Chiropractic Billing Compliance | Can you avoid getting audited?
The audit of his chiropractic documentation a few weeks ago did not go well for Ben. Now he had to pay $30,000 as penalty, according to the letter he just received from Blue Insurance. Ben felt angry as he crumpled the letter in his hand and said: “Where am I going get this kind of money?” His wife, Carmen, stopped feeding their 8-month old baby boy, Jonathan, for a moment to look at Ben. The dark circles under his eyes were a testament to his many sleepless nights this month. She was concerned, but did not want to add fuel to the fire. He was already stressed out enough. This fine came at the worst time possible since she was still staying home with the baby and wasn’t able to alleviate her family’s financial burden with an additional income. In spite of her MBA she had no helpful business advice to offer either. She felt helpless and powerless as she watched her husband struggle with this new burden. It all started three weeks ago when Ben received a notice from Blue Insurance to review the notes for chiropractic claims that he was paid in 2012. Apparently some of his patients had received inaccurate information due to sloppy accounting and complained, which raised red flags with the insurance company. Next thing he knew, the auditor was knocking on his clinic’s door to inspect the notes for those claims in question. Carmen suddenly had an idea:”Why don’t we meet your friend, Tom, who had to go through an audit last year? Maybe he can give you some pointers on how to deal with this situation.” Tom owned a chiropractic clinic in the same neighborhood and was happy to meet them for lunch. “I’m sorry you have to go through this, too, Ben,” he said. “Being audited and fined is no walk in the park, but don’t beat yourself up over it. I have learned that the insurance companies come after all chiros because they simply do not want to pay us. In fact, the fewer providers they have to deal with, the better. So they just try to blacklist as many of us as possible.” Ben was taken by surprise:”Seriously? Are you saying that anyone can get audited?” “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Tom responded. “Audit penalties are pure revenue for the insurance companies. And just like every other business, they want to increase their profits. I read in this recent article by Palmetto GBA that chiropractors have a high error rate of 84.41 percent. That makes it easy for the insurance companies to come after us.” “So audits are pretty much a fact of life,” Carmen said flatly. “I just wonder if there is any way Ben can reduce his audit risk so that we still have money for diapers and the electric bill after the next audit,” she added half-jokingly. What do you think? Can audits be avoided, or is there at least a way to reduce your error rate as chiropractor?
Dr. Sandy Haas wins Best Patient Story Contest
Congratulations to Dr. Sandy Haas for winning our Genesis Best Patient Story Contest in October. Check out her inspiring story below. “There’s been so many impactful stories. One story is a story of a young lady that happens to be in the office right now. Her name is Jenny and she is a remarkable young lady. When I first met her and she came to our office, a patient actually brought her in and said I’d like to take care of this patient and I’d like to help her get care and she wanted to help financially support this particular patient get care. She was on so many meds that she could hardly look me in the eyes. She could hardly communicate with me. She looked broken. She looked sad. She looked like nothing about her life was enjoyable. To know Jenny and what she’s done today, she did the work and we just provided her the pathway to get there. But, she’s done probably over forty I.V. nutrients to detox her off of over a dozen plus medications that was just creating such toxicity in her which was shaping the way she thought, the way she felt and shaping her emotions. Now she’s out there and she just laughs, she assists other patients, she’s almost kinda like a volunteer. Even though she’s still coming in for treatments. It’s a remarkable story. She’s lost 125 pounds. Her spine does not look remotely like it did on the very first day. Her story is huge! All I have to ever think of when the day gets, can get stressful and there’s a lot happening in one day, all I ever have to do is just remember a Jenny story.”
Three Ways To Schedule More Spinal Screenings In Your Community Today!
Dr. Tabor Smith has done over 300 spinal screenings so far in his career, and every month he adds 2-3 more screenings to that total. Today he runs a thriving practice in Houston TX that he built from the ground up, through consistent spinal screenings and monthly dinner workshops. Genesis Chiropractic Software recently connected with Dr. Tabor and asked him to share some strategies on how chiropractors can set up more screenings in their community. Below are 3 different ways to find more screening opportunities in your community. According to Dr. Tabor, the key to setting up screenings is to be persistent and consistent with your efforts. You may not be successful in your first few attempts, but that doesn’t mean you give up. It means you get excited because you are that much closer to success! 1. Know the schedule of every big venue in your community. This one tip can make a huge difference in your practice. If you want to grow your practice and get more involved in your community so you can help more people, then you need to be at every event that happens around your office. The best way to stay up-to-date on community events is to go to the place that big events happen. If you know the schedule of every civic center, gymnasium, and large auditorium in your community you will never miss the “next big event”! 2. Use Google to find shows and fairs going on in your community. You or your staff should be searching for events at least once a month. Schedule a time to sit down on your computer and search for events, shows, and fairs. Here is how you do it – First, go to Google.com, then type in “Events” and “Your Zip Code”. You will find page after page of listings. Go through each one and determine whether or not it would be a good fit for your office. Make a list of the events you want to attend so you can follow up later. Then go back to Google.com and type in “Show” and “Your Zip Code”. You will find page after page of listings. Go though each one and determine whether or not each show would be a good fit for your office. Make a list of the shows you want to attend so you can follow up later. Then go back to Google.com and type in “fair” and “Your Zip Code”. Again, you will find page after page of listings. Go through each one and determine whether or not it would be a good fit for your office. Pay particular attention to Health Fairs as they can be some of the best places to do a spinal screening. 3. Contact all the Corporations and businesses in your community, and ask them if they have an annual health fair. Granted, this is hit-or-miss, but you would be surprised at how many churches and corporations in your community actually have annual health fairs. You can use the same Google.com method described above to locate and gather contact info for all the corporations and churches around your office. Then call them and simply ask them if they have an annual health fair. If they do, ask them how you can get involved. If they don’t ask them if you can help them to start one! Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. If there’s ever anything I can do for you, let me know. Tabor Smith D.C.
Chiropractic Software | New Network Members October 2013
Ninety-eight new members across sixty-three practices joined Genesis Chiropractic Software and Billing Network in October 2013! There is strength in numbers due to the shared knowledge – we call it the “Billing Network Effect,” as the billing performance of each member practice improves in step with the total volume of processed claims. Please welcome our new Genesis network members: Kayla Martin of Absolute Health, Scottsdale, Arizona Felix Horta and Kathleen Draus of Abundant Life Chiropractic, The Woodlands, Texas Azure Caruthers of American Family Spine And Health, Concord, North Carolina Cynthia Lund and Douglas Gamroth of Apex Chiropractic, Eau Claire, Wisconsin Cindy Groft of Athens Chiropractic Healthcare, Athens, Georgia Frank Spano of Backsmart Wellness, Edison, New Jersey Taylor of Back to Health Chiropractic & Wellness, Winona, Minnesota Emily Bartosek of Big Pine Key Chiropractic, Key West, Florida Anna Chantharath of Boyd Chiropractic, Alameda, California Jennifer Fish, Elizabeth Tamminga, Xavier Counts, Gloria Grubbs, Jolene Patterson, Lindsey Ashburn, and Kayla Glover of Celebration Family Chiropractic, Celebration, Florida Samantha Coleman, Kahla Hill, Christina Tribby, and Stacie Messenger of Chiropractic Solution Center, Virginia Beach, Virginia Joy Beard of Cornerstone Chiropractic, Charlotte, North Carolina Daniell Little of Crowley Chiropractic Clinic, Brunswick, Georgia Jacklyn Muxen of Discover Chiropractic, San Jose, California Jesse Deshazo and Autumn Blackburn of Dr. Justin Ard, Brentwood, Tennessee Dr. Samuel Buckett of Dr. Samuel Buckett, Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania Juana Reese and Brittney Williams of Dr Glen R Burford, Collierville, Tennessee Margaret Mccammon of Dr. Kevin R. Candino, Manalapan, New Jersey Jen Stanley of Dr. Brian D Class, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina Blake Rosso of Dr. Gerald M Gerrish, Bar Harbor, Maine Anjel Mcghee of Dr. Louis C. Hilliard, Smyrna, Georgia Jessica Gibbs of Dr. Baron Holt, Raleigh, North Carolina Heidi Meyer of Dr. James E. Judge, St. Charles, Illinois Susan Dapice of Dr. John P Maher, Carmel, New York Kim Manyfield and Beth Wallace of Dr. Jeffrey Mccomb, Apple Valley, Minnesota Dominic Mazza of Dr. Philip Delli Santi, Newark, New Jersey Alana Bouley of Dr. Chad C. Wills, Naples, Florida Paige Dykes of Elite Wellness & Chiropractic, Tuscaloosa, Alabama Lisa Spaner of Family Chiropractic Center Of East Rutherford, Rutherford, New Jersey Dr. Brian Beard and Dr. Holly Clemens of Family Healing Chiropractic, Charlotte, North Carolina David Martino, Valerie Bean, Ana Torres, Latanya Waire, Lisa Allbritton, Cassandra Rios-Ortega, Logan Barbiche and Susan Martino of Fort Bend Corrective Health Center, South Missouri City, Texas Dr. Lauren Traveller of Golan Integrated Physical Medicine, Las Vegas, Nevada Chris Reik of Harmony Chiropractic, Elgin, Illinois Dr. Jake Sehnert of Harre Family Chiropractic, Florissant, Missouri Michael Moss of Health Sprout, Woodstock, Georgia Kelly Brennan of Iannelli Chiropractic Centers, Turnersville, NJ Lauren Luisi of Lake Nona Family Chiropractic, Orlando, Florida Leah Brainard of Livingood Family Chiropractic, Cary, North Carolina Miranda Johnson of Lopez Family Chiropractic, Fairhope, Alabama Rosemary Belisle of Marathon Chiropractic, Clarksville, TN Bob Vanek of Milwaukee Chiropractic Group, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin Marissa Patti of NCV, Shelburne, Vermont Jackie Sanner of New Life Chiropractic, Brentwood, Tennessee Casey Morgan and Yaziry Avila of North Dallas Chiropractic Center, Dallas, Texas Gabriela Pazmino of Nueva Vida Centro Quiropractico, Naples, Florida Tiffany Alvarado of Oak Hills Chiropractic, San Antonio, Texas Suzy Morris of Pain Relief Center, Hazelwood, Missouri Liz Fontek, Scott Paris, and Omar Lopez of Paris Chiropractic, Rockville, Maryland Lisa Renshaw and Bryan Henss of Planet Chiropractic, Romeoville, Illinois Kristen Martin of Proactive Chiropractic, Rockville, Maryland Brett Kubricht of Prosperity Chiropractic, Charlotte, North Carolina Janna Huhn of Pure Life Chiropractic, Eugene, Oregon Chris Platts of Pure Life Chiropractic, Florence, South Carolina Dr. David Pinsky, Jessica Estepp, and Valentina Henze of SleepCo, Rockville, Maryland Elizabeth Calderin of Redbird Chiropractic, Miami, Florida Katherine Williams of Revive Chiropractic, Lewis Center, Ohio Lauren Hale of Rock Springs Family Chiropractic, Smyrna, Tennessee Vanessa Cordova of The Balanced Spine, Issaquah, Washington Christine Ipekci of The Chiro Health Spa Of Ramsey, Ramsey, New Jersey Dr. Charles Barrett Deubert, Courtney Holden, and Amanda Conrad of The Health Factory, Knoxville, Tennessee Mike Khalil, Nick Wilson, Jen Warhurst, Ryan Warhurst and Bobby Belmonte of Trinity Chiropractic-Bohemier, Naples, Florida Laurie Brothers of Wellness for Life, Cumming, Georgia Lindsay Jess of West Des Moines Chiropractic, West Des Moines, Iowa
How To Get Steady New Patients From The Internet With Dr. Matthew Loop!
How To Get Steady New Patients From The Internet New patients from the internet with Dr. Matthew Loop is a great example of young entrepreneurial success. Since starting his first business from scratch in late 2004 from his small Atlanta apartment, he’s gone-on to sell millions of dollars worth of products and services from the internet. He has helped thousands of small to mid sized business owners, public figures, and brands harness the power of social media to produce dramatic business growth while creating new, additional revenue streams. So what does Dr. Matthew Loop say about how to get a steady stream of new patients from the internet? How’s your website look? Do you have a Facebook Fan Page? Are you posting regularly? Are you engaging with your followers? Do you post to Pinterest? Are you maximizing your Twitter account? You have a YouTube channel right? …Dr. Loop has a lot to say! These are just a few of the topics he covered when Genesis Chiropractic Software caught up with him and interviewed him. Click below for instant access to Dr. Loop’s interview!
Learn How To Turn Your Patients Into Lifetime Cancer Killers!
In September 2010 Dr. Charles Majors was diagnosed with an incurable bone marrow cancer that metastasized to his brain. He chose to leave conventional medicine, and applied the same principles he had been teaching for years to reverse his own disease. Dr. Majors is now in full remission, and lives in Plainfield, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, with his beautiful wife Andrea and their four children. In his book, Dr. Majors not only tells his own story about beating one of the most deadly cancers in the world, but he also adds instructions and real-world solutions for people trying to beat cancer naturally. “Tumors grow fast and spread in a low-oxygen environment. As a tumor grows, it can no longer supply oxygen to the center of the tumor. That low level of oxygen in the cell, really called hypoxia, actually further activates the oncogenes, the cancer promoting genes. So the carcinoma begins spreading like wild fire! One of the major protocols here is to immediately get on a high fat, low carbohydrate (vegetables), minimum protein diet. Measure your blood glucose every day and stay under 75.” – Dr. Charles Majors Genesis Chiropractic Software caught up with Dr. Majors and asked him what he did to beat his cancer, and how he shares the message of health, wellness, and Cancer Killing with his patients. Click the link below to learn more about the Cancer Killers, and how you can give these practice-growing, life-changing Workshops in your office.
Chiropractic EHR software | Improve patient retention with Care Plans
Does paying your monthly overhead stress you out because your chiropractic clinic is plagued by patient no-shows? It is impossible to predict your clinic’s cash flow when your patients are non-compliant with your prescribed care plans. Needless to say, patients who miss their appointments won’t get better. Inconsistent patient flow also hinders practice growth and profitability. But your clinic’s cash flow can take an even bigger hit when you have to return payments for unfinished care plans. Not to mention the possible compliance issues resulting from this. You can figure out how much your chiropractic clinic might be losing due to unfinished care plans when you replace the assumptions below with your own numbers and complete the calculations. For example: Assumptions: 1 visit = $30 1 care plan = 30 visits Average number of no-shows per care plan: 15 Calculations: Potential income and losses from unfinished care plans per patient: Potential income from 1 care plan: 30 visits x $30 = $900 Potential loss from no-shows per care plan: 15 visits x $30 = $450 Conclusion: You risk losing half of your income when patients don’t finish their care plans! Just how can you identify patients who don’t understand the need for multiple visits to achieve their health goals? First of all, you need to know what the entire care plan looks like in order to track multiple visits. All patients go through a traditional treatment step-down ladder, such as four visits per week for the first four weeks, then three visits per week for the next three weeks. Such unique nuances on many patient schedules are difficult to track manually, and this difficulty grows dramatically with each added chiropractic care plan. Tracking the respective discounts given for each care plan is nearly impossible without a tool. Thousands of care plans are created for new patients every month, to schedule multiple appointments and then track all payments and visits in your Genesis EHR software. When patients don’t show up for their appointments you can receive automated notifications in form of tickets on your Genesis chiropractic software workbench. When patients don’t have a future appointment scheduled or when they cancel their existing appointments you can receive alerts via tickets. That way you can assign your staff the task of scheduling the next appointment. Another useful tool for helping your patients stay on track with their care plans are appointment reminders sent via phone, text, or email. Genesis chiropractic software has integrated several apps which serve this purpose. To set up chiropractic care plan when your patients come into your clinic, simply go to the Genesis Scheduler and click on the “More” tab to open the wizard. You can also create a full care plan from the patient account. Make sure you turn on the settings in your Genesis chiropractic software for Patient Relationship Management and Reminders.
Learn How To Share The 100 Year Lifestyle With Your Patients
The 100 year lifestyle… If you charted the life expectancy curve of Americans over the last 100 years, you would see a line starting at the bottom left corner of your page and heading straight for the upper right corner. Life expectancy in our country has been climbing and climbing with no end in sight! Yes, science is able to keep people alive a lot longer these days, and because of amazing advancements, life expectancy continues to lengthen. But have you ever thought about what a “quality of life expectancy” curve would look like? Is the quality of life that people are living getting better or worse? Think about it. What if you live to be 100? What will your quality of life be? Will you be a prisoner in your dying body as science keeps you “alive”, or will you live your 100 years with full enjoyment, maximum energy, doing what you dream of doing until the day you die? Dr. Eric Plasker is the best selling author of The 100 Year Lifestyle, a book that teaches people how to achieve a lifetime of health and wellness! He also coaches hundreds of chiropractic offices on how to share the life-saving chiropractic message of health and wellness with their community! In a recent interview, Genesis Chiropractic Software asked Dr. Plasker, “How chiropractors (just like you) can teach this 100 Year Lifestyle in their offices, and therefore, help more people live a longer, healthier, happier life.” Get instant access to the entire interview by clicking the link below:
Chiropractic Compliance | Check exclusions list to avoid denied claims
Dr. John Davila explains the importance of checking the LEIE or list of exclusions of individuals or/and entities for all staff members at your clinic to avoid chiropractic billing issues such as compliance risks and denied claims. Dr. John Davila talks about the significance of the List of Exclusions of Individuals and Entities for your chiropractic clinic in the video below: Cystic Fibrosis Services: $308,000.00. Radius Hospital Massachusetts: $334,000. Susony Hospital Puerto Rico: $382,000. Saint Francis Hospital Connecticut: $80,000. In a 6-week period of August 2013 the Office of Inspector General, recouped $1.2 million from these hospitals for one simple reason: someone on their staff was excluded from serving Medicare patients. My name is Dr. John Davila of Custom ChiroSolutions and today I want to talk to you about something very, very important that you should be looking at as far as compliance goes in your office. It’s the LEIE or list of exclusions of individuals or/and entities. Now, the reason this story is important is for a very simple reason, a couple years ago I had a client and he had a problem getting his Dr. his associate Dr. Registered with all these different insurance companies, and he couldn’t get the insurance companies to pay even out-of-network benefits and then he tried to get Medicare to register this Dr. and that didn’t work either. Next thing you know, he’s calling me going “Hey listen, I have all this money outstanding. I have these different issues.” We went in and looked and guess what– the first thing you do when you get a compliance manual is, check your employees. He didn’t know that. He didn’t know how. And that’s what we did for him. We came in and checked all of his employees and low and behold, the Doc he was trying to get registered was excluded about two years earlier from the Medicare program. Now the Dr. was cleared of all charges, he got his license back to practice, but Medicare didn’t let him back in. Major, major problem. So, what I want to do today was just bring this up because I think it’s really important for you understand that you need to check your employees. Now this Dr. didn’t know how to do it, we did. What we had to do was get him set up with a compliance manual and get this process going for him and that way he checked his employees. So if you’d like to know more about how to get a compliance manual in your office, especially to go ahead and check your employees on a regular basis, especially if they’ve been excluded from Medicare and if they’re on this LEIE list, let us know. You can give us a call at (800)-974-3479. If you dial extension 2 and ask for Stacy, she’ll go ahead and set you up for a free 30 minute consultation and we’ll get on the phone together, me and you and we’ll talk about how to get a compliance manual in your office. Now remember, call us now 800-974-3479 ext two.
Win $500 for Telling Your Best Patient Story
Win $500 for Telling Your Best Patient Story! Have you had any funny situations with your patients? Would you like to share them with us? We would love to hear your stories. Tips for Your Story What made this patient so special? How has this experience affected you as a Chiropractor and/or your practice? How does this story inspire you, your practice, and other Chiropractors Watch Dr. Brian Capra’s patient story video: Entry Qualifications Must be a Genesis user Like us on our Facebook page and simply post your patient success story with the hash tag #Genesispatientstorycontest Feel free to add video and pictures ( no more than 5 min. video) 300 – 400 words If you are not active on Facebook, e-mail us at marketing@vericle.com.
