When hiring someone for your billing department, invest time in the careful recruitment and selection of the best candidate. Don't hire someone just to "fill a chair." Follow these tips to help in the selection process.
- Write a detailed job description that sets out your expectations. Include job title, general summary of duties, supervisor's name, supervisory responsibilities, major tasks/responsibilities, a description of the work environment, and requirements: education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities, equipment experience, and mental and physical requirements.
- Use a descriptive job title in your ad to eliminate an influx of résumés from unqualified applicants. For example: Billing Coordinator, Patient Collections Specialist, or Insurance Verification Specialist.
- Select candidates who have medical office experience, not just hospital billing experience. Coding for medical practices is different from coding in hospitals.
- Inquire about each candidate's technical knowledge and skills. Look for someone who is familiar with electronic billing, computer billing systems, and collections modules.
- Ascertain how much each candidate knows about your specialty. This knowledge is a valuable asset in the payment/follow-up process.
- Give candidates an opportunity to demonstrate their experience. For example:
- Have candidates review an explanation of benefits (EOB) form (with confidential information blacked out). This will reveal if they can interpret and explain correctly key elements and requirements.
- Ask candidates for recommendations on prioritizing your aged accounts receivable report. This will give you a sense of their problem-solving skills and ability to think logically.
- Show the candidates an EOB (again with confidential information blacked out) with a denied claim payment, and ask how they would handle it. This will help you gauge their effectiveness in the follow-up and collections process.
TMA can help you improve your billing practices and procedures:
- Thinking you might want to hire an outside billing service instead of doing it in house? Follow these tips on what to look for and what questions to ask.
- If you are not using Texas' prompt pay laws to your advantage, join us July 16 at noon (CT) for a live webinar, Prompt Pay and the Revenue Cycle - Part 1 to find out how doing so efficiently can benefit your practice. Follow up on July 23 at noon (CT) for Prompt Pay and the Revenue Cycle - Part II: Clean Claims.
- If collecting patient fees is your concern, tune in July 30 at noon (CT) to TMA's live webinar, Effective Collections Techniques. You'll learn how physicians and staff can get over their reluctance to asking patients for money.
- TMA's Employee Handbook for Medical Practices is a practical, customizable guide for training new hires and managing all staff.
- If you need help recruiting billing staff, determining your billing staff needs, or assessing your billing and collections process, call on the experts at TMA Practice Consulting for a solution tailored to your practice.
Revised July 8, 2014
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