Frequently Asked Questions
Our fees are based on a percentage of payments collected by the practice each month. That percentage is all-inclusive and there are no hidden charges. We establish rates that are fair to both parties by evaluating variables including the healthcare provider’s specialty, the number of patients seen, and the average reimbursement for patient.
Note: HDM follows all state guidelines: there are several states that do not support percentage-based billing or prohibit it for government payers; in those cases, a separate contract is created to ensure equity for both parties.
Absolutely! We believe in a culture of compliancy at HDM, and all staff members engage in on-going training. We have taken the additional step of maintaining HBMA Compliance Accreditation, which certifies that our business follows all aspects of HIPAA and OIG compliance standards and have maintain an active compliance program, work-plan, and training.
Insurance and patient payments are always sent directly to your practice, never to our company. Be wary of billing companies that demand that the payments come to them. There are plenty of tools available to us that allow us to retrieve the payment-posting information we need without requiring direct access to funds.
We can service your practice no matter where you are in the United States because we have a fully secure web-based software that enables our office and our clients to scan, store, search, and share paper and electronic documents. This enables your data to remain accessible to your office and ours, with a triple data backup and full security.
If you are not familiar with electronic data sharing, fear not: we will guide you through the very simple steps that will turn your paper piles into secure, backed-up electronic data files.
The answer to this question depends on the specific needs of your practice.
In some cases, it does make more sense to do your billing in-house, and if that is true, we would candidly advise you of such. Before engaging in a billing partnership, we carefully evaluate your needs and how best to serve you; we will not try to sell you something you don’t need. That said, it is critical for healthcare providers to recognize that not all software systems and services are created equally. We have found that EHR’s with built-in Practice Management software often overstate their deliverables and leave the physicians dissatisfied with the results. In all vendor relationships the practice must evaluate the true return on investment.
An additional consideration is that our company exclusively does medical billing. We are experts in the industry and deliver results that pay for themselves in comparison to the overhead costs of in-house billing and loss of revenue due to inexperience. When a practice evaluates cost and return on investment, remember to consider all billing-related expenses that you may incur: employee salaries, telephone bills, patient statements, and the time and expense associated with maintaining practice management software that meets the needs of rapidly changing healthcare industry.
Absolutely! Patients can call our toll-free or local number, which is always answered by a friendly, knowledgeable account representative. Questions are answered courteously, and all efforts are made to expedite a settlement. Our phone number is listed on all patient statements (whether delivered by mail or electronically).
No, Healthcare Data Management, Inc. focuses strictly on billing and follow-up; however, we pursue delinquent insurance claims aggressively and continue to work them until payment is received.
We also make every effort through the entire billing cycle to secure patient payments. This is achieved by providing your office with access to the patient balances in real-time for time-of-service collection, using our industry-tested patient statement format that makes billing understandable, and working with the practice to establish multiple payment options for the patient.
