MEDICAL BILLING BLOG

Four Options to Quickly Boost Your Practice’s Cash on Hand Balance

As patient volumes have fallen, many practices are worried about keeping their doors open through this national COVID-19 crisis. With that in mind, the goal of this update is to outline four options at your disposal to quickly increase your available cash balances. These have all been made available or made easier to pursue by recent government changes in reaction to the economic turmoil being caused by COVID-19 and the related “shelter in place” orders around the country. These are listed in the order from fastest to slowest in terms of increasing your available cash on hand. 

• Apply for Medicare’s Accelerated Payment and Advance Program
• Apply for the Paycheck Protection Program as soon as it is open for applications
• Aggressively pursue telemedicine
• Apply for a Small Business Administration (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan                            

Details and key links for these options

1.  Apply for Medicare’s Accelerated Payment and Advance Program.
      This program will advance you up to three months of your normal monthly Medicare payments.      

      Key elements of the program:

• You will have the money within seven business days from when you apply.
• You will not owe anything on this money for the first 120 days, AND your claims being sent to Medicare during this time will still pay as normal.
• You will begin having the advance recouped after 120 days.
• Please see this blog on ClaimCare’s website for more detailed information about the program: Medicare Accelerated Payment and Advance for Providers.  

2.  Apply for the Paycheck Protection Program 

      Key elements of the program:

• It should be live for applications by Friday, April 3^rd.
• The money should be in your account in two weeks or less.
•  It will be administered by banks and not the SBA.

• • You can receive a loan of up to 2.5 times your monthly payroll.
  • No payments are owed for the first 6 months, and no payments will be owed at all if you meet the guidelines for full loan forgiveness.
  • For the loan to be forgiven you need to use it within the eight weeks after the funds are received to pay for employee salaries, rent, utilities and other similar expenses. You also need to maintain your payroll and not significantly reduce it through layoffs or wage reductions.
  • Here is a link to more information about the program: SBA Paycheck Protection Program.

3.  Aggressively pursue telemedicine.

We have released multiple updates on this. The bottom line is that the reimbursements have increased, while the amount of required paperwork and other requirements have decreased; and the scope of what can be done with telemedicine has expanded. Please follow these links to see our latest updates on the ClaimCare Blog:

• How to Use Telemedicine to Keep Collections Flowing During the COVID-19 Crisis
• Latest Telehealth Changes Give More Relief to Providers. 

4.  Apply for a Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loan.

These loans are available because a state of emergency has been declared. These loans will take longer to result in cash on hand than the first three options outlined, but they also allow for a loan amount of up to $2 million. These are different than normal SBA loans and the lending rules are more lenient.

     Key elements of the program: 

• These loans are administered by the SBA.

• • You can borrow up to $2 million.
  • You can receive an almost immediate advance of $10,000.
  • All businesses in all states are now eligible for these loans.
  • The loan proceeds can be used for expenses that cannot be paid because of the COVID-19 economic disaster.
  • The interest rate will be 3.75%.
  • You will have up to 30 years to repay the loan.
  • None of this loan is forgivable.
  • Here is a link to the SBA Economic Disaster Loan Application.

As you can see, you have four great options to quickly improve your current cash position and help sustain you through this economic crisis. Rest assured that ClaimCare, with our fully HIPPA-compliant 100% USA-based  work from home team, is focusing on every lever at our disposal to quickly bring money in from our clients' existing and new claims.

We encourage you to reach out to your practice’s banker to get more information about the loans outlined above. Please let ClaimCare know if you are in need of a professional medical billing company to become your partner and help you during this COVID-19 crisis - and beyond. Our mission statement is "To collect the maximum revenue for your practice as fast as possible while helping to alleviate costs and hassle for your organization" 

About ClaimCare

ClaimCare is a 100% USA-based HIPAA-Compliant Medical Billing Company

ClaimCare has once again been named a “Top 10 Medical Billing and Coding Company.”  The honor this time comes from MD Tech Review.  The magazine’s Augmenting Medical Billing and Coding Operations article presents solid reasons why ClaimCare has been chosen for this 2019-2020 recognition.

For additional information, contact sales@claimcare.net, or phone toll-free (855) 376-7631, or visit the ClaimCare Medical Billing website.  We can assist your practice and/or facility in numerous ways.

CMS released another important update to the ever-evolving emergency telemedicine rules. As ClaimCare has explained in earlier posts during the COVID-19 crisis, one thing is certain: “As we learn more, more things change.” This stands true with the eligibility, coding and claims processing for telemedicine.  ClaimCare has highlighted some key points for you that include the latest changes from today’s CMS update. The current CMS    report titled Physicians and Other Clinicians: CMS Flexibilities to Fight COVID-19 lists all the CPT codes that CMS is now allowing due to the National Health Disaster.

Key Points that Make Telemedicine Easier and Better

• Removes barriers for physicians, nurses and other clinicians to be readily hired from the community or from other states so the healthcare system can rapidly expand its workforce.
• Increase access to telehealth in Medicare to ensure patients have access to physicians and other clinicians while keeping patients safe at home.
• Puts patient care FIRST before paperwork to give temporary relief from the many reporting and auditing requirements, allowing providers, healthcare facilities, Medicare Advance and Part D plans and States to focus on providing needed care to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries affected by COVID-19.
• Allows clinicians to now provide these services to established and new patients.
• Allows ANY kind of telemedicine service (see attached list of CPT codes to use).
• Removes Frequency guidelines.
• Where a face-to-face visit was required in the past, those guidelines do not apply during the national health emergency.
• Supervision requirements will not apply during the crisis, but Supervision where previously required will be allowed via teleconference with the Supervising Provider.
• Postpones ALL re-validation requirements.

Very importantly, CPT Codes have changed and expanded (again)!  There are numerous codes that can now be billed via Telehealth that could not previously be billed. It is imperative when documenting in your systems you notify medical billers that you provided these services via telemedicine.  Medical billers are required to use the appropriate place of service as well as the correct modifiers. 

ClaimCare recommends you indicate in the visit type that (1) it is a telehealth visit (2) you have obtained verbal consent from the patient and (3) consent is documented in the chart. Although the current CMS report articulates the suspension of audits, we encourage you to complete the documentation that you normally would and are ABLE to complete in the chart during the telemedicine visit.

About ClaimCare

ClaimCare is a 100% USA-based HIPAA-Compliant Medical Billing Company

ClaimCare has once again been named a “Top 10 Medical Billing and Coding Company.” The honor this time comes from MD Tech Review. The magazine’s Augmenting Medical Billing and Coding Operations article presents solid reasons why ClaimCare has been chosen for this 2019-2020 recognition.

For additional information, contact sales@claimcare.net, or phone toll-free (855) 376-7631, or visit the ClaimCare Medical Billing website. We can assist your practice and/or facility in numerous ways.

Accelerated Payment and Advance for Providers:

How to get it and what it means for your practice

CMS has notified providers about the Accelerated Payment and Advance program available to Part B providers. This is a portion of the legislative CARES Act (P.L. 116-136).  Each Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) is required under this regulation to consider advancing payments at the request of a provider.  As we will explain below, this is NOT a cash influx without consequences. It is NOT free money. This advance can represent 100% of the amount typically paid to a provider in a 3-month period.   However, if you want to, you can request less than the                                                                   CMS calculated amount.

ClaimCare advises you to be cautious when requesting this advance.  We completely understand that numerous providers and practices have been hurt by this horrific COVID-19 Pandemic.  However, we encourage you to look at what this would mean for your practice on down the road.  The amount of money received is not the issue. The issue is that you must carefully consider how the advance will be recouped and reconciled beginning 120 days after you have received it. It is still in flux exactly over what timeframe MAC will reclaim the advance through recoupments. MAC may take a little from every payment over a large number of months, or they may take a lot back from every payment over a shorter timeframe. It appears NOVITAS will be recouping a small amount over many months. However, no matter the timeframe in which the money is recouped, ultimately your future payments will be reduced until the full amount of the advance is paid.

After you receive an advance through this program, you will continue to be paid as usual for your claims submitted in the normal course of business for the next 120 days.  However, after 120 days following the advance, ANY Medicare claims submitted for payment will be processed against the advance.  This means that after 120 days you will NOT receive full payment for claims submitted to Medicare until your advance is paid in full.

 ClaimCare is not suggesting that you do not pursue the advance. We are only saying that if you do accept it, do so with a full appreciation for the impact it will have on your monthly collections in four months.

All providers are struggling with trying to provide continuity of care by using telemedicine and videoconferencing. We understand that if your schedules are not full, it is difficult to pay the bills and keep the doors open. If you need these funds, please be sure and submit the appropriate form as quickly as possible to your regional MAC. The forms have either been sent to your primary Medicare contact – OR – you can find them on the MAC website for your region. You should receive the accelerated payment advance in 7 days after your appropriately submitted form is received. This accelerated payment opportunity is only available if the nation us under a National Emergency.  Once this designation is over, the advance will not be available to providers.

To qualify, you must meet the following requirements:  

• Have billed Medicare for claims within 180 days of the signature on the form
• Not be in bankruptcy
• Not under medical review or investigation
• Cannot have any outstanding Medicare overpayments

After 120 days from the date you receive the payment, you will have 210 days to repay the advance, which will be offset against claims submitted.  If you do not submit a sufficient volume of claims in that 210-day period to replay the advance, then you will be expected to make a payment directly to Medicare for the difference.

We certainly hope you and your staff are staying safe and healthy during this crisis. We encourage you to share with everyone, staff and patients, that they can keep updated on the news and recommendations on the government’s Coronavirus.com website.

About ClaimCare

ClaimCare Medical Billing Company is a 100% USA-based HIPAA-Compliant Medical Billing Company

ClaimCare has once again been named a “Top 10 Medical Billing and Coding Company.” The honor this time comes from MD Tech Review. The magazine’s Augmenting Medical Billing and Coding Operations article presents solid reasons why ClaimCare has been chosen for this 2019-2020 recognition.

For additional information, contact sales@claimcare.net, or phone toll-free (855) 376-7631, or visit the ClaimCare Medical Billing website. We can assist your practice and/or facility in numerous ways.