Top Billing and Collection Practices for ABA Therapy Centers
Whether you’re a solo BCBA or work with multiple therapists, you should always try to improve your billing and collections processes. There are many resources online that can assist you to begin, but they would not provide you with accurate information. To help you save time and eliminate the guesswork, here’s a list of best practices you can consider implementing in your ABA therapy center:
- Bill early and frequently.
The key to successful ABA billing is to establish consistent deadlines and a system for timekeeping.
Set weekly deadlines for timesheets submission or use a digital timekeeping system. This will help your therapists develop the discipline to deliver the information you require so that you can (1) pay them and (2) bill your funding sources, too. It likewise helps reduce the time spent going after payroll information when it’s time to pay contractors or employees.
- Set up a simple process for providers to report on hours worked with their clients based on treatment/service provided.
It’s best to have the ABA therapy center’s back office take care of interpreting new T codes so that providers can focus on taking care of patients. Your back office should know how to manage timekeeping for billing. For instance, they should know when to use initial codes for the first half-hour of the day, how to convert hours to units as appropriate, etc.
- Develop a standard ‘billing scrub’ process with the correct checks and balances.
Are you still using handwritten timesheets? Find out if you must manually input the changes or use an Excel spreadsheet before entering details into the billing software. Ensure you connect all your data as you perform changes and verify the information. If you rely on an electronic timekeeping system, scan for mistakes such as the non-billable time coded billable (and vice versa), missing information, and wrong codes.
You can further simplify your billing and collection practices by hiring ABA billing services that streamline your processes. Make sure they can generate accurate and reliable electronic claims, post adjustments and payments, track their status, and do other essential tasks that can help boost your revenue. You can’t go wrong with Plutus Health Inc., a leader in revenue cycle management outsourcing for US healthcare providers.
About the Author:
Thomas John leads a global team of 500 employees in 3 locations as the President & CEO of Plutus Health providing, RPA powered revenue cycle management services to healthcare organizations across 22 states. Plutus Health Inc. is a 15-year-old full-cycle RCM firm specializing in medical coding & billing, denial management, credentialing, prior authorizations, AR follow-up for both medical and behavioral health specialties. As the industry experts in revenue cycle management solutions, they’ve created a unique process that combines machine learning and robotic process automation to address the clients’ most frustrating problems.
