What is Mental Health Medical Billing?
Healthcare billing entails claim submissions for the healthcare services a mental health facility offers to patients. Medical billing for mental and behavioral health is generally more complicated than the other healthcare specialties, primarily because of the various intricacies involved in this specialty. This factor makes it necessary for you to provide your billing department with the tools, resources, and information to help your healthcare facility deliver quality patient care, whether it treats mind health, eating disorders, substance abuse, or others.
Is Mental Health Billing Different from Medical Billing?
Mental health billing has some differences from medical billing, primarily because of the many variables inherent to mental health billing but absent in medical billing. healthcare billing requires learning about medical coding, opting for the right payer forms, and verifying patient insurance. It is a common practice to verify benefits, jot down notes when talking with payers, keep copies of crucial information with yourself, and initiate the billing process as soon as possible.
Let us look at some of the factors that distinguish mental health billing from medical billing:
Pre-authorization
Health care providers typically require patients to pre-authorize mental health services before filing a medical claim. However, research shows that mental health visits are likely to be five times more out-of-network than specialty care, making pre-authorization a complicated billing step even if it is sought consistently.
Front-office staff
Mental health practices are less likely to have administrative staff who can take care of billing and coding, leaving the practitioner to do both jobs. Since most mental health practices are small partnerships or sole proprietorships, the work can build up for the practitioner.
Standardized billing procedures
Mentalhealth practitioners offer customized and varied services compared to standardized tests and exams in specialty care, making health care billing even more tedious than the repetitive and often plug-and-play nature of medical billing.
How much do Mental Health Billing Services Cost?
Patients who avail of health care have a common complaint: since most mental healthcare providers do not take health insurance, the cost of the treatment can be quite expensive without insurance. Some mental health professionals do not accept insurance because of the arduous and lengthy process, but you are free to have your own perspective as a mental health practitioner.
Whenever you are looking to get healthcare billing services, the most common concern is getting the right output for your money. The price of mental billing services ranges between 3-15%, depending upon various factors that determine whether a price is worth it. Let us look at a few questions that you must ask yourself when choosing a billing service:
- Does the service claim appeal?
- Can the service help you with patient collections?
- Does the service offer extensive reporting? If yes, how much?
- Do they have responsive customer service?
- Does the company offer enrollment and credentialing services for Medicaid/Medicare?
- Is the company flexible with its software? If yes, how much? Do they use their own proprietary software, particular pieces of software, or several systems?
- Can you contact or communicate with the executives of the company?
- Will they perform patient inquiries for you?
- Are they HIPAA compliant?
- Do they charge any additional fees for hidden services?
American-board certified and fellowship-trained medical professionals at SmartClinix offer the highest quality of healthcare facilities at the lowest cost possible. Head to SmartClinix right now and book an appointment with a medical billing service provider of your choice within minutes!
