Documenting, organizing, and double-checking thousands of patients’ medical records is an error-prone hassle. With the numerous stages through which patient data is processed, from lab results to pathology labs, there is always the risk of entering incorrect medical records. This serious issue can cost the patient appropriate diagnosis, treatment, and financial coverage. Therefore, the accurate coding of medical records holds great importance in healthcare. This is where “medical coding” comes in.
Medical coding refers to translating vital medical information on a specific patient into simple code for the easy documentation of medical records and the ease of medical billing and insurance reimbursement. This process allows hospitals to maximize billing efficiencies while minimizing the time, effort, and cost of organizing accurate medical records. Not to mention, patients also benefit from this decision, financially and/or physically. Various healthcare BPO services can ensure the accuracy of medical records while providing hospitals and insurance companies access to them.
Medical Coding: Benefits for Patients
Medical coding may be an organizational breakthrough for hospitals, but what does it mean for the patients? This complex process is essential for the latter. The accuracy of medical coding can dictate the amount of insurance the patient receives to cover their medical treatment.
Additionally, medical billing and coding services help maintain correct patient information, for instance, the exact type of injury and condition, what medical procedures and devices were used to identify the ailment, and more. This data may capture significant benefits from other healthcare payers and administrators besides one’s insurance company.
Below are more specific benefits that medical coding holds for its customers:
- Faster and more efficient reception of insurance.
- Ensures that the correct amount of insurance is received.
- Guarantees accurate insurance claims.
- Can attract other healthcare payers/administrators to cover treatment further.
- Helps assess patient health: identifies issues with medical conditions and healthcare quality that help to prevent future health complications.
- Can influence public healthcare policy.
- Less prone to error.
Medical Coding: Benefits for Hospitals
The healthcare industry vastly benefits from medical coding and its services, too. For example, medical coding can generate invoices containing the correct medical codes with the right conditions listed, ready to be submitted to insurance providers. Accurate coding is essential as anything wrong with the invoices could lead to over or underpayments, resulting in legal and financial issues.
To avoid such a scenario, hospitals can employ specialized providers of healthcare BPO services to outsource medical billing services, as they have the precise tools, resources, and knowledge to do so accurately. This saves the hospital copious amounts of time, resources, and money trying to accomplish a non-core activity themselves. In fact, without the right expertise, hospitals involving themselves in medical coding will likely create more problems.
Below are more specific benefits that medical coding services hold for hospitals:
- Accurate allocation of resources.
- Saves the hospital time, effort, and money.
- Calculates exact medical payments.
- Minimizes billing denials.
- Increases efficiency of billing processes.
- Ensures timely reimbursement.
- Helps track receivable balances.
- Informs of pending medical claims.
By analyzing the importance, benefits, and services of medical coding, one can understand its crucial role in the healthcare industry. Accurate medical billing and coding offer many benefits for hospitals and patients. Hospitals can avoid expending their time, resources, and money on a non-core activity by employing particular healthcare BPO service providers that can medically code for them.
On the other hand, patients can avoid delays or issues with insurance coverage, reimbursements, poor diagnoses, and more. Medical coding dramatically contributes to the healthcare industry, creating a win-win situation for the treatment provider and receiver, but to do it accurately is an even greater achievement.
