This is no knock against AC or any other billing service in particular, but here is the rub.... We use a local billing service that knows most of our local carriers. We use an old fashioned paper system that is mailed, faxed and phone called. Others do use an "E" system, but reviewing, tracking and following those gets tedious as well. They are only as good as the interface and your ablility to read them and understand them. Without a way to make various custom tracking reports they are but snapshots that someone else wants you to see. But the devil is in the details and what is harder to watch and track...
BUT, most billing companies care about the "big picture" and not any one little particular claim. They care about volume of claims and bottom line dollars. So especially here in primary care our everyday, est'ed patient level 3's and 4's are sort of a batch kind of thing to them at best. Really harshly tracking and persuing any one claim becomes wishy washy at best. At some point they loss money pursuing small claims that are getting hung up, and so they tend to let those fall by the wayside, hoping that you won't notice them against the larger backdrop.
Personally, what I want to know is whether a system has an underpayment "flagging" system in place. I was looking at Altapoint and they seem to allow you to load your various fee shcedules from different carriers so then as you post a claim, the system will know right away whether is has been properly paid or not. I'd like to see a bundling "flagger" as well, so the system will notice that half your other codes from a particular visit were or were not paid. Right now, whn I read my weekly reports from our present billing company, if I don't catch these underpayments, my billing company and their poorly chosen, though pretty expensive program surely doesn't.
Now in the reverse, if you have a $2000 surgical claim, no less a bad pattern with the same, obviously those get their attention; get it? Those any billing company will pursue with vigor. And that is the ugly truth. In general what you need is a responsible person, who has to face you and answer to you regularly, like a small private contractor or a well respected employee who personally cares about you, your practice and your bottom line. That's what I think. Once we settle on a product and system that is exactly what we are going to do here. We are going to use this very experienced women who has only a few clients, that each and everyone of us matter to her. Even if she looses money on a few claims now and again, it's worth it for her because of customer service and satisfaction. Something most mid-sized and large billing companies just don't care about.
Lastly, I believe Rainy and a few others used AC billing for a while, so perhaps she and they will chime in here, or you can asked them, or go looking for some older posts on the subject and review what they covered. Hope this helps....
Paul
