providing end-to-end medical claims processing services and medical billing solutions seamlessly to its clients. To know more about e-care and its services, log on to www.ecareindia.com