Question:  What benefits do you receive from outsourcing your billing?
ANSWER:

• Claim rejections are reduced to less than 2%

• Claims are submitted within 24-48 hours of receipt from your office

• Reimbursement is accelerated because we care about getting you paid

• No staff turn-over, training or continued education

• No vacation or sick time/pay

• In-house billing manager receives higher success rate

• Overlooked, neglected, late, or inaccurate insurance claims or patient statements are no longer an issue

• No hardware or software is needed

• No need to purchase postage, claim forms, or envelopes

• Minimize paper work

• Lower your overhead

Question: What is the cost difference between filing electronic vs. paper?
Answer:

• Paper claims get lost in the mail - Electronic claims go directly to the payor

• Paper claims turn-around time is 45-90 days - Electronic claims is 14-21 days

• With paper claims handwriting may not be legible - Electronic claims are processed and generated in HIPAA compliant standards/format.

• Paper claims are not edited or scrubbed - Electronic claims are edited before processing

• Paper claim rejection rates are 35-50% - Electronic claims rejection rate is less than 2%

Question:  What are the benefits of using a clearinghouse vs. filing direct to payors?
Answer:  A clearinghouse will edit your claims to reduce rejection rates. You receive acknowledgement reports within 24 hours of filing a claim so that any rejected claims may be fixed and submitted expeditiously back through the clearinghouse. Filing direct to the carrier results in awaiting the EOB (Explanation of Benefits) to know if the claim has been rejected due to submission errors.

Question:  Do I still need to keep records at the office?
Answer:  Yes, all the original superbills or daysheets, and patient demographics must be kept at your office in accordance with State and Federal Record Retention Laws. VAT Services Plus, must also retain copies in accordance with State and Federal Record Retention Laws. After the time period of which the law allows, all documents by VAT Services Plus, will be shredded/destroyed in accordance with State and Federal Laws.

Question:  What do you need our office to send you in order to file claims?
Answer: 

• Copies of each patient registration or information sheet (one time only with the exception of any changes)

• Copies of both the front and back of the patient insurance card (one time only with the exception of the change in coverage and/or policy)

• Superbills, daysheets, or daily encounter charge sheets, which include the CPT, ICD-9 codes, modifiers and any HCPCS codes

• A patient carrier verification sheet (you should verify benefits at least every 6 months to kep current benefits on file.)

• A copy of the Acknowledgement of Notice of Privacy Practices signed by each patient (needed only once) in accordance with HIPAA Privacy Regulations

• A copy of the patient's authorization form if needed

• Any additional information needed for a specific claim/case. We will notify you if anything else is required.

Question:  How long does it take to get started?
Answer:  30 minutes...at our initial presentation, we will bring all necessary enrollment forms for set-up with the clearinghouse for electronic claims. It takes approximately 4-6 weeks with Medicare, Medicaid and BCBS electronic enrollments. Commercial carriers can take as little as 34-48 hours to accept claims electronically. Until all of your carriers are set-up to file electronically, VAT Services Plus will file all claims on paper to ensure that your cash flow is not affected. We will not stop your cash flow during this change. Most importantly, VAT Services Plus does not lock you into a long term contract as other billing companies do. Our contract has a "30 day easy-out" clause. We do our very best to assure that our clients are happy with our services.

Question:  Is VAT Services Plus HIPAA Compliant?
Answer:  Our software and office is fully HIPAA compliant. We also check semi-annually if our clients are keeping up with HIPAA regulations, because if they are not following regulations, we cannot be compliant as well. We make certain your office has all the necessary forms to be HIPAA compliant.

Question:  What are your fees?
Answer:  VAT Services Plus has different fee structures because we know that no two offices are alike. We either bill on a "per claim" or a percentage fee schedule. We have our own fee schedule on how much you are reimbursed from the insurance carrier, NOT by the billed or charged amount. We bill clients on a bi-weekly or monthly basis.

Question:  Are there any start-up fees?
Answer:  Yes, in most cases, depending on your needs, there may be a reasonable set-up fee. This fee would include setting your office up with the necessary forms and enrollments to get your claims paid. If your information sheets do not have all the information needed to process the claim, this will slow the billing process down. We make sure you have the proper forms and if you do not have a superbill or charge sheet, we can design one for you. This fee also includes registering your practice with our clearinghouse to do electronic claims filing.

Question:  How do we get information to you?
Answer:  There are three ways: one is to fax, daily or weekly. The second is to mail or scan, and third, if you are local to us we can pick up on a weekly basis from your office. For more information contact our office.