As the pharmacist role continues to evolve and an increasing number of pharmacies begin offering clinical care services for patients in their communities, the role of medical billing software in pharmacy becomes more important than ever before. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic introduced several additional opportunities for pharmacists to become trusted community caregivers.
With so many pharmacies offering COVID-19 testing and vaccines in addition to their existing clinical care services, the need for comprehensive medical billing support has become even more prominent. Medical billing software designed exclusively for pharmacies is incredibly beneficial for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians attempting to navigate the complex claims submission process to get reimbursed for the various clinical care they provide.
However, implementing a medical billing solution alone isn’t enough—you need to be sure you’re taking full advantage of your software to truly get the most out of it. Here are four tips for using software to optimize your pharmacy’s medical billing:
1. Integrate medical billing software with your PMS.
Pharmacy staff can work more efficiently when technology add-ons integrate with their pharmacy management system (PMS) and other existing solutions. Integrated medical billing software for pharmacies helps to avoid duplicate data entry, reduces clerical errors, saves time by eliminating the need to do twice the work, and ensures information is accurate and updated in real time.
With that said, if your systems can’t talk to each other, you’ll likely create new inefficiencies in place of those you were trying to eliminate. By ensuring your medical billing solution integrates with your pharmacy management system, you can save yourself from duplicate data entry and other administrative hassles that slow you down and get in the way of offering exceptional patient care and exploring new opportunities to grow your pharmacy business.
2. Automate manual medical billing workflows.
Automating manual, time-intensive medical billing workflows and making the move from paper to digital records can help pharmacists and pharmacy staff work more efficiently. Workflow automation not only helps save on operational costs but also frees pharmacists and pharmacy technicians up to spend more time interacting with patients and offering more patient care services.
For example, electronic eligibility verification saves pharmacies time and money by making sure patients have the appropriate coverage before providing services. It also helps to eliminate phone verifications, allowing for simple medical billing claims submission and timely reimbursement for clinical care.
3. Ensure proper clinical documentation is in place.
You need a medical billing solution in place that’s optimized for clinical care services. New Era Pharmacies not only offer patient care services such as flu shots and other immunizations, medication therapy management, and durable medical equipment, but they’re also prepared to bill for every service they provide. In other words, if you provide it, you need to be well-equipped to bill for it.
Of course, anyone in the industry will tell you that if it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen. That’s why ensuring accurate and comprehensive clinical care documentation is essential: It arms pharmacists with the detailed information they need to get reimbursed for the services they provide.
With that said, keeping track of your clinical care services can be challenging on top of daily dispensing and other regular responsibilities. Recognizing this paint point, some medical billing solutions such as FDS MEDBILL offer clinical documentation support to help pharmacies put a paper trail in place. This way, they can ensure timely, accurate reimbursement—and with the right medical billing solution, you can too!
4. Take advantage of medical billing data and analytics.
If you’re not already taking advantage of medical billing data, you’re missing out on the chance to gain helpful insights and drive meaningful change that improves your clinical, financial, and operational performance. Generating reports can help you identify low-hanging fruit opportunities for improvement, spot errors instantly, and keep track of all patient care claims within a specific time period.
Ask yourself: How easily can you check the status of your claims? Can you spot errors quickly and make corrections easily? Are you tuned into how well your business is performing and how profitable each clinical care offering is for your pharmacy? If you answered “no” to any or all of these questions, chances are you’re not taking full advantage of the comprehensive reporting features available to you.
Choose the right medical billing software for your pharmacy.
Navigating the complex world of medical billing can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it by yourself—and no, that doesn’t mean outsourcing! Advanced pharmacy technology add-ons can do the heavy lifting for you, taking the administrative burden off your shoulders so you can focus on doing what you do best: caring for your patients and supporting your community.
However, pharmacies today have a whole slew of medical billing solutions to choose from when they’re choosing how to bill for patient care services. That’s why you need to ensure the solution you go with checks all the right boxes and includes the right must-have features. FDS MEDBILL, a medical billing solution designed specifically for independent pharmacies, can help you navigate billing complexities, automate and streamline manual workflows, improve billing accuracy, reduce errors and claim denials, and improve your resource utilization as a whole.
Additionally, investing in claims reconciliation software such as FDS ECONCILE can support your medical billing efforts as well by helping you identify outstanding receivables, zero in on unpaid claims, pinpoint inefficient third-party payers, reduce the time between check receipt and claims removal, and maximize your reimbursements so you’re never leaving any money on the table.
Want to find out more about medical billing for pharmacies? Download our free infographic to learn all about the intricacies of medical billing for independent pharmacists, so you can best serve your patients, your business, and your community.
