The holy grail of successful ambulance billing is an efficient EMS workflow that includes the entire ambulance service staff, from dispatch to first responders, EMTs, and medics to billers, all working together, and all on the same page. Clearly, open and effective communications, and EMS workflow between these key EMS operational areas will minimize the amount of time between dispatch, patient care and transport, billing, and receiving payment for services rendered.

Effective internal communications can also help minimize communication obstacles with external sources as well, such as hospitals and nursing homes. If EMS dispatchers, crews, and billers are united in the way they communicate with external partners, not only is the ambulance billing submission quicker, it’s of a much higher quality. If your ambulance billing operation faces an audit or review, the supporting documentation is less likely to have contradictions if EMS dispatchers, crew, and billers are communicating with one another on a consistent basis.

EMS Crews are an important link between dispatch and billing communications since they are the ones closest to the patient and the only ones that can paint a picture of the care rendered. Here are some effective EMS crew communication and workflow tips that can improve ambulance billing:

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EMS-oriented groups continue to lobby on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. and other major capitols to improve EMS reimbursement rates. Although we remain hopeful that government change will work in our favor, EMS administrators and managers continue to negotiate rates with private insurance companies and look for ways to increase billing efficiency. After all, what kind of EMS administrator or manager wouldn’t want faster and higher reimbursement on EMS insurance claims?

Thankfully, there are easy, surefire ways to gain that. By ensuring that the EMS billing operation is carried out with as few mistakes as possible in an expedient manner, faster and more reliable reimbursement becomes possible.

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Inevitably, senior ambulance billers will (and should) influence EMS billing software decisions. EMS billers are constantly under fire when it comes to compliance, rejection/denial rates, and efficiency.

It’s not easy for EMS billers to manage all the demands of ambulance billing while still maintaining quality. In order to meet the high demands of ambulance billing, EMS billers need a software that works for them and not against them.

This post addresses what EMS billers need in an EMS billing software in order to make ambulance claims processing as efficient as possible.

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Anyone who knows anything about EMS billing knows billers have enough on their plate.

EMS billers work hard daily to prepare claims, ensure compliance, address denials, and much more. They do a great job, but often focus so much on taming that mountain of day-to-day tasks that they inadvertently neglect EMS accounts receivable management.

EMS accounts receivable management attempts to resolve debtor balances, but also tracks how much revenue comes in and how long it takes to receive it. When EMS billers don’t consistently perform these tasks, the entire agency suffers the consequences.

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Sometimes, EMS billing staff ask field providers to help find a copy of a patient care record. This might work out alright… until the field providers get busy with other things. Sure, the PCR ends up where it needs to be, but all the lost time adds up-and it’s expensive.

If you want to bypass the delay, ePCR is your answer. Electronic patient care records combine with today’s advancements in data security to give the EMS billing department, the ambulance managers, and all of those involved in the QA/QI process access to patient care records at any time, on almost any type of electronic device.

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