Charge capture may seem to be a simple term where a
physician keeps records of the services provided and the reasons why he provided those services. The process is more complex than it seems. There are thousands
of numbers and letters and diagnosis codes that are involved. Each year, new codes are
introduced and others scrapped off. There are also some strict rules
involved that depend on factors such as geographic location, the payer type and
the specialty of the provider. Physician charge capture should adhere to all rules because if one rule is violated then the
payment will be denied until when the error is corrected. It can be
time-consuming to work out a denial and
it can also use a lot of resources.
The comfort of the
paper
The most common vessel of physician charge capture was done on paper. The paper documents would
need to go through different offices for counting, data entry, and filing. Even
today, with the sophisticated technology, most physicians prefer to do the
physician charge capture on paper.
Physicians are really pressed
for time. There have been a lot of reimbursement cuts and the number of patients entering the system has been on the
rise. This exerts even more pressure on
the physicians. Physicians prefer to have time attending to the patient rather
than spending time on administrative work. No matter whether physicians like
the work or not, at the end of the day, they are legally liable for compliant
and accurate physician charge capture and not the people hired to do the data
entry work. The physician charges are highly scrutinized to make sure that
there is no overpayment. If an audit finds out that there was an overpayment at
any given time, then there will be legal
and financial ramifications.
Meeting the
expectations
Using the charge capture
technology affects the physician in so many ways. The technology should
be flexible to fit into the daily workflow of the physician. There are some physicians who like to see
patients and then enter a charge immediately while we have those that prefer to
sit at their workstation and finish the physician charge capture at the end of
the day. The preference of a provider will highly depend on the complexity and
the number of patients seen, the availability of an EHR, the location, and
internet access.
The smartphone technology has advanced and many physicians
today use smartphones to make their charge capture easier and accurate. There has been a rapid evolution in charge
capture solutions and this has made it
possible to support a number of tasks
that fall out of the pure charge documentation. For example, there has been a
great help for the process of cross coverage and
now physicians can cover for one another easily
and access information of a patient for appropriate decision making. There is
limited face time for inpatient providers and the ability to review information digitally documented by other
physicians and caregivers can be very helpful.
As much as Companies like DocCharge exists, the charge
capture technology will continue to involve. Companies like DocCharge are
working tirelessly to ensure physicians deliver their services productively and
efficiently.
DocCharge Web http://doccharge.com/
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