It's What We Do

What MRC billing service does for your center or practice?

1. Uniform billing practice
2. Registration and maintenance of patients billing information
3. Entry of reported services and fees for billing purposes
4. Established audit trail for money coming into the practice
5. Experienced, trained billing staff working your accounts
6. Staff with no financial, political or social connection to your office managing the billing
7. Patient Account Management, lending assistance to your parents
8. Staff to converse with parents, answering account questions via a toll free telephone call
9. Email availability to the parents for account inquiries and assist with payment arrangements
10. Statement billing to private pay parents for balances
11. Prepare uncollectible balances for designated collection agency
12. Process carrier reimbursement, denials and private payments to the accounts receivable
13. Review and report refunds as they are due
14. Review and report account adjustments as necessary
15. Chart audits for coding compliance and appropriate documentation
16. Process claim items needing review or corrections
17. Monthly Reporting to the center
18. Comparable reporting within the center
19. Confidence in knowing the money in the bank is being credited to the accounts quickly and with expertise

Who we answer to:

1. First of all we answer to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The OIG is in charge of medical billing service and medical claims clearinghouse compliance for claim submission for patients of any government health plans such as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). We also are compliant with Health Insurance Portability Assurance Act (HIPAA) as it pertains to confidentiality of Protected Health Information (PHI), electronic and technical security of transmissions that include PHI and storage of data that includes PHI.
2. Secondly, we answer to the centers and therapists who utilize our services. A billing service agreement can be signed only by the service provider, center director / administrator or the owner of the provider entity. If there are urgent or serious issues to be discussed, the agreement signer’s presence may be required in addition to any other authorized agent.
3. Thirdly, of course we answer to the parents of the patients who depend on our knowledge to assist them with insurance issues, payment plans and maintenance of a healthy financial relationship with the service provider. We present this service upon the physicians’ behalf.

What you, the client, bring to the relationship that enables this service to succeed:

1. Provide current, complete and accurate billing information for the patient
2. Provide coded source documents/data to ensure the appropriate fees are billed
3. Provide appropriate dates, diagnosis and supporting documentation when necessary
4. Follow MRC auditing practices, including use of a bank lockbox for mail deposits
5. Provide written details of specific provider agreements and contracts
6. Balance receipts with money to ensure receipts are properly documented
7. Follow the financial policy established for the practice
8. Designate one staff member to work with the MRC billing service team leader who is assigned to your practice. This will help to keep the lines of communication open and information moving. The designee must be a manager or supervisor with performance evaluation type authority who is responsible to relay information between MRC and the office staff.
9. Allow MRC to handle the account receivables complaints, questions and payment arrangements. There will be notes on each account to review conversations and arrangements.
10. Counsel staff to project an accepting attitude. The billing service and the center or service facility must be perceived as one to ensure maximum collections. We are part of your team.
11. Respond timely (within a week) both ways to requests for information or documents that are billing related
12. Consult with MRC prior to changing or enacting new collection or payment rules
13. Consult with MRC to implement necessary forms, procedures and updated fee schedules
14. Complete MRC provider enrollment form to ensure appropriate billing numbers are given to the billing service along with the insurance carriers. Billing does not begin until one month after the completed enrollment is received.

The best ways to partner with the billing service to achieve financial success:

1. The financial success of the center as a business requires all parties to perform the work that they are qualified to do. We do not treat or advise parents about the care of their patients, we do the billing. We will, from time to time, request the parents’ assistance in dealing with insurance.
2. With a therapy center or in home therapy practice, get comfortable referring parents to MRC for answers to account questions. Therapists should have our toll free telephone number readily available and refer parents to us. Account or insurance questions and bookkeeping are part of what you pay us to do for you. Recommend that the parent call MRC direct and speak with an account representative who can take the time to look at the total account, previous arrangements and therein answer any question or concern they may have.
3. Don’t underestimate the experience of the billing staff. We select employees who have years of experience working in the offices settings, performing therapy billing and assisting patients with their accounts. Our staff knows front desk, cashier, medical records, insurance and billing. We understand how therapy centers and medical offices are successfully managed. We know the service providers and therapists are focused on the patient and each parent is focused on helping their child. We have been where you are, facilitating the delivery of patient services. Now we are here to be of assistance to your facility by becoming part of your team.

What we do not do:

1. We do not alter or change any billing record or any part of a billing record relating to the services provided to a patient without written authorization from the treating therapist or his/her authorized agent.
2. We do not handle the actual monetary payments, only the receipts or insurance explanation of benefits that enable us to properly credit the patient account and continue the billing process. We strongly recommend a bank lockbox to our clients.
3. We will not knowingly be party to fraudulent or abusive medical billing activity. We are required to report such activity if we cannot correct the behavior.
4. Our services begin thirty days following the receipt of the enrollment information, provided the agreement is signed.