The compliance and security issues in cardiology billing are not new to us. Healthcare IT has put forth tremendous efforts to increase the internal security of medical billing companies. That’s how they can interrupt unauthorized people from reaching the healthcare data so easily. Alongside this, they inform the cardiology billing companies about the security actions needed for safety. Along with this, we have internal auditing services to secure the cardiology billing practices.
In this blog, we will explore how internal audits prevent legal issues and financial losses. And what are the best practices for a productive internal audit?
Let’s just dig in!
Internal Audits and Increasing Cybersecurity Issues
Cybersecurity threats and ransomware attacks have increased to alarming levels over time. The healthcare industry has been the biggest target, where almost 30% of large data breaches occurred. According to a report, after 2019, the percentage of data breaches will rise to 50%. And until 2022, almost 237 breaches affected 19,992,810 individuals.
Aren’t these statistics about healthcare cybersecurity issues scary to you? Being a cardiology billing practice, you know how expensive cardiology treatments are. And how intricate it is to deal with complex medical billing services. Therefore, we understand the urge to meet compliance and security standards in cardiology billing. Otherwise, we will be more vulnerable to them in the future. And who knows, your little negligence today might make you the next victim of increasing attacks. So, why wait for something serious to occur?
Right now, evaluation through internal audits is the first and foremost thing one can do. Internal audits don’t only help cardiology billing stay compliant. Rather, they are far more beneficial for them. From improving revenue to avoiding penalties, audits help us do everything smoothly.
The Significance of Internal Audits in Cardiology Billing
Medical audits have the utmost significance for adherence to legal policies and procedures. An internal audit generally encompasses the entire cardiology billing cycle. It improves coding accuracy and identifies areas in need of improvement. Also, it keeps a strict check on maintaining cybersecurity. Usually, internal medical billing audits can uncover various issues, such as:
- Provider documentation errors
- Minimizing coding errors (inaccuracies, deletions, and frequency errors)
- Misuse of modifiers
- Overcoding, undercoating, and unbundling of services
- Reimbursement discrepancies
- Payer non-compliance with billing regulations
- Unintentional billing frauds
- Medical practices claim scrubber software errors.
Thus, it becomes painless for cardiology practices to put a full stop to Medicare penalties. Internal billing audits prove beneficial in addressing every RAC-sensitive risk area.
Steps to Ensure Compliance with Internal Coding Audits
Here are some suitable practices for establishing successful internal coding audits:
Define your Coding Compliance Objective
Set standards for your code quality measures and define your goals for compliance. The purpose of audits should be to find the underlying reasons for code problems. Meanwhile, they must minimize unpredictability and improve reliability. Audits may also help identify the strengths and weaknesses of a coder. They must thus support the creation of specialized educational plans.
Appoint a Skilled Internal Auditor
Conducting a billing audit, especially an internal audit, is a huge responsibility in itself. Do not rely on any incompetent or inexperienced person for low charges. Assign the responsibility to an expert—either a team within the facility or an outsourced billing company. The auditing team includes the coding manager, lead coders, supervisors, and compliance departments. Moreover, the auditors must have certification from ASC’s coding policies and guidelines. Not everyone who holds a medical degree, such as an RN, LPN, or MD, qualifies to be a code auditor.
Set the Review Frequency
Choose the ideal frequency for doing internal audits. Based on variables, the frequency of cardiology billing audits may change. Some of these variables are:
- Case volume
- Coding accuracy
- Problem specializations
Other options include bi-annually, yearly, quarterly, and monthly. Consider doing internal audits at random and changing the frequency as necessary. To ensure consistency, a yearly external audit might be useful.
Establish Financial Classes
Decide which audit types should be prioritized depending on financial classes. While many ASCs focus on RAC audits and Medicare reimbursements, commercial payers might also experience coding mistakes. Begin by auditing both Medicare and commercial finance classes. If certain patterns or variations show up, think about performing payer- or specialty-specific audits.
Conclusion
Cardiology stands out as a complex and highly specialized field. Ensuring compliance with regulations is paramount to the integrity of cardiology billing practices. Internal audits serve as a safeguard, providing an essential mechanism to maintain transparency. Thus, they act as watchful eyes for risk assessment to identify potential risks.
