Expert Guide For Choosing The Best Mental Health Billing Service
Mental health is a critical component of the individual’s overall well-being and encompasses psychological, emotional, and social dimensions. Unfortunately, mental illnesses are increasingly prevalent in the United States with more than 1 in every 5 American adults affected by mental health disorders. Choosing a best Mental health billing service play a pivotal role in supporting individuals to get access to quality care for their mental health needs.
This growing trend highlights the urgent need to prioritize mental health and provide access to effective mental health treatment to those who are suffering. As mental health concerns become increasingly prevalent, it is vital to have effective and efficient mental health billing solutions that can ensure seamless processing of payments thus saving individuals from undue financial burden.
Being a mental health practice, managing billing services can be a complex and time-consuming process. Billing errors, delay in payments and rejected claims can have a significant impact on the revenue cycle and success of the practice. Therefore, it is crucial to partner with the best mental health billing services to streamline your practice.
What is Meant By The Mental Health Billing Service?
Mental health billing is more intricate and complex than the standard medical billing process because the time allotted by insurance companies for treatment provided to patients varies greatly from the actual time taken and this leads to discrepancies while billing. These inconsistencies result in billing errors which negatively impact the revenue of mental health practices.
Therefore, to help mitigate these challenges, mental health billing services offer specialized services that help mental health professionals manage their billing process. These services take charge of the revenue cycle of the practice and help to streamline the payment process and mitigate errors in billing while ensuring steady cash flow.
Mental health billing services offer various features which include insurance verification, electronic claim submission, denial management, and automated payment postings.
Mental health practices have multiple mental health billing solutions to choose from; ranging from third-party companies that employ billing experts to specialized billing software provider practices that take care of the entire billing process so that practice can focus on providing quality patient care.
How do Mental Health Billing Services Work?
Mental billing services is a complicated process and here’s a comprehensive guide to billing process flow:
Patient Information Collection
Firstly, mental health billing services collect patient information which is require for smooth claim submission. These details include the patient name, contact number, residential address, insurance coverage, etc.
By collecting patient information mental health billing companies ensure that the billing process runs efficiently without any errors or delays. Inaccurate patient information can result in claim rejection and denial which ultimately results in revenue loss for mental health practices.
Verification of Insurance Eligibility
After confirming patient details, the next step involves confirmation of insurance coverage of the patient by billing experts. The process of confirming details of a patient’s insurance policy to determine the extent of their patient coverage is known as insurance eligibility verification. This process is crucial for mental health professionals since it confirms that the services provide to the patient are fulfill by insurance not thus, helping to avoid any dispute over payment collection.
Medical Coding
Medical coding is an integral process of the mental health billing cycle. In this process, each diagnosis and treatment is accredited to a specific code, based on the four divisions of CPT codes for mental health. These codes help to specify the ailment of the patient and the medical procedures use to address it.
CPT codes also known as Current Procedural codes are use for the identification of medical services and procedures provided by the practice. In the billing process of a mental health practice, CPT codes are integral since they use to refer to medication management, psychotherapy, or psychological testing.
Mental health billing companies ensure that the claims are submitted promptly and in accordance with insurance requirements.
Entry of Charges
The entry of charges is a critical step in the mental health billing process. Based on the CPT codes, mental health services enter the fee for the services provided to the patient. This ensures that the charges entered are relevant to the services provided.
Accurate charge entry is necessary to ensure that mental health practices are reimburse appropriately and timely. Incorrect charge entry can result in denial or rejection of claims which then results in delay in payments and ultimately loss in revenue of the practice.
Claim Submission
Submission of claims is the most pivotal step of the billing process. Mental health billing services ensure that the submission of claims in accordance with the processing guidelines set forward by the insurance service provider.
During this step, billing experts ensure that documentation for claim accurately and completely to avoid any rejections or denials. Thereafter, the claim is submit either electronically or through mail.
The best mental health billing services work closely with the insurance company to monitor the status of the claims submitted. They follow up on any claim that is either delay to ensure that mental health practice receives proper reimbursement.
Common Billing Codes for Mental Health
The American Medical Association (AMA) creates CPT codes to standardize coding systems when describing medical services and treatment.
As mentioned earlier, CPT codes are integral for the billing process of mental health practices, as it ensures that the practice receives accurate reimbursement for the services provided to patients.
Following are the various billing codes commonly used for mental health:
- CPT code 90837 for 60 minutes of psychotherapy
- CPT code 90834 for 45 minutes of psychotherapy
- CPT code 90832 for 30 minutes of psychotherapy
- CPT code 90791 for psychiatric diagnostic evaluation
- CPT code 90847 for 50 minutes of family psychotherapy in the presence of the patient
- CPT code 90834-95 for 45 minutes of psychotherapy through telehealth
- CPT code 90853 for group psychotherapy
The Best Mental Health Billing Services
Being a mental health practice, if you are looking for the best mental health billing services, here are your options:
1. HMS USA
HMS USA is considered as the epitome of excellence when it comes to medical billing. With an unwavering commitment to precision and efficiency, HMS USA has solidified its reputation as the best in the industry. It offers an unparalleled level of accuracy and reliability in the mental health billing process through a seamless integration of cutting-edge technology and a team of highly skilled professionals.
2. Shark MBS
Shark Medical Billing Services offers top-notch customer service and ensures accurate and prompt reimbursement for the services provided by mental health practices. It helps mental health professionals to improve their revenue cycle and streamline administrative tasks.
3. Kareo
Kareo is a cloud-based medical billing service that provides a range of features including billing and invoicing that help mental health practices to streamline their revenue. It further offers insurance verification and payment processing.
4. Therabill
Therabill most popular billing service design specifically to help mental health service providers. It offers features such as claim submission, automated payment postings, and patient billing statements. Through its features, Therabill helps practices track their payments and reconcile their accounts conveniently.
5. SimplePractice
SimplePractice is a powerful management software for mental health service providers that includes medical billing and invoicing. It offers integration with insurance service providers and offers appointment reminders helping mental health practices to streamline their operations and improve the patient experience.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, mental health billing services have been an integral part of any mental health practice as it helps to streamline their billing cycle, mitigate errors, and ultimately, improve revenue. By partnering with the best services, mental health practices can focus on providing top-notch care to their patients, while leaving the complex and tedious task of billing to experts.
Read More: Mental Health Billing Tips
FAQs
CPT code 90792 is used for psychiatric evaluation and diagnosis.
F32.9 is the code for major depression that can be used for reimbursement.
F43.10 is the code used to bill for the treatment of acute stress disorder which is a mental health disorder due to a response to a traumatic event.
Code F60.9 is used for the reimbursement of services provided for the treatment of personality disorders.
Code F41.1 is used to bill patients for the treatment of the mental health condition known as generalized anxiety disorder.
