Posted by Stephanie Jones on Mon, Aug 23, 2010 @ 10:46 PM
Not that we love to see this kind of news, but it certainly makes a powerful case for medical billing companies use of document management: you need to secure your medical documents and scanning, then SHREDDING them can help.
Four community hospitals in Massachusetts and their associated pathology practices are investigating major breaches after tens of thousands of paper pathology records were found at a recycling station by a Boston Globe photographer who was dropping off his trash.
The hospitals are Carney Hospital, Holyoke Medical Center, Milford Regional Medical Center and Milton Hospital. The records were dumped by the former owner of a billing company who sold the company around June 1, with the new owner retaining only records from 2010, according to the newspaper.
The dumped records appear to be pathology reports from 2007 to early 2010, which include names, addresses, dates of birth, diagnoses, insurance policy numbers and Social Security numbers.
The Carney, Holyoke and Milton facilities have posted public notices of the breach on their Web sites while investigations continue. Milton Hospital believes more than 15,252 tests were performed during the three-year period on 8,000 to 12,000 patients. Holyoke Medical Center's initially estimates the breach affects 16,000 to 24,000 of their patients.
Officials at two hospitals told the Globe that the former owner of the billing company acknowledged he had the records dropped off at the recycling site. The former owner declined to speak to the newspaper, noting the issue may become a legal matter.
Posted by Stephanie Jones on Mon, Aug 09, 2010 @ 08:55 PM
Medical billing companies use document management systems better than just about anyone. That's why Medical Billing is our Industry of the Week.
How and why do medical billing companies use eBridge Solutions' web-based document management system differently than other companies?
First, they are typically smaller organizations with less than 10 employees. This means they need to be able to do more with less. So, putting documents at their fingertips definitely increases productivity.
Second, they may have remote employees OR work for healthcare practices located quite a distance from the main office. By storing documents online, any authorized user can access them from any computer with Internet access.
Third, they work with paper (LOTS of it) every day! Explanation of benefits (EOBs) from insurance companies, notes and charts from physicians. All of this needs to be at arm's reach.
Most of our clients need to STORE paperwork, but with medical billers, it needs to be accessible, so for them, online document management fits like a glove!
Fourth, even when they work with digital documents (like Medicare EOBs), they use eBridge Solutions' optical character recognition (OCR) tool to find the names and numbers they need on typewritten pages.
Fifth, they mark and annotate paper AND electronic documents with billing codes and notes. And eBridge supports that!
So, if you have a medical billing company, work for one or know someone who does, make sure to look at eBridge Solutions' document management system.
Want to learn more about eBridge Solutions' online document management? Call us at (877) 676-6067!
And register for eBridge Solutions' next Lunch and Learn: Document Management for Medical Billers by e-mailing info@eBridgeSolutions.com today!
Posted by Amber Welch on Thu, Jul 29, 2010 @ 01:16 PM
This is the first in a series of blogs by our technical team. While it is most relevant for current users of eBridge Solutions' document management system, any potential eBridge user (especially medical billers) should benefit from this post.
Document Management Systems are getting a lot of attention as safe and secure storage for documents, but if used properly they can also assist medical billing companies in the routing and tracking of documents from one department to another.
Creating work flow for your company in eBridge can be simply done by setting up Index Fields (the fields for identifying the files) for the information that is important to YOUR process.
Examples of work flow in eBridge
In eBridge Solutions web-based document management system, companies can define up to seven (7) index fields to identify their documents. For medical billing companies, sample indexes typically include:
- Provider
- Post Date
- Batch Type
- Carrier
- Coder
- Biller
- Status.
Each of the fields can then have drop-down lists created so common index values are readily available to all Users. If using Workflow, Status will be a key index. Examples of Statuses include:
- Pending
- Coding Completed
- Billed
- Completed
- Pending Additional Info
- Returned to Provider
As the file is received and uploaded into eBridge, users assign values to the chosen index fields. So, for example, if an EOB for Dr. John Smith's practice was received on 07/25/2010 from United Healthcare anduploaded into eBridge, the screen would look like this:
(The Coder & Biller can be assigned after the file is uploaded by the Department Manager)
Once the file has been indexed and uploaded, the Department Manager can retrieve the file by the Status - Pending, (which shows all Pending files) and then assign those Pending files to the appropriate user.
The file can then be selected by clicking on it and to assign it to a Coder/Biller, the Status just needs to be adjusted using the Edit feature. Once assigned to the appropriate User, the user can then retrieve the documents assigned to them using the Retrieve feature and focusing on the indexes for Coder/Biller and Status: Pending (for files they have not yet completed).
The user then completes the work on the file and once completed, changes the Status again using the Edit option to move the file to the next step.
For instance, if a Coder has completed a file and it is now ready for Billing, they will Edit the Status. As each step of the process is completed, the Status will be changed to reflect where the document is and what is left to do until it has reached Status: Completed.
If you are interested in learning more about work flow in eBridge Solutions, please contact one of our National Account Managers at sales@ebridgesolutions.com or 813-849-6067 option 1.