Offering comprehensive care to your patients while maintaining an efficient billing system can be a challenge. Processing patients’ insurance is often especially difficult. A single data entry error can result in weeks of delays to payment. Fortunately, at RevWerx, we’re here to help you with every step of your revenue cycle management. It all starts with proper verification of benefits (VOB). Our experienced staff is prepared to train your personnel on consistently and accurately completing insurance verification steps or to perform this part of the process for you.
Reach out to us online or by calling 833.309.0138 to get started creating the optimal billing infrastructure for your practice.
Three Insurance Verification Steps for Every Practice
Verification of benefits (VOB) is the essential first part of a smooth billing process. You can think of it in the following three easy steps.
1. Obtain a Copy of Your Patient’s Insurance Card:
It is best practice is to do this every time the patient makes an appointment, even if they tell you their insurance hasn’t changed. Use this photocopy or scan to double-check the patient’s data before reaching out to the insurance company to verify benefits.
2. Be Sure Your Staff Is Asking Patients for the Following Information
- Whether the patient is the person insured or they are receiving insurance through someone else’s plan
- If the patient is not the insured person, the relationship between the patient and the insured person
- The insurance ID number and group number
- Copay the patient must make
- Deductible that the patient must reach before coverage begins
- Effective date and end date for the insurance policy, noting whether benefits coverage is currently active
- Contact information for the patient’s insurance company, including the company’s name, claims address, and contact phone number for providers
- In-network or out-of-network status of the patient’s insurance company relative to your practice
- Coverage status of the specific procedure or service the client needs by their insurance company
- Pre-authorizations certificates of medical necessity or referrals that may be required before the insurance company can complete payment
- Any limits of the policy, which might include documentation requirements for billing, or exclusions
3. Reach Out to the Insurance Company
While the information the patient and their insurance card give you may suggest coverage, don’t make any assumptions. Instead, call or otherwise contact the insurance company to ensure the plan is active and covers what the patient needs. This status can change very quickly and sometimes without the patient’s realizing. Use the provider number listed on the insurance card to place your call. Some larger insurers like Medicaid also allow for contact via your integrated electronic medical records and billing system.
Get in the Know About Pre-Authorization
Insurance companies sometimes need pre-authorization for tests, services, or prescriptions before patients can obtain them with coverage. The attending doctor on your staff will likely need to sign the order, requisition, or referral before the insurance company accepts the request for authorization.
If the insurance company does not grant pre-authorization, a claim may be denied. Avoid this by carefully researching what is covered under a patient’s plan before submitting your request for pre-authorization. Only procedures and services deemed medically necessary within your patient’s treatment plan will be approved, allowing for full payment of the claim.
Verification of Benefits (VOB) Services Through RevWerx
When payment is delayed due to high volumes of claims or improperly filed paperwork, your practice suffers. Our team at RevWerx is here to help facilitate the process so you can maintain top-level care for patients and an efficient billing system.
Our VOB services include training your staff or simply completing this part of the process for you. In this way, we become your billing department, allowing you to focus on the healing work you entered the healthcare industry to do.
What makes RevWerx truly special is that our staff includes actual clinicians. These team members are well-versed in insurance procedures and able to “speak the same language” as the clinicians kept on staff by most insurance companies. By eliminating any gaps in skills or jargon, we ensure that your practice is getting the best possible treatment from patients’ insurance companies.
Learn More About VOB Through RevWerx Today
Our team looks forward to answering any additional questions you may have about our verification of benefits services and the many other ways we can help your practice streamline its revenue cycle management. Call us at 833.309.0138 or reach out online today.