Need Help with ABA Billing?  Understand Your Options

POMPANO BEACH, October 18th, 2017 — Have claim rejections, late payments or ever-changing payor requirements demanding more of your energy than your most challenging client? If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. Many organizations in the ABA industry struggle with billing as ABA billing is a relatively new area and can be complicated.

Step One – Is Your Practice Financially Healthy?

First, regardless of your billing arrangements, every practice owner or leader should know their C.R.A.P.!

1. Cash flow – How much cash is coming in and going out of your business?
2. Receivables – How are you measuring your accounts receivables performance?
3. Analysis of Payors – What are individual payor nuances and the expected timeline from claim and/or invoice sent to payment received?
4. Practice Management Workflows – From start to finish, document the steps that it takes to onboard clients, schedule and conduct sessions, and bill and receive payment.  A practice management solution like CentralReach with billing features can be valuable to facilitate more efficient workflows.

Step Two – To Hire or Not to Hire a Billing Company?

Next, here are considerations that you should think about before making the decision to hire a billing company.

1. Does growth and demand for services outpace your ability to upkeep back-office operations? This includes everything from billing and contracts, to managing staff.
2. Are you struggling to hire someone in-house who has billing experience?  Experienced experts in ABA billing practices are rare and can be hard to find.
3. Do you feel in control of your finances? Depending upon who handles your billing, an expert can equip you with knowledge to make better business and financial decisions.  On the other hand, if you have excellent management and workflows, it can be more cost-effective to keep your billing in-house.
4. Do you want an expert and partner vested in your organization’s success?  Some prefer to have outside expertise with different points of view and variety of financial experiences to weigh in and be engaged in the business.  Others prefer to keep these matters close and learn it as they go.

If the Answer is to Hire – You Need to Know How to Select an “Outsource” Partner

If you are looking to outsource billing, evaluate your options carefully. “Outsourcing” may imply a lack of transparency, and sadly some companies operate this way.  If a billing firm doesn’t share details about its workflows and practice, then run the other way.  Think of it this way – if that company were to suddenly disappear, what would you do?

If you’re hiring a billing company, here are traits that you need to look for:

• Transparency and training in the workflows surrounding your company
• Experience in successfully navigating the ever-changing market
• An understanding of your company’s goals
• A vested interest in your success
• A willingness and expectation to be supportive in all aspects of your organization, not just billing.

How Much Help Is Needed? Remember, that every practice is unique, so it’s important to consider what kind of help you need to be most successful.

What can a Practice Management Software for Billing Do?

A software such as CentralReach matches each appointment with a specific authorization and billing code, starting the claims process and making it easier to generate claims.  For ABA practices that need more hands-on support and services, CentralReach works closely with its billing partners to make sure clients get the service they need to be successful.

Once you nail these billing basics and questions, you can start to make improvements. If you want to learn more about CentralReach’s billing support, please don’t hesitate to contact CentralReach.

About CentralReach
Founded in 2012, CentralReach develops innovative technology and tools for therapy-based organizations in applied behavior analysis, early intervention, education, as well as speech, occupational, and physical therapies. CentralReach serves over 30,000 therapy-focused professionals with its leading-edge software for practice management and data collection built by a team of clinicians and technologists. It also provides full-service implementation and ongoing support to help organizations grow and thrive. For more information, please visit centralreach.com.