How to Simplify Mental Health Billing - TheraNest (2024)

Mental health billing is one of the more challenging and burdensome processes that providers have to navigate. The nuances that are woven into every step cause headaches for organizations everywhere. While not every provider accepts insurance, those who do know the hurdles that come with behavioral health billing. Common challenges of billing for mental health services include:

• Billing Codes – Claims are required to be labeled with the correct billing code. The issue is that these codes change all of the time and each has detailed requirements for their use. Memorizing them and applying them accurately can be difficult.
• Payer Regulations – Every payer has different regulations and compliance standards that you must follow in order to have your claims approved. Each insurance company has different standards that are notoriously difficult to keep up with if you are working with multiple payers.
• Claims Process – The accurate filing of claims is a complicated process from start to finish. Providers have to keep track of each and every claim to make sure it was approved. If not, they risk revenue slipping through the cracks.
• Credentialing – In order to bill to an insurance company, a provider must be credentialed with that payor, a process that can take months.

Technology Simplifies Medical Billing

With your billing tools integrated with your EHR, your claims process can achieve more in-full and on-time payments. Features of a quality EHR with integrated medical billing tool include:

• Clearinghouse – A clearinghouse is a middleman between payer and provider that makes sure your claims are primed for approval. With an integrated billing tool, providers can easily submit primary and secondary claims through a clearinghouse for cleaner claims and faster payments.
• Automatic ERA/EOB – Quickly process Explanation of Benefits(EOB or ERA for electronic versions), integrating that data directly into the client’s portal for their viewing and understanding.
• Reporting – Understand where billing errors are occurring the most, what payers you have the most trouble with, and how to improve your billing process from start to finish.
• Claims Tracking – Track your claims from submission to payment to make sure they make it to the payer and quickly respond to denials should they happen.
• Batch Submission – Easily submit multiple claims at once.
• Forms & Templates – Create, print, and download CMS 1500 forms and access thousands of pre-written treatment goals, objectives, and progress notes while still having the space to create your own with Wiley Practice Planners.
• Updated Billing Codes – Access the most up-to-date set of CPT codes and code modifiers, making sure you are always using the correct codes to file your claims.
• Payer Requirements – Stay on top of complicated payer requirements to ensure you continuously comply with their standards.
• Denial Management – Easily manage denials, making sure revenue does not slip through your fingertips.

With integrated billing, providers can increase their clean claims, make bills available to clients more easily, quickly catch denials, better understand their revenue cycle, and so much more. Having these tools within your EHR enables you to streamline your workflow from one process to the next, documenting on one page and filing a claim on the next. With everything in one spot, you get more done in less time.

The Revenue Cycle Management Alternative

Your practice may not be ready for a complete EMR/EHR solution, though a solution still remains for practices such as yours. With Managed Billing services from Theranest, you can outsource your practice’s medical billing to proven experts who excel at reducing denials and maximizing your reimbursem*nts. In addition you’ll also get:

• Peace of mind – An experienced team is handling your mental health billing. End your day without having to feel like there’s something more you could be doing to optimize claims.
• We’ll help ensure that your claims are free of simple errors. By reducing errors, your claims stand the greatest chance of approval and payment.
• Claim rejections and denials happen. When they do, we are committed to figuring out what went wrong and correcting it so that you can get paid for your valuable time.
• We’ll keep track of your insurance billing remittances so that you don’t have to. When remittance advice comes back from the payers, we will post the payments to your client accounts for you. Accurate client ledgers, here we come!

Start Addressing Your Behavioral Health Billing Issues Today

Connect with one of our mental health billing specialists today and learn how we generate more reimbursem*nts and less denials. With Theranest revenue cycle management you’ll maximize your billing reimbursem*nts and get back more time. Connect with us today to get started.