Billing and Collections Software for Behavioral Health

Getting the most out of your billing and collections service means so much more than getting paid on time.

When looking for behavioral health billing services, there are many software elements to consider to meet your day-to-day needs. In this article, we will explore the three most critical software features that help providers get the most out of their billing platform:

1. Dynamic Revenue Cycle Management
2. Real-Time Results
3. Efficient and Easy to Use Platform

What are Behavioral Health Billing and Collections Services?

First things first – what are behavioral health billing services? And does your facility need them?

They are the software services that vendors provide to customers to aid in the following tasks:

• Creating and submitting clean claims to insurance carriers

• Collecting on prior claims in a timely manor

• Credentialing services registering providers with insurance carriers

• Sending and collecting statements for patient responsibility

Behavioral health billing is very complex. Providers in this space need a dynamic platform that intuitively supports the billing team. In our experience, behavioral health billers are best served by finance software that is specifically designed for the behavioral health industry.

Behavioral Health Revenue Cycle Management Services

In behavioral health, revenue cycle management (RCM) describes the process of tracking the revenue generated by patient care throughout the life cycle of a patient.

Providers are tasked with delivering excellent care and running a successful business. Using RCM software to help run the business is virtually a requirement nowadays. Modern financial software injects much needed efficiency and automation into the billing process.

RCM software allows providers to implement automated workflows and other proactive controls to ensure billing processes are efficient, effective, and compliant.

A behavioral health billing service that includes dynamic RCM features both billing services and revenue cycle management allows providers to:

• Effectively and efficiently manage a complete continuum of care

• Electronically maintain and track third party financial agreements including address, contact information, contracted rates, and co-pays for treatment services

• Maintain funding source information (including self-pay and insurance information, rates, required claim form type, and benefits information) for efficient billing and financial activities

• Manage payer authorizations and utilize billing rules to streamline claim generation and validation

Comprehensive RCM software often contains a wide variety of financial reports that help providers visualize the financial health of their entire operation. Easy access to monthly financials, payer mixes, and daily censuses gives an organization total control over their financial data.

Behavioral Health Billing and Collections: Real-Time Results

Your finance platform needs to be as responsive as you are. That’s why the ability to generate real-time results is essential.

Behavioral health billers need to be able to electronically track the claim life cycle with up-to-date claim status features to capture maximum revenue.

It can also help you obtain a real-time comparative analysis of year over year performance with the click of a mouse. Real-time results allow you to execute a multitude of tasks that are beneficial for your facility and your patients, including:

• Obtaining immediate electronic eligibility confirmation: verify insurance coverage, deductible, and benefit information for your patients

• Finding out real-time claim status updates

Ideally, your billing services will connect with your patient portal so you and your patients can see—in real-time and at-a-glance—important pieces of information, such as upcoming appointments and billing statement history.

It should also allow for easy online bill pay and hassle-free access to someone who can assist your patients with questions about their bill.

Behavioral Health Billing: Efficiency & Intuitiveness 

If a financial platform and all its features don’t run efficiently and smoothly, they won’t be of any practical use to your organization.

Look for behavioral health billing and collections software that won’t cost you extra time, money, or headaches.

Behavioral health organizations come in all sorts of sizes, from a small practice to multi-company, multi-site and multi-specialty configurations. As a result, the best behavioral health billing software is able to support organizations of any size.

These enterprise solutions are quite comprehensive, offering dynamic solutions such as:

• Complete clearinghouse integration with claim status tracking
• Electronic remittance processing

• Leverage a complete record of all payments received including source, payee, invoice, balance, write-off amount and designated GL Accounts

• Utilize built-in dashboards, analytics, and system reports to better track and control your financial operations and service delivery

• Identify operational and financial trends and respond proactively

• Implement and manage organizationally defined Key Performance Indicators

Effective billing software improves both your facility’s day-to-day function and its long-term ability to run at peak performance.

Automated features contribute to such organizational health greatly. Automation will help your facility in numerous ways, among them the ability to automatically generate:

• Custom patient financial agreement forms

• Customizable claim adjustments

• Daily charges based on your active patient census

• Charges for lab results and dispensed medications and prescriptions

• A variety of A/R reports

• Collections and dunning letters

• Payer or responsible party contact information

The Behavioral Health Biller’s Checklist 

We hope you have a better idea of just how valuable a quality financial platform is for behavioral health organizations.

Searching for, and finding, the right finance solution for your organization can be a long and frustrating process.

As a result, we created the Behavioral Health Biller’s Checklist to help guide you in this decision.

With the help of a few billing experts here at Sigmund, we’ve identified 4 critical software tools that behavioral health billers need in order to perform at their best. Download it today so you can equip your billing team with the tools they deserve!